Joi Lansing

About Joi Lansing

Joi Lansing was born Joy Rae Brown on April 6, 1929, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her childhood was marked by her parents' divorce, after which her mother remarried. The family relocated to Los Angeles, California, in 1940. Joi began her modeling career at just fourteen years old. In 1947, she made her film debut in the comedy When A Girl's Beautiful. Throughout her life, she had fleeting romances with well-known figures such as Mickey Rooney and George Raft. On March 26, 1950, she tied the knot with Jerry Safron, a sales manager at Columbia Studios, but their marriage was annulled a mere five months later. In 1951, she married actor Lance Fuller; however, this relationship ended two years after it began. Joi appeared in numerous films, including Neptune's Daughter, Singin' in the Rain, and The French Line, often in minor roles. Her career took a significant turn in 1955 when she was cast as a "dumb blonde" in The Bob Cummings Show, which became a popular series that lasted for four years. With her striking platinum hair and curvy figure, Joi quickly garnered attention as a pin-up girl, earning the nickname "The Marilyn Monroe of Television."

In 1956, she played a leading role in the crime drama Hot Shots and was also featured in Queen of Outer Space and The Atomic Submarine. Director Orson Welles cast her in a small part for his 1958 film Touch of Evil. Despite her rise as a sex symbol, Joi professed her dedication to her Mormon faith, abstaining from smoking and drinking. She found herself in a serious relationship with Frank Sinatra, her co-star in A Hole in the Head. In 1960, Joi married Stanley Todd, a wealthy finance manager. However, after discovering she was pregnant, her husband pressured her into terminating the pregnancy. During the 1960s, she took to performing in nightclubs and released an album, while also making guest appearances on television shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Although she and Stanley separated in 1965, they remained legally married. As time went on, Joi battled depression and developed an addiction to barbiturates. While filming the horror movie Bigfoot in 1969, she met Alexis Hunter, a twenty-year-old, and they embarked on a passionate relationship, often presenting themselves to the public as siblings. Joi faced serious health challenges, including a breast cancer diagnosis and severe anemia, with whispers suggesting the illness may have been linked to silicone injections she received for her breasts. Tragically, Joi passed away at the young age of forty-three on August 7, 1972, with Alexis by her side. She was laid to rest at Pierce Brothers Cemetery in Santa Paula, California. Joi's marriages included Stanley Laurence Todd (from August