The daughter of an Army chaplain, Joan was born in Minneapolis soon after her parents, then engaged in missionary educational work, had returned from Africa's Gold Coast (now Ghana). Traveling with her parents, she attended more than 15 grammar schools throughout the U.S. Her high school years were spent in Chicago, Washington, Munich, Germany and Paris, where she graduated one month after her 15th birthday. 

A precocious musician, Joan began playing the violin when she was three; before her sixth birthday, she had made her stage debut at the Hollywood Bowl. That same year marked her motion-picture debut, as a child violinist in "The Emperor Waltz." As a teenager, when her father was stationed in Fontainebleu, France, she joined an international drama troupe comprised of NATO personnel and civilian players, doing such popular shows as "Harvey" and "Guys and Dolls." 

When the family returned to the States, Joan enrolled in California's Chapman College. Financial pressures forced her to leave school and go to work. After stints as a Teletype operator, brokerage aide, model and assistant fashion coordinator in a department store, she decided to try for a career in the theater. Working as a secretary in Hollywood during the day, she appeared in little theater productions at night, and after starring in "Brigadoon," "The Robe" and "Wonderful Town," she was offered a part on the "Perry Mason" show. TV and motion-picture offers ensued and Joan found herself on two "TV Guide" covers. During her career she appeared in more than 40 television series and a score of films. 

For the past 30 years, Joan has been married to Dale Sheets, a producer and personal manager whose clients have included Mel Tormé, Roger Williams and Vic Damone. "Between us we have seven children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild, who's the son of Playmate Donna Perry (Miss November 1994)." In addition to working with her husband's firm, Joan is a longtime consumer activist who was the national director of FIT (Fight Inflation Together) for two years. In recent years she has been a religious counselor for the Chaplain's Eagles, working with teenage boys who have been confined to boot camps run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. 

Looking back on her Playmate bow, Joan observes: "It was virtually scandalous then, but now they could show my centerfold on television. I feel as if I'm a member of a very elite sorority."


PLAYBOY APPEARANCES: Centerfold, November 1958; "Playmate Review 1958," January 1959; "Playmates Revisited," June 1964.

PLAYBOY NEWSSTAND SPECIALS: "Playmates: The First 15 Years," January 1983.

MOVIE CREDITS: "Dondi" (1960); "Midnight Lace" (1960); "Ocean's Eleven" (1960); "Valley of the Dragons" (1961); "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961); "The Ladies' Man" (1961); "Cape Fear" (1962); "Johnny Cool" (1963); "New Kind Of Love" (1963); "Roustabouts" (1964); "Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966); "Gunpoint" (1966); "Mission Impossible Versus the Mob" (1968).

TELEVISION MOVIE CREDITS: "Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet"(Regular, 1959-60); "Beachcombers" (1960-61); "Amos Burke" (Unsold pilot, 1961); "Dick Powell Show" (1961); "Dick Van Dyke" (1961); "Hawaiian Eye" (1962); "Alcoa Presents: All My Clients Are Innocent" (1962); "Lively Ones," Regular, (1962-63); "Colossus" (Unsold pilot, 1963); "77 Sunset Strip" (1963-64); "Broadside" (1964-65); "Clumbsies," (Unsold pilot, 1966); "Batman" (1966); "Munsters" (1966).