all the king's women #13 - joan blackman

Joan May Blackman was born in San Francisco in 1938. she made her television debut in Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans in 1957, and her film debut came 2 years later in Good Day for a Hanging. Joan's most memorable performances were opposite Jerry Lewis in Visit to a Small Planet (1960), and opposite the king himself in one of his most successful films: Blue Hawaii (1961).

in Blue Hawaii, Blackman plays Maile Rose, Elvis' half French, half Hawaiian, travel agent girlfriend. sorry to spoil the plot, but the film ends in a wedding, the song from which i walked down the isle to when my husband and i were married at Graceland :)

Joan was the second and last woman to play a leading role in more than one Elvis film (the first was Dolores Hart). her second film with Elvis, only a year later, was Kid Galahad, a remake of the 1937 Humphrey Bogart picture of the same name. in this one, Elvis plays a reluctant boxing champion, accompanied by his loyal trainer, played by a young, and strangely handsome (!) Charles Bronson.

he fights a bunch in this one,

but he still gets the girl,

and he still rocks out :)

life after Elvis included numerous television and film performances, including 1985 rock-opera Return to Waterloo. she has reportedly written a book about her friendship with Elvis, but i haven't been able to find it.

Joan was twice married in her younger years. marriage number one (1968-1970) was to Rockne Tarkington, the first black actor to appear in a recurring role in a television series ("Daktari" (1966)), with whom she had two children. marriage number two (1959-1961) was to actor Joby Baker, who also appeared in an Elvis film (Girl Happy), and later became an artist of note.