Joan O'Brien

'Joan O'Brien' (qv) began her show-biz career while she was in high school, on a local TV music show in California with 'Tennessee Ernie Ford' (qv). Soon, she was a successful singer, and made the jump to acting. In about half the films she ever made, it appeared that Joan played a nurse. Perhaps her most memorable appearance was in 'Blake Edwards' (qv)' _Operation Petticoat (1959)_ (qv), as the nurse who gets in everyone's way because her, umm, "proportions" cause uncomfortable crowding in a small submarine. Because of her, 'Cary Grant' (qv) becomes the first officer in the history of the U.S. Navy to sink an enemy truck! She again played a nurse in the 'Jerry Lewis' (qv) film, _It's Only Money (1962)_ (qv), and yet one more time with 'Elvis Presley' (qv) in _It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)_ (qv)--and, according to legend, fired up a hot off-screen romance with Elvis. Also in 1963, in a strange sort of "Columbo" connection, she was voted "most likely to wed 'Robert Vaughn' (qv)". Joan's final movie was _Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)_ (qv), a "Swinging Sixties" teenfest also featuring 'Nancy Sinatra' (qv), with music by 'The Animals' (qv) and 'The Dave Clark Five' (qv). After that, she went back to singing for a while, touring with the 'Harry James' (qv) Orchestra. She left show business for good to concentrate on raising her kids, and later became a successful executive with the Hilton Hotel chain.::[email protected]