Joey Heatherton
Encyclopedia
Joey Heatherton is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress, dancer, and singer.

Early life

Christened
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 Davenie Johanna Heatherton and nicknamed "Joey," she was raised in Rockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre is a village located in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 24,023. The town is made up of middle to upper middle class residents, most of the wealthier residents residing on the north side of town near the...

, a suburb of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. There she attended St. Agnes Cathedral School
St. Agnes Cathedral
St. Agnes Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York, on Long Island. It is the seat of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The Most Reverend William Murphy is the ordinary bishop of the Diocese and pastor of the Cathedral parish....

, a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 grade and high school. Her father Ray Heatherton
Ray Heatherton
Ray Heatherton was an American singer, Broadway musical theatre performer, and a popular New York television personality in the early days of the medium.-Early career:...

 was a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 star (Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1937 musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a teen-age boy who puts on a show with his friends to avoid being sent to a work farm.- Production history:...

) and television pioneer.

Career

Heatherton began her career as a child actress, appearing in 1959 as a member of the ensemble and an understudy in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...

, and received her first sustained national exposure that same year as a semi-regular on The Perry Como Show, playing an exuberant teenager with a perpetual crush on Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

. She also appeared extensively on The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...

; Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

 invited her to perform numerous times on the show, starting with the premiere episode of September 16, 1965. From June to September 1968, along with Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Franklin Wayne Sinatra , professionally known as Frank Sinatra, Jr., is an American singer, songwriter and conductor....

, she co-hosted Martin's summer substitute musical comedy hour, Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers. She also made multiple appearances on 1960s television shows such as The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show is a television variety show which ran from 1959 to 1971 , and a short-lived run in syndication, beginning in the fall of 1976...

, The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...

, The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

, and This is Tom Jones. She first appeared on television on her father's show The Merry Mailman, a popular children's show in New York.

In May 1969, she appeared on the Tonight Show, where she energetically coached Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...

 on the finer points of dancing "The Frug
The Frug
The Frug was a dance craze from the 1960s that evolved from another dance of the era, the Chicken. The Chicken, which featured lateral body movements, was used primarily as a change of pace step while doing the Twist. As young dancers grew more tired they would do less work, moving only their hips...

." During that era, she also appeared in Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

's USO troupe between 1965 and 1977, entertaining the GI
GI (term)
G.I. is a noun used to describe members of the United States armed forces or items of their equipment. The term is now used as an initialism of "Government Issue" , but originally referred to galvanized iron....

s with her singing, dancing and provocative outfits. Excerpts from the USO tours were televised as part of Hope's long-running series of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 monthly specials, culminating in the top-rated Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 shows, where Heatherton's segments were regularly featured.

Acting

Throughout the 1960s, Heatherton interspersed her variety show appearances with dramatic turns in three theatrical films and on numerous episodes of series such as Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...

(playing a 15-year-old temptress in the November 18, 1960 teleplay), Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...

, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...

, Channing
Channing (TV series)
Channing is an American drama series that aired on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1963 to April 8, 1964...

, Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American Police procedural/legal drama that ran during the 1963-64 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.The majority of episodes consisted of two segments...

, The Nurses, and Breaking Point.

Heatherton also appeared in the movies Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor is a 1963 film starring Richard Chamberlain, Nick Adams, Claude Rains, and featuring Joey Heatherton and Linda Evans in their film debuts. Twilight of Honor is a courtroom drama based on Al Dewlen's novel, with a screenplay by Henry Denker...

(1963), Where Love Has Gone
Where Love Has Gone (film)
Where Love Has Gone is a 1964 drama film made by Embassy Pictures , Joseph E. Levine Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Joseph E. Levine from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the novel of the same name by Harold Robbins...

, (1964) and My Blood Runs Cold (1965), alongside veteran actors such as Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...

, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

 and Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...

. In Twilight of Honor, her film debut, she played the young wife of an accused murderer (Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

-nominee Nick Adams).

The only one of the three films to be made in color, 1964s Where Love Has Gone, was a big-budget melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

 based on Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins
Harold Robbins was one of the best-selling American authors of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages....

' roman-a-clef about the scandalous Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...

Cheryl CraneJohnny Stompanato
Johnny Stompanato
John "Johnny" Stompanato , also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen...

 manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 case, with Heatherton playing the daughter of the Turner character (Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...

).

Finally, she appeared in Blood, the second of three 1965 horror-suspense films directed by William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....

, alongside Troy Donohue.

1970s–present

In 1972, Heatherton had a #24 pop hit with the 1957 Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky honk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes...

 song "Gone
Gone (Ferlin Husky song)
"Gone" is a 1957 single by Ferlin Husky written by Smokey Rogers. The song was Ferlin Husky's second #1 on the country chart where it stayed at the top for ten weeks with a total of twenty-seven weeks on the charts...

". Her album, The Joey Heatherton Album
The Joey Heatherton Album
The Joey Heatherton Album is a 1972 album by Joey Heatherton. Her cover of the 1957 Ferlin Husky song "Gone" became a minor hit, but the album didn't do particularly well. Tony Scotti and Tommy Oliver produced and arranged it. It was mixed by Michael Lloyd....

, did not do as well on the charts as her single.

By the 1970s, Heatherton's career was slowing down, but she was still popular enough to do a series of TV ads for RC Cola and Serta Mattresses. A brief high point came in July 1975 when she headlined Joey & Dad, a four-week Sunday night summer replacement series for Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

's 1975-76 variety show in which she performed alongside her own father. Each episode would involve Ray Heatherton waxing nostalgic over life with his daughter, while rooting through his attic.

