Joan Marshall

Born on June 9, 1931 in Chicago, Joan Marshall attended St. Clement's School.

Looking far more mature than her age would indicate, when she was just 14 years old she auditioned for, and was hired, as a showgirl at Chicago's Chez Paree, one of the country's foremost nightclubs in the 1940s and 1950s. Two years later, she was appearing in Las Vegas productions. Vegas was where she met her first husband and her son, Steven, was born. Her daughter Shari was born three years later.

She was signed by CBS and appeared often on such television shows as The Jack Benny Program (1950) and The Red Skelton Hour (1951). She had a gift for comedy, which often was overlooked because of her beauty.

Moving to Beverly Hills, she starred on the television series Bold Venture (1959) (1959-60 season). She made around 10 feature films, liking only a few of them.

In 1961, she starred in Homicidal (1961) (billed as "Jean Arless"), playing two roles, one male and one female. This small film has developed a cult-like following.

Was the mother character (then known as Phoebe Munster) in the test episode of The Munsters (1964) shown to network executives. However, she was subsequently replaced by Yvonne De Carlo when filming began for the first season, because network executives thought her character (now renamed Lily Munster) was too much like Morticia Addams, from The Addams Family (1964).

Possessing a flair for writing, in the 1970s, she collaborated with her old school friend, the award-winning writer Dirk Wayne Summers, co-scripting sitcoms. She married film director Hal Ashby and, over the first six months of their marriage, and at his insistence, she related personal experiences of her life.

Her real-life wedding (to Ashby) can be seen in the opening scenes behind the credits in Ashby's romantic comedy film The Landlord (1970).

Ashby (and Robert Towne) turned these details of her life into the romantic comedy film Shampoo (1975). She was reportedly displeased her husband had used such personal details in creating this film.

Ashby died in 1988 and, two years later, Joan married business executive Mel Bartfield. Although there were many rumors that Joan was secretly wed to Richard Chamberlain, this was not the case. She and Chamberlain were -- and remained -- very close friends.

When she married business executive Mel Bartfield in 1990 in Los Angeles, her friend writer/director Dirk Wayne Summers, performed the wedding ceremony. He had become an ordained minister in 1969.