Joy Harmon, 1940 – 2026

1960s blonde bombshell Joy Harmon, 85, died on April 14. A model, pin-up girl, and beauty-pageant contests, she appeared on Broadway in Make a Million (1958) and Off-Broadway in Susan Slept Here (1961). In the 1960s and early ’70s, Harmon lent her decorative looks to such movies and TV shows as Cool Hand Luke (doing a sexy car-wash), The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Batman, Village of the Giants, The Loved, One, Young Dillinger, Burke’s Law, Occasional Wife, That Girl, and The Monkees, among others. Harmon married film editor Jeff Gourson in 1968, and they had three children. In addition to her family, she left show business to run her own successful bakery, Aunt Joy’s Cakes, in Burbank. She said of her most famous scene, the Cool Hand Luke car wash, "I just figured it was washing the car. I've always been naive and innocent. I was acting and not trying to be sexy. Maybe that's why the scene played so well. After seeing it at the premiere, I was a bit embarrassed.