Joi Lansing in one of her twelve guest appearances on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Lansing also appeared opposite Ozzie Nelson in “Shoot the Moon,” an episode of The Jane Wyman Show that originally aired in January 1956. As guest Joseph Dougherty notes in this episode of TV Confidential, Joi Lansing was a constant presence in American movies and TV throughout the ’50s and ’60s
The “effortless attractiveness” of Joi Lansing
Original Airdates: Aug. 8-11, 2025
TVC 700.1: Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer Joseph Dougherty and author and artist Alexis Hunter join Ed for the first of a special two-part look at the life and career of Joi Lansing, the legendary Blonde Bombshell best known for her pin-up photos, her frequent work in movies and television throughout the ’50s and ’60s, and her successful nightclub singing act.
Joi Lansing in a scene from Fountain of Youth, a 1956 comedy-drama produced by Desi Arnaz and directed by Orson Welles that also served as the pilot for a possible Desilu Productions anthology series that would’ve featured short stories narrated and directed by Welles. Though the Welles series never materialized, Fountain of Youth eventually aired as an episode of Colgate Theatre in September 1958. It subsequently won a Peabody Award in April 1959, making Fountain of Youth the only unsold TV pilot to win that prestigious award. Welles later cast Lansing as the ill-fated woman who appears in the famous “tracking sequence” of Touch of Evil (1958)
Joe’s latest book, Comfort and Joi, is a part-biography, part-filmography, and part-appreciation of Joi Lansing that makes the case that Lansing was not only a much better actress than people gave her credit for, but could make even a seven-second silent bit in which she appears on the far edge of the frame interesting to watch just because she was in it. Alexis is the author of Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For, an intimate memoir of Alexis’s four-year relationship with Lansing, a period that coincided with the last four years of Joi’s life before she died from breast cancer in August 1972. Joi and Alexis had to keep their relationship secret, partly because of the pressure Joi felt to maintain her public image as the ultimate object of desire for men, and partly because the public at large in 1969 was not as accepting of intimate relationships between two members of the same sex as they are today.
Topics this segment include the many karmic coincidences that brought Joe and Alexis together (as well as the many ways in which their books complement each other); how Joi honed her comedic skills while working with Lucille Ball and Bob Cummings; and Joi’s experience working with Orson Welles not only in Touch of Evil, but in the award-winning comedy-drama Fountain of Youth.
Joi Lansing posing for the now famous publicity still for the 1956 noir thriller Hot Cars
The Aura of Joi Lansing
Original Airdates: Aug. 8-11, 2025
TVC 701.2: Joseph Dougherty, author of Comfort and Joi, and Alexis Hunter, author of Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For, talk to Ed about the many times in which producer Al Simon and actress Nancy Kulp crossed paths with Joi Lansing; Joi’s notable television appearances, including her recurring role as Gladys Flatt in The Beverly Hillbillies; and Hot Cars (1956), a film noir thriller that, in many respects, marked Joi’s most prominent appearance on the big screen other than Touch of Evil. Comfort and Joi is available from Tucker DS Press, while Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For is available from Bear Manor Media.
Joi Lansing with Dean Martin in Who Was That Lady?
Joi Lansing: The Scopitone Bombshell
Original Airdates: Aug. 15-18, 2025
TVC 702.4: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Joseph Dougherty, author of Comfort and Joi, and Alexis Hunter, author of Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For, about the life and career of singer/actress Joi Lansing. Topics this segment include how Joi’s third husband, producer Stan Todd, not only helped Joi launch her nightclub singing career, but stepped up for both Joi and Alexis, particularly during Joi’s battle with breast cancer. Comfort and Joi is available from Tucker DS Press, while Joi Lansing: A Body to Die For is available from Bear Manor Media.
