Joi Lansing (born Joy Rae Brown; April 6, 1929 – 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.
This is her campy music video THE WEB OF LOVE:
Here she sings THE SILENCERS:
"Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For" colorfully chronicles personal and intimate details of the last four years of the talented ‘50’s “blonde bombshell” star’s fascinating life. After three decades of successful TV and movie appearances and Vegas singing stardom, Ms. Lansing died far too young at just 43. Though her funeral was attended by luminaries of the day (Frank Sinatra sent a huge floral display), her light went out relatively unceremoniously. Always just on the verge of “making it big,” Joi packed them in with standing room only in Vegas, but when the curtain came down and the audience was gone, who was she? Sadly, the one relationship where she was loved for the sweet, gentle woman she really was, the friendship that might have given her the strength to finally cross the finish line for that one moment of glory for which she had run since she began in show business as a little girl of 14, was ended at her death from breast Cancer in the arms of her dear friend, “Rachel.” "Author Alexis Hunter (“friend/baby sister”) was the only person who really knew Joi and knew how she struggled with a suicide-obsessed self-image and deadly drug problem after being a child star at MGM where “uppers” were a common way to keep the kids working 20 hour days. “Stunning black and white photos of Lansing by Maurice Seymour, the era’s Superstar Photographer, make this book a collectors dream.”:
Orson Welles' TV Film "The Fountain of Youth." A brilliantly done, fast paced morality tale for a proposed anthology series from Welles for Desilu. Executive Produced by Desi Arnaz. Starring the underrated character actor Dan Tobin and the sexy Joi Lansing.
The networks thought FOUNTAIN was over the heads of their audiences, it was a pilot that wasn't picked up for a series. 2 years later it was finally shown and won many awards but networks still thought it was too much for audiences of the day.
HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE: A pair of country singers and their band are headed to Nashville, Tennessee. Their car unfortunately breaks down and they stop overnight at an abandoned house, which turns out to be haunted. A ring of international spies (Lon Chaney Jr., Basil Rathbone and John Carradine) who live in the haunted house are seeking a top-secret formula for rocket fuel. While it is never revealed for whom they are spying, they carry out their activities under the cover of a supposed haunted house, which comes complete with a gorilla lurking in the basement:
John Carradine and Basil Rathbone
Watch HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE here:
Here is Joi with Ozzie Nelson (whom she often said was the best kisser she worked with):
"Shoot the Moon," 1957 TV comic drama starring Ozzie Nelson, Joi Lansing, Nancy Kulp, LyleTalbot, and Donald MacBride. Introduction by Jane Wyman. Original Crisco and Ivory Soap commercials.
Here are clips of Joi from many TV shows she appeared in during the 1950’s and 1960’s:
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Behind the paywall: BIG FOOT
Bigfoot is a 1970 independently made American low budget science fiction film, produced by Anthony Cardoza and directed by Robert F. Slatzer. The film stars or co-stars a few well-known actors (and family namesakes): John Carradine, Chris Mitchum, Joi Lansing, Ken Maynard, Doodles Weaver, and Lindsay Crosby.
