Joy Harmon | |
|---|---|
 Harmon with Roger Smith in an episode of Mister Roberts, 1965 | |
| Born | Patricia Joy Harmon May 1, 1938 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 2026 (aged 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1956–1973 |
| Known for | Lucille in Cool Hand Luke |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | www |
Patricia Joy Harmon (May 1, 1938 – April 14, 2026) was an American actress and baker.
Patricia Joy Harmon was born in Flushing, Queens, New York City, on May 1, 1938, the daughter of Bernice and Homer Harmon. She and her family moved to Connecticut in 1946, and she tied for fourth runner-up in the 1957 competition for Miss Connecticut.
When she was three years old, Harmon modeled clothes in Fox Movietone News newsreels. She skipped two grades in elementary school and graduated from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut in 1956.
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. On Broadway, Harmon portrayed Betty Phillips in Make a Million (1958). She also appeared in an off-Broadway production of Susan Slept Here (1961).
Harmon appeared as a contestant during the final season of Groucho Marx's television program You Bet Your Life (then titled The Groucho Show). She later became a regular on his follow-up series, Tell It to Groucho, where she was credited as "Patty Harmon." This pseudonym was reportedly requested by the show's sponsor, a soap manufacturer, to avoid cross-promoting a rival brand named "Joy".
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 1965's Village of the Giants, where she memorably captures normal-sized Johnny Crawford and suspends him from her bikini top, and the sultry car-washing Lucille who captivates Paul Newman's chain gang in 1967's Cool Hand Luke.
Her last acting credit was a guest-starring role in the short-lived 1973 sitcom Thicker Than Water. She would eventually leave acting to focus on raising her three children.
In 2003, she established Aunt Joy's Cakes, a wholesale bakery catering to movie and TV studios, in Burbank, California. She would continue to work at this bakery until she was hospitalized with pneumonia weeks before her death.
Harmon was married to film editor and producer Jeff Gourson in 1968, with whom she had three children. The couple divorced in 2001. For a time, a son worked at Walt Disney Studios.
Harmon died of pneumonia while in hospice care at her Los Angeles home on April 14, 2026, at the age of 87.
Film roles
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Television roles
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