Joan Staley

Lovely Joan Staley was born Joan McConchie on May 20 1940 in Minneapolis Minnesota and started taking violin lessons by the time she was three years old Living in Los Angeles her prodigious talent was obvious She soon joined a baby orchestra in Los Angeles and within a few years became a Junior Symphony performer at age six She also made her unbilled specialty debut on film as a child violinist in The Emperor Waltz 1948 starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine Her fathers business had the family traveling throughout Europe growing up but she later relocated to California and briefly enrolled at Chapman College in the Los Angeles area Becoming a stunning statuesque beauty she redirected herself back to a career in show business singing backup on records for Sam Phillips and working as a secretary to make ends meet while appearing in local LA stage productions In 1958 she was approached by a photographer and eventually posed for Playboy magazine becoming Novembers centerfold The attention warranted her an MGM contract and cheesecake bit parts came her way with such movies as Oceans Eleven 1960 and Breakfast at Tiffanys 1961 She appeared frontandcenter à la Raquel Welch as a scantilyclad prehistoric turnon in Valley of the Dragons 1961 but nothing much came of it Following her perky love interests in the mediocre western Gunpoint 1966 starring Audie Murphy and The Ghost and Mr Chicken 1966 a Don Knotts comedy film and guest appearances on such TV shows as Rango Pistols and Petticoats Mission Impossible Ironside and Adam12 Joans career went on hiatus after a horseriding accident Briefly married to Chuck Staley her second husband is former Universal exec Dale Sheets Twins were born to them a boy and girl on March 24 1971 Since then with the exception of a brief appearance on an episode of Dallas in 1982 Joan remained with family life and other outside pursuits She died on November 24 2019 IMDb mini biography by Gary Brumburgh grhomepacbellnet