Joan Staley

In Episodes # 59 - Come Back Shame and # 60 -Its the Way You Play the Game, Our Villian Shame, was joined by Okie Annie. She was a Cowpoke Girl with all the right curves. In the series, Okie Annie was none other than Joan Staley.

Joan was a beautiful woman, so much so, she was the Playboy Playmate of the Month, November of 1958. She was born May 20, 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The daughter of a Army chaplain. She moved around quite a bit but ended up graduating high school at the age of 15. She was a 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."

 

 

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