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Joan Freeman Profile

Joan Freeman
Joan Freeman
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(Joan Leslie Freeman)
8 / 4 January 42 is born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to a railway post clerk and a housewife
c. 45 starts taking dancing lessons at age 3
49 attends Mother Cabrini School in Burbank, California
February 49 captures the heart and the applause with her performance in the local series of Fox West Coast theaters national Talent Quest eliminations at the Van Nuys Theater
c. 52 moves with her family to Burbank, California, at the age of ten
59 graduates from John Burrough High School
? enrolls at San Fernando College to study accounting
? attends UCLA and joins its Javanese Gamelin Orchestra
c. 60 loses out to Carole Wells for a role in TV’s “National Velvet”
June 61 columnist Mike Connolly writes: "Starlet Joan Freeman starts her big TV career as a waitress in the new 'Bus Stop' series at $500 a week. Joan's father is a Brink Express Guard. I just thought I'd mention it."
October 61 gets the same promotional buildup from 20th Century-Fox that the studio gave to Marilyn Monroe
November 61 announces she wants to be a certified public accountant but "no C.P.A. ever looked like Joan in a bathing suit"
62 is nominated for “Most Promising New Star” by Photoplay
February 62 columnist Walter Winchell tells about a blazing romance between her and Peter Brown, star of "Lawman"
October 62 columnist Harrison Carroll tells: "It's just steady dating, no engagement, says Joan Freeman, for her and Frank Beetson, Jr., costume supervisor at Batjac. Joan was a regular in Fox's "Bus Stop" TV series..."
Early November 62 she, Karyn Kupcinet, and Laurel Goodwin bomb out on their Navy Relief Day junket to San Diego. "No liberty passes were issued to the un-jolly stars because of the Cuban crisis..."
24 November 62 is among the 14 "likeliest candidates for TV and movie stardom in 1963" presented at the Hollywood Deb Star Ball. The others are Mimsy Farmer, Roberta Shore, Sandra Bettin, Patty McCormack, Laurel Goodwin, Lori Martin, Lana Wood, Sheila James, Sandra Descher, Karyn Kupcinet, Brenda Scott, Susan Hart, and Sharyn Lyn Hillyer.
30 March 63 marries Frank C. Beetson, Jr., in Los Angeles. He's 29; she's 21.
July 63 she and fellow actor Rian Garrick pose with Walt Disney examining an old buccaneer pistol to promote "The Mooncussers," a segment of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color"
June 67 divorces Beetson, Jr., in Los Angeles
c. March 75 her director in a "Marcus Welby, M.D." segment is Bruce Kessler
? marries Kessler, Formula One racing driver-turned-director and best man of Lance Reventlow at his wedding to Cheryl Holdridge. He's 5 years her senior.
03 she and her husband are avid sailors
Sources:
Drive-In Dream Girls by Tom Lisanti, The News, Pasadena Independent, Nevada State Journal, The Fresno Bee, www.Ancestry.com
Recommended Books:
Drive-In Dream Girls by Tom Lisanti
Links:
Filmography
Elvis' Women
Joan Freeman at Spooky's Nightmare Mansion