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Born:14 February 1936 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Spouse: Allen, Harvey (1963 - 1964) (divorced)
Billy Strange (1954 - 1955) (divorced) 1 child
Myers, Jack (1957 - 1962) (divorced) 1 child

Joan O'Brien began her show-biz career while she was in high school, on a local TV music show in California with Tennessee Ernie Ford. Soon she was a successful singer, and made the jump to acting. It has been written that in about half the films she ever made, Joan O'Brien played a nurse. Perhaps Joan's most memorable appearance was in Blake Edwards's Operation Petticoat (1959), as the nurse who gets in everyone's way because her, uh, proportions cause uncomfortable crowding in a small submarine. Because of her, Cary Grant becomes the first navy officer to sink a truck! She played a nurse again in the Jerry Lewis movie It's Only Money, and again in her movie with Elvis Presley, It Happened At the World's Fair in 1963 when, according to legend, Joan fired up a hot, off-screen romance with Elvis. Also in 1963, in a strange sort of Columbo connection, she was voted most likely to wed Robert Vaughn. Joan's final movie was Get Yourself a College Girl (1964), a swinging sixties teen-fest also featuring Nancy Sinatra, with music by The Animals and The Dave Clark Five. After that, she went back to singing for a while, touring with the Harry James Orchestra. Then, Joan left show business to concentrate on raising her kids, and later became a successful executive with the Hilton Hotel chain.

Trivia

Remarried a fourth time happily and lives in Northern, California.

After retiring due to a stormy personal life, she settled down and successfully raised two children while running a management firm for the Hilton Hotel chain.

Had a brief romance with Elvis Presley, her co-star in "It Happened at the World's Fair" in 1963.

Has two children, Russell (by guitarist Billy Strange) and Melissa Anne (by NBC executive Jack Myers).

Filmography

• Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) .... Marge ... aka Swinging Set, The (1964) (UK)
• It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) .... Diane Warren (Nurse)
• We Joined the Navy (1962) .... Carol ... aka We Are in the Navy Now (1962) (USA: TV title)
• It's Only Money (1962) .... Wanda Paxton
• Six Black Horses (1962) .... Kelly
• Samar (1962) .... Cecile Salazar
• Comancheros, The (1961) .... Melinda Marshall
• Alamo, The (1960) .... Mrs. Sue Dickinson
• Operation Petticoat (1959) .... Lt. Dolores Crandall, RN
• Handle with Care (1955) .... Mary Judson

Herself - filmography

• "Bob Crosby Show, The" (1953) TV Series .... Herself (regular perfomer)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

• "Perry Mason" (1957) playing "Jill Fenwick" in episode: "The Case of the Lover's Gamble" (episode # 8.20) 18 February 1965
• "Man from U.N.C.L.E., The" (1964) playing "Chris Linnel" in episode: "The Green • Opal Affair" (episode # 1.6) 27 October 1964
• "Virginian, The" (1962) playing "Joan" in episode: "The Dark Challenge" (episode # 3.2) 23 September 1964
• "Dick Van Dyke Show, The" (1961) playing "Jane Leighton" in episode: "The Foul Weather Girl" (episode # 2.16) 9 January 1963
• "Rawhide" (1959) playing "Melinda Stimson" in episode: "The Pitchwagon" (episode # 4.21) 2 March 1962
• "Bus Stop" (1961) playing "Julie" in episode: "The Ordeal of Kevin Brooke" (episode # 1.22) 25 February 1962
• "Tall Man, The" (1960) in episode: "The Impatient Brides" (episode # 2.22) 3 February 1962
• "Surfside 6" (1960) playing "Linda Faris" in episode: "Jonathan Wembley Is Missing" (episode # 2.9) 13 November 1961
• "Whispering Smith" (1961) in episode: "The Idol" (episode # 1.20) 18 September 1961
• "Cheyenne" (1955) in episode: "Incident at Dawson Flats" (episode # 5.6) 9 January 1961
• "Wagon Train" (1957) playing "Candy O'Hara" in episode: "The Candy O'Hara Story" (episode # 4.11) 7 December 1960
• "Westerner, The" (1960) in episode: "The Courting of Libby" (episode # 1.6) 11 November 1960
• "Bat Masterson" (1958) in episode: "High Card Loses" (episode # 3.7) 10 November 1960
• "Deputy, The" (1959) in episode: "Meet Sergeant Tasker" (episode # 2.2) 1 October 1960
• "Wagon Train" (1957) playing "Victoria" in episode: "The Luke Grant Story" (episode # 3.34) 1 June 1960
• "Bronco" (1958) in episode: "La Rubia" (episode # 2.18) 17 May 1960
• "Alaskans, The" (1959) in episode: "Kangaroo Court" (episode # 1.31) 8 May 1960
• "Perry Mason" (1957) playing "Betty Roberts" in episode: "The Case of the Singing Skirt" (episode # 3.18) 12 March 1960
• "Bat Masterson" (1958) in episode: "Shakedown at St. Joe" (episode # 2.4) 29 October 1959
• "Riverboat" (1959) playing "Sonja Torgin" in episode: "The Fight Back" (episode # 1.6) 18 October 1959
• "Bat Masterson" (1958) playing "Dolores Clark" in episode: "One Bullet from Broken Bow" (episode # 1.14) 21 January 1959
• "M Squad" (1957) in episode: "The Take Over" (episode # 2.22) 27 February 1958

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