In subsequent years, Heatherton performed in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 and acted in a few scattered TV shows and films, including the 1972 Bluebeard
Bluebeard (1972 film)
Bluebeard is a 1972 thriller starring Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Joey Heatherton and Sybil Danning. It was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and directed by Edward Dmytryk....

 (with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

 in the title role
Bluebeard
"Bluebeard" is a French literary folktale written by Charles Perrault and is one of eight tales by the author first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the...

). Additionally, she played the starring role as Xaviera Hollander in 1977's Watergate
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...

-inspired The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington
The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington
The Happy Hooker goes to Washington is a 1977 comedy film directed by William A. Levey. It was the sequel to The Happy Hooker, which was released in 1975. Joey Heatherton replaced Lynn Redgrave as the lead character of Xaviera Hollander.Joe E...

.

In April 1997, Heatherton appeared nude in an issue of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

. Her most recent acting role was in the 2002 Damon Packard
Damon Packard
Damon Packard is an underground American film director and actor. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.- Early life :...

 film Reflections of Evil.

Personal life

In 1969, Heatherton married Lance Rentzel
Lance Rentzel
Thomas Lance Rentzel is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams from 1965 to 1974.-Early years:...

, a wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...

 for the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

. In November 1970, Rentzel was arrested for exposing himself
Indecent exposure
Indecent exposure is the deliberate exposure in public or in view of the general public by a person of a portion or portions of his or her body, in circumstances where the exposure is contrary to local moral or other standards of appropriate behavior. Indecent exposure laws vary in different...

 to a 10-year-old girl. They separated shortly afterward and divorced in 1972.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1960 Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...

Karen Emerson Episode: "Three Sides"
1962 to 1963 The Doctors and the Nurses
The Nurses (Primetime CBS drama)
The Nurses is a serialized primetime medical drama which aired on CBS from September 27, 1962 to May 11, 1965. It was originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962; for the second season, the title was expanded to The Doctors and the Nurses and it ran until 1965, when it was transformed...

Janet Clark
Ellen Denby
2 episodes
1963 The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...

Gloria Blaine 1 episode
1963 Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor is a 1963 film starring Richard Chamberlain, Nick Adams, Claude Rains, and featuring Joey Heatherton and Linda Evans in their film debuts. Twilight of Honor is a courtroom drama based on Al Dewlen's novel, with a screenplay by Henry Denker...

Laura Mae Brown Alternative title: The Charge is Murder
1963 Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak
Mr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...

Holly Metcalfe Episode: "To Break a Camel's Back"
1963 Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American Police procedural/legal drama that ran during the 1963-64 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.The majority of episodes consisted of two segments...

Edith Episode: "Some Weeks Are All Mondays"
1964 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an anthology television series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967...

Cress Episode: "Runaway"
1964 Channing Episode: "The Trouble with Girls"
1964 Breaking Point Dory Costain Episode: "I, the Dancer"
1964 Where Love Has Gone
Where Love Has Gone (film)
Where Love Has Gone is a 1964 drama film made by Embassy Pictures , Joseph E. Levine Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Joseph E. Levine from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the novel of the same name by Harold Robbins...

Danielle Valerie Miller
1965 My Blood Runs Cold Julie Merriday
1966 I Spy Katie 2 episodes
1968 Of Mice and Men Curley's Wife Television movie
1969 It Takes a Thief Jodie DuBois 2 episodes
1969 The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...

Emily Gogolak Episode: "The Honeymooners: Happiness Is a Rich Uncle"
1969 The Ballad of Andy Crocker
The Ballad of Andy Crocker
The Ballad of Andy Crocker is the title of a 1969 American made-for-television film which was first broadcast by ABC.The film tells the story of a young man's struggle to reclaim his life after fighting in the Vietnam War. It approaches a surreal, allegorical tale, similar to The Swimmer, starring...

Lisa Television movie
1970 Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...

Tippy Segment: "Love and the Hitchhiker"
1971 The Powder Room Television movie
1972 Bluebeard
Bluebeard (1972 film)
Bluebeard is a 1972 thriller starring Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, Joey Heatherton and Sybil Danning. It was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and directed by Edward Dmytryk....

Anne
1973 Old Faithful Herself Television movie
1977 The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington
The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington
The Happy Hooker goes to Washington is a 1977 comedy film directed by William A. Levey. It was the sequel to The Happy Hooker, which was released in 1975. Joey Heatherton replaced Lynn Redgrave as the lead character of Xaviera Hollander.Joe E...

Xaviera Hollander
1981 Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...

Herself Episode: "Night at the Awards"
1986 The Perils of P.K.
1990 Cry-Baby
Cry-Baby
Cry-Baby is a 1990 American teen musical film written and directed by John Waters. It stars Johnny Depp as 1950s teen rebel "Cry-Baby" Wade Walker, and also features an expansive ensemble cast that includes Amy Locane, Iggy Pop, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake, Kim McGuire, David Nelson, Susan Tyrrell, and...

Milton's mother
2002 Reflections of Evil Serta Spokeswoman

Award nominations

Year Award Category Title of work
1964 Golden Laurel Award
Producers Guild of America
Producers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 4,700 members of the producing establishment worldwide...

 
Top Female New Face
1966 Golden Laurel Award New Faces, Female
1964 Golden Globe Awards  Most Promising Newcomer - Female Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor
Twilight of Honor is a 1963 film starring Richard Chamberlain, Nick Adams, Claude Rains, and featuring Joey Heatherton and Linda Evans in their film debuts. Twilight of Honor is a courtroom drama based on Al Dewlen's novel, with a screenplay by Henry Denker...


External links

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