Biography
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Born
14 September 1944 (age 79)
Joey Heatherton (born September 14, 1944) is an American actress, dancer and singer who reached the peak of her popularity in the 1960s
Heatherton began her career as a child actress and received her first sustained national exposure in 1959 as a semi-regular on The Perry Como Show, playing an exuberant teenager with a perpetual crush on the fiftyish "Mr. C." Another middle-aged crooner who was the object of her on-screen adoration was Dean Martin who invited her to perform numerous times on his popular 1965-74 NBC Thursday night TV variety show, starting with the premiere episode of September 16, 1965. From June to September 1968, along with Frank Sinatra, Jr., she co-hosted Martin's summer substitute musical comedy hour, Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers. She also made multiple appearances on the many other variety shows proliferating 1960s television, such as The Andy Williams Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Ed Sullivan Show and This is Tom Jones.
Her two 45rpm record releases, "Hullaballoo" (Coral, 1965) and "When You Call Me Baby" (Decca, 1966) sold poorly but, since the '70s, both have become very sought after in the UK among Northern Soul collectors, the Decca offering now changing hands among dealers and collectors for three-figure sums.
Particularly memorable was her guest shot on a May 1969 Tonight Show, where she energetically coached Johnny Carson on the finer points of dancing "The Frug." Vietnam War veterans and that era's TV viewers remember her as a long-time member of Bob Hope's USO troupe who, between 1965 and 1977, entertained the GIs with her singing, dancing and provocatively revealing outfits. Excerpts from the USO tours were televised as part of Hope's long-running series of NBC monthly specials, culminating in the top-rated Christmas shows, where Heatherton's segments were regularly featured.
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