Joan Barton was born Mary Ann Bock, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Bock in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. At fourteen, and dubbed "Mary Ann," she sang with Phil Spitalney's Orchestra. She toured overseas on USO tours during the Second World War, and was warmly welcomed by the soldiers (her measurements were 37-24-35). After the war, she turned to acting. Her career included film roles in
Lone Star Moonlight (1946),
Romance of the West (1946),
Cigarette Girl (1947) and her most famous role, showgirl Lila Neal in
Angel and the Badman (1947) with John Wayne. Barton then began to rack up a number of small television and film credits like
Mary Lou (1948) and her final film,
Million Dollar Mermaid (1957) with Esther Williams. She managed an
Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1950, worked nightclubs, and went from dating A-list guys like Dick Powell to marrying used-car dealer "Madman" Muntz, notorious for his pioneering hard-sell and totally ludicrous TV commercials, in 1950. The couple had a daughter, Tee Vee "Teena" Muntz, in 1953. The marriage was not a long one, as Muntz was well-known for his ability to only have more than one woman. Muntz went bankrupt in 1959 and in 1962 Joan failed to make cash registers ring for Warners, so she did the only thing she could do, sing professionally. Her single album, the confusingly titled
The Most Fun I Had Laughing, In Fidelity Low Lights and Laughs (1962), released
on Warner Bros. Records. The album did not do well, with reviews like "an album of sanitized Bessie