Joi Lansing (born Joy Rae Brown; April 6, 19291929 appears to be the most likely year of birth as per the 1940 United States census, which gives her age as 11 as of April 22, 1940, under the name Joy Loveland, her stepfather's surname. – August 7, 1972) was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies, as well as a prominent role in the famous opening "tracking shot" in Orson Welles' 1958 crime drama Touch of Evil.
Lansing was often cast in roles similar to those played by her contemporaries Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. She frequently was clad in skimpy costumes and bikinis that accentuated her figure (34D bust), but she never posed nude.
Early life Lansing was born at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1929 to Jack Glen Brown (also known as Glen Jack Brown and Glenn Jack Brown), a shoe salesman and orchestra musician, and Virginia Grace (née Shupe) Brown, a housewife.Other birth years given include 1928 (held by the Utah Historical Society records, per Dougherty, 2004), 1933, 1934, 1935, and 1936.
She was later known by her stepfathers' surnames, i.e. Wassmansdorff and Loveland. In 1940, her family moved to Los Angeles, where her siblings were born.
Career
She began modeling at the age of 14. Lansing was discovered at age 14 by Arthur Freed, the producer, and was signed to an MGM talent school contract. Lansing completed high school on the studio lot. While she was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, a writer for The Bob Cummings Show spotted her, and a part was written into the show for her.
Films Lansing's film career began in 1947, and in 1952 she played an uncredited role in MGM's Singin' in the Rain. She received top billing in Hot Cars (1956), a crime drama involving a stolen-car racket. In 1958, she appeared in the famous opening sequence of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil as Zita, the dancer who dies in a car explosion at the end of the extended tracking shot after exclaiming to a border guard "I keep hearing this ticking noise inside my head!"
She had a brief role as an astronaut's girlfriend in sci-fi parody Queen of Outer Space (1958) and had fourth billing in the science fiction feature The Atomic Submarine (1959).
Lansing appeared in Frank Sinatra's comedy A Hole in the Head (1959), and in Dean Martin's comedy Who Was That Lady? (1960). She played "Lola" in the romantic comedy Marriage on the Rocks (1965), with a cast that included Sinatra, Martin, and Deborah Kerr. Lansing turned down the chance to replace Jayne Mansfield in The Ice House (a 1969 horror film), and instead appeared opposite Basil Rathbone (in his last film appearance) and John Carradine in Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967), as Mamie Van Doren's replacement. Her last film was Bigfoot (1970).
Recordings Lansing started singing in nightclubs in the early 1960s, as documented in several trade magazines. She performed with the Xavier Cugat orchestra and briefly toured with Les Paul, but little is known about the songs she actually recorded. Apparently, while starring on The Bob Cummings Show, she recorded a 45 r.p.m. single on the small REO record label in 1957: "Love Me/What's It Gonna Be" (REO #1007).
In 1962, she recorded six to eight sides at Que Recorders in Los Angeles. These turned up at auction and were acetates of four songs each (with two songs duplicated on the second acetate). It is unknown whether these tracks were released on an album. Both acetates list the same identifying number of #4-8351. The songs recorded on February 23, 1962, were "Masquerade is Over", "All of You" (Cole Porter), "The One I Love" (which was most likely "The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)", and "Who Cares?" (George and Ira Gershwin). On April 30, 1962, the songs recorded were "Feel So Young" (which was probably "You Make Me Feel So Young"), "Dream", "Masquerade", and "All of You".
During the 1960s, she starred in short musical films for the Scopitone video-jukebox system with her songs that included "The Web of Love" and "The Silencer".
It was reported in Cashbox magazine on April 17, 1965, that Lansing was recording an album for RCA Records with Jimmie Haskell (and suggested that it should be titled Joi to the World of Jazz), but nothing further is known about this project.
Television
Lansing became especially active in television, being credited in over seventy series, including I Love Lucy; The Jack Benny Program; The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour; The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Perry Mason; Maverick; The Adventures of Superman; The Untouchables; Rawhide; Petticoat Junction; and The Beverly Hillbillies.
The principal television role of Lansing's career from 1955 through 1959 was as the character Shirley Swanson in The Bob Cummings Show."Actress Joi Lansing of TV and Films Dies". Los Angeles Times. August 9, 1972. pt. II, pg. 4. Retrieved February 17, 1972.
Lansing appeared as herself in a 1956 I Love Lucy season 6 episode, "Desert Island". In 1957, she played Vera Payson in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Crimson Kiss". She achieved some distinction for beating out Lois Lane (Noel Neill) to marry Superman (George Reeves) as the title character in "Superman's Wife", a 1958 episode of Adventures of Superman.
What was possibly Lansing's best television role may have been her least-seen as the leading lady in The Fountain of Youth, a Peabody Award-winning unsold television pilot directed by Orson Welles for Desilu in 1956 and broadcast on the Colgate Theatre two years later. The half-hour film remains available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles. Welles subsequently cast Lansing in her brief role in his film Touch of Evil.
Lansing appeared in a 1960 episode of The Untouchables entitled “The Noise of Death,” playing a character named Georgina Jones. She later appeared in six episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies in the role of Gladys Flatt, the glamorous wife of bluegrass musician Lester Flatt.
Lansing has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles for her contributions to television.
Personal life and death Lansing married Stanley Laurence Todd, her business manager, in August 1960. However, in her final years she had a covert lesbian affair with 20-year-old Alexis Hunter, who she met on the set of her final film, the monster movie Bigfoot.
Lansing died from breast cancer on August 7, 1972, at St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica, California. She had been treated surgically for the disease two years earlier. She also suffered from severe anemia."Joi Lansing, Actress, Dies at 37; (sic) 'Glamour Girl' of TV and Films". The New York Times, August 9, 1972. While some press accounts gave her age as 37, she was actually 43 years old.
In popular culture Footage of Lansing appears in the Tex Avery animated short The House of Tomorrow, released in 1949.
A highly fictionalized version of Lansing appears in James Ellroy's 2021 novel Widespread Panic.
Filmography Features
When a Girl's Beautiful (1947) - Model (uncredited) Linda, Be Good (1947) - Cameo Girl (uncredited) The Counterfeiters (1948) - Caroline - Art Model Easter Parade (1948) - Hat Model / Showgirl (uncredited) Julia Misbehaves (1948) - Mannequin (uncredited) Blondie's Secret (1948) - Bathing Girl in Dream (uncredited) Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) - Girl on Train (uncredited) Neptune's Daughter (1949) - Linda (uncredited) The Girl from Jones Beach (1949) - Model (uncredited) In the Good Old Summertime (1949) - Pretty Girl (uncredited) Key to the City (1950) - Miss Garbage Truck (uncredited) Pier 23 (1951) - The Cocktail Waitress On the Riviera (1951) - Marilyn Turner (uncredited) FBI Girl (1951) - Susan Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) - Showgirl (uncredited) Singin' in the Rain (1952) - Chorus Girl (uncredited) Glory Alley (1952) - Chorus Girl (uncredited) The Merry Widow (1952) - Girl at Maxim's (uncredited) The French Line (1953) - Model (uncredited) Son of Sinbad (1955) - Harem Girl (uncredited) Finger Man (1955) - Blonde in Bar (uncredited) Terror at Midnight (1956) - Hazel (uncredited) The Brave One (1956) - Marion Randall Hot Cars (1956) - Karen Winter Hot Shots (1956) - Connie Forbes Touch of Evil (1958) - Zita Queen of Outer Space (1958) - Larry's Girl (uncredited) A Hole in the Head (1959) - Dorine It Started with a Kiss (1959) - Checkroom Girl (uncredited) But Not for Me (1959) - Blonde Bathing Beauty (uncredited) The Atomic Submarine (1959) - Julie Who Was That Lady? (1960) - Florence Coogle Marriage on the Rocks (1965) - Lola Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967) - Boots Malone Bigfoot (1970) - Joi Landis
Television