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IMDbPro

Joan Staley(1940-2019)

  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Joan Staley
Home Video Trailer from Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Play trailer1:18
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
1 Video
29 Photos
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 father's 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 re-directed 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 L.A. stage productions.

In 1958, she was approached by a photographer and eventually posed for Playboy magazine, becoming November's centerfold. The attention warranted her an MGM contract and cheesecake bit parts came her way with such movies as Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). She appeared front-and-center à la Raquel Welch as a scantily-clad prehistoric turn-on 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 "Adam-12," Joan's career went on hiatus after a horse-riding 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.
BornMay 20, 1940
DiedNovember 24, 2019(79)
BornMay 20, 1940
DiedNovember 24, 2019(79)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos29

Don Knotts and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Don Knotts and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Jim Begg, Harry Hickox, Don Knotts, Philip Ober, Liam Redmond, Dick Sargent, and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Philip Ober and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Skip Homeier, Charles Lane, Philip Ober, Dick Sargent, and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Don Knotts and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Don Knotts and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Don Knotts and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Peter Lawford and Joan Staley in Ocean's Eleven (1960)
Doug McClure and Joan Staley in The Virginian (1962)
Joan Staley in Valley of the Dragons (1961)

Known for

Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Polly Bergen, and Lori Martin in Cape Fear (1962)
Cape Fear
7.7
  • Waitress
  • 1962
Robert Conrad, Anthony Eisley, Poncie Ponce, and Connie Stevens in Hawaiian Eye (1959)
Hawaiian Eye
7.8
TV Series
  • Blonde on the beach
  • Kiana
  • Sandra
  • Sue Alden
Broadside (1964)
Broadside
7.8
TV Series
  • Roberta Love
Elvis Presley in Roustabout (1964)
Roustabout
6.0
  • Marge
  • 1964

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Victoria Principal, Barbara Bel Geddes, Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Charlene Tilton, Jim Davis, Linda Gray, and Steve Kanaly in Dallas (1978)
    Dallas
    • TV Series
    • 1982
  • Kent McCord and Martin Milner in Adam-12 (1968)
    Adam-12
    • Agnes Wellman
    • Jenny
    • TV Series
    • 1969–1972
  • Raymond Burr in Ironside (1967)
    Ironside
    • Millie O'Neil
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Peter Lupus, and Greg Morris in Mission: Impossible (1966)
    Mission: Impossible
    • Ginny
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • Douglas Fowley, Ruth McDevitt, Ann Sheridan, and Carole Wells in Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966)
    Pistols 'n' Petticoats
    • Cynthia
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • Norman Alden, Tim Conway, and Guy Marks in Rango (1967)
    Rango
    • Lilly
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • The Clumbsys
    • TV Movie
    • 1966
  • Batman (1966)
    Batman
    • Okie Annie
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Jean Arthur, Ron Harper, and Leonard Stone in The Jean Arthur Show (1966)
    The Jean Arthur Show
    • Ruby LaRue
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Audie Murphy, Edgar Buchanan, Joan Staley, Warren Stevens, and Morgan Woodward in Gunpoint (1966)
    Gunpoint
    • Uvalde
    • 1966
  • The Munsters (1964)
    The Munsters
    • Clara Mason
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Don Knotts, Philip Ober, Liam Redmond, and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
    The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
    • Alma Parker
    • 1966
  • McHale's Navy (1962)
    McHale's Navy
    • Sally Murdock
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • James Drury, Doug McClure, and John McIntire in The Virginian (1962)
    The Virginian
    • Maggie
    • TV Series
    • 1965
  • Laredo (1965)
    Laredo
    • Laurie Martin
    • TV Series
    • 1965

Videos1

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Trailer 1:18
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Personal details

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  • Height
    • 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
  • Born
    • May 20, 1940
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
  • Died
    • November 24, 2019
    • Valencia, California, USA(heart failure)
  • Spouses
      Frederick Dale SheetsJanuary 14, 1967 - November 24, 2019 (her death, 3 children)
  • Parents
      James McConchie
  • Other works
    Unsold pilot: Appeared in a sitcom pilot for ABC to be called "The Clumbsys" where she played the biggest klutz in a family of klutzes.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Playboy Playmate of the Month November 1958

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