Joy Harmon

Patricia Joy Harmon^[1] or Joy Patricia Harmon (born May 1, 1940)^[2] is an American baker and former actress.

Joy Harmon
Harmon with Roger Smith in an episode of Mister Roberts, 1965.
Born	Joy Patricia Harmon (1940-05-01) May 1, 1940 (age 85) Flushing, New York, U.S.
Years active	1956–1973
Known for	Car washing girl in Cool Hand Luke
Spouse	Jeff Gourson ​ (m. 1968⁠–⁠2001)​
Children	3
Website	http://www.auntjoyscakes.com

Early years

The daughter of Homer Harmon, Joy Patricia Harmon was born in Jackson Heights, New York,^[1] or Flushing, New York. She and her family moved to Connecticut in 1946. She was a Miss Connecticut,^[2][when?] She tied for fourth runner-up in the 1957 competition for Miss Connecticut.^[3][4]

When she was three years old, Harmon modeled clothes in Fox Movietone News newsreels.^[1] She skipped two grades in elementary school and graduated from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut.^[1]

Career

Harmon's stage debut came in Pajama Tops at the Klein Memorial Theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She toured the United States in stock company productions, including The Marriage-Go-Round, The Solid Gold Cadillac, The Tender Trap, The Importance of Being Ernest, and Susan Slept Here.^[1] On Broadway, Harmon portrayed Betty Phillips in Make a Million (1958).^[5] She also appeared in an off-Broadway production of Susan Slept Here (1961).^[6]

Harmon was a contestant during the last season of Groucho Marx's television program You Bet Your Life (titled The Groucho Show during its last season), and later a regular on Marx's short-lived program Tell It to Groucho (credited as "Patty Harmon"). She guest-starred on several 1960s TV series, including Gidget, Batman, and The Monkees. She appeared in a cameo role as blonde Ardice in the Jack Lemmon comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree in 1963. She had a role as Tony Dow's girlfriend in the 1965–66 television soap opera Never Too Young.

Harmon's stand-out acting roles include the 30-foot-tall (9 m) Merrie in Village of the Giants (1965, in which she captures normal-sized Johnny Crawford and suspends him from her bikini top), and the car-washing Lucille in Cool Hand Luke (1967)^[7] with her purportedly 41–22–36 measurements.^[2]

Personal life

Harmon was married to film editor and producer Jeff Gourson from 1968 to 2001, raising three children. For a time, a son worked at Walt Disney Studios. She later established a bakery, Aunt Joy's Cakes, in Burbank, California.^[8]

Despite her surname, Harmon is not related to the popular actor Mark Harmon, nor to his family, the Harmon–Nelson family (a well-known California show business family).^[9]

Filmography

Films roles The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) - Minor Role (uncredited) Let's Rock (1958) - Pickup Girl Mad Dog Coll (1961) - Caroline Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) - Ardice (uncredited) Roustabout (1964) - College Girl (uncredited) Young Dillinger (1965) - Nelson's Girl One Way Wahine (1965) - Kit Williams The Loved One (1965) - Miss Benson (uncredited) Village of the Giants (1965) - Merrie A Guide for the Married Man (1967) - Party Girl in Bar (uncredited) Cool Hand Luke (1967) - Lucille, The Girl Angel in My Pocket (1969) - Miss Holland

Television roles ’’Tell It To Groucho’’ (1961) Co-Host Series The Beverly Hillbillies (1963) - Kitty My Three Sons (1964) - Joanne Grant Burke's Law (1964-1965) - Barbara Sue / Belle Sue Walsh Gidget (1965) - Blonde Girl Dancing / Midge (uncredited) Batman (1966) - Julia Davis (uncredited) Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1966) - Barbara Bewitched (1966) - Francie The Rounders (1966) - Rosetta Occasional Wife (1967) - Model That Girl (1967) - Miss Bridges The Monkees (1967) – Cashier in S2:E2, "The Picture Frame" The Monkees (1967) - Zelda in S2:E14, "Monkees on the Wheel" Love, American Style (1972) - Rosalie (segment "Love and the Secret Habit") The Odd Couple (1972) - Waitress Thicker Than Water (1973) - (final appearance)