Years active 1958–1998 Name Jackie Joseph | Role Character actress | |
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Full Name Sammie Jacqueline Joseph Born November 7, 1934 (age 89) ( 1934-11-07 ) Los Angeles Occupation Actress, voice artist, writer Spouse David Lawrence (m. 2003), Ken Berry (m. 1960–1976) Children Jennifer Kate Berry, John Kenneth Berry Movies and TV shows Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Little Shop of Horrors, The Doris Day Show, Josie and the Pussycats Similar People Ken Berry, Joe Dante, John Dehner, James Hampton, Chris Columbus | ||
Herbie J Pilato interviews: classic TV actress Jackie Joseph Lawrence
Jackie Joseph (born Sammie Jacqueline Joseph; November 7, 1933) is an American character actress, voice artist, and writer known for portraying Alan Brady's niece Jackie on the Dick van Dyke Show, as well as the film characters of: Audrey Fulquard in the original The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Sheila Futterman in Gremlins (1984) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), Mrs Kirkland in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), and the voice of Melody in the animated series Josie and the Pussycats and Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.
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She was a regular on The Doris Day Show as Jackie Parker. She played the love interest of Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show as well as Imogene Harris, the love interest of Willie (played by Bob Denver) in the film Who's Minding the Mint? (1967).
Life and career
Joseph was born in Los Angeles. She began her career as a featured performer and singer in the Billy Barnes Revues of the 1950s/60s, with future husband and actor Ken Berry. She was married to Berry, with whom she adopted two children (John and Kate), from May 29, 1960, until June 1976. Joseph has since remarried, to David Lawrence. Her son John died of brain cancer in 2016 at the age of 51.
Joseph's other film work includes roles in A Guide for the Married Man (1967), With Six You Get Eggroll (1968), The Split (1968), The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969), The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), Get Crazy (1983), and a brief appearance in Small Soldiers (1998).
Some of her television credits are appearances on such memorable shows as The Andy Griffith Show (Season 4 Episode 17: "My Fair Ernest T. Bass" as Ramona Ankrum), The Dick Van Dyke Show (two appearances), That Girl, F Troop (Season 1 Episode 17: "Our Hero, What's His Name" as Corporal Randolph Agarn's girlfriend Betty Lou MacDonald), Hogan's Heroes (Season 1 Episode 28: "I Look Better in Basic Black" as Charlene Hemsley), McHale's Navy, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (four appearances), The Doris Day Show, Petticoat Junction (1967 episode: 'A House Divided'), CHiPs (in a two-part episode), Full House and Designing Women (as Mary Jo's mother). She also appeared for a week on the game show Match Game '74. Although she appeared only once on the 1964 sitcom My Living Doll, as one of the few surviving actors to appear on the series she participated in a retrospective featurette included on the 2012 DVD release of the series.
In the early 1980s, Joseph helped form an organization for celebrity wives overcoming divorce. The group, which included Lynn Landon, Patti Palmer Lewis, and Carol Lawrence, went on talk shows (such as The Phil Donahue Show) discussing the foibles of celebrity split-ups. In recent years she has been heavily involved with the Screen Actors Guild as well as organizations providing care for stray animals. She has been a columnist for Toluca Lake's newspaper, The Tolucan Times, in which her signature sign off was "We'll talk."