Joan Blackman (born May 17, 1938, San Francisco, California)
Early years
She attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, California and upon graduating sang at nightclubs throughout California. She lived at the Hollywood Studio Club where her roommates included
Barbara Eden and Wendy Wilde.
Film
Blackman appeared in her first
motion picture,
Good Day for a Hanging, in 1959. She had significant roles in two
Elvis Presley films: she played Maile Duval in the 1961 film
Blue Hawaii, and the following year played Rose Grogan in
Kid Galahad. She also appeared with
Dean Martin in
Career (1959), and played Ellen Spelding, the love interest of Kreton, the character of
Jerry Lewis in
Visit to a Small Planet (1960). Her other film appearances included roles in
The Great Impostor (1961),
Twilight of Honor (1963),
Daring Game (1968),
Pets,
Macon County Line (both 1974), and
Moonrunners (1975).
According to the book Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959–1969, in 1985 Blackman played the mother in the Ray Davies film Return to Waterloo;
Television
Blackman made her television-acting debut as a guest performer in a 1957 series,
Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans. Among her television appearances was her role as Hilary Gray in the 1964
Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Ruinous Road". She played opposite
Jack Lemmon in the episode "Disappearance" of
Alcoa Theatre in 1958 and also made single appearances in
Bonanza,
I Spy, and
Gunsmoke.
Blackman was part of the regular cast of the primetime television serial Peyton Place during its 1965–1966 season. In that show she played Marion Fowler, the wife of the district attorney.
Personal life
In May 1959, Blackman married
Joby Baker, a fellow actor she met in drama school. The couple divorced two years later, in November 1961. She then married actor Rockne Tarkington in July 1968. They had two children before divorcing in October 1970.
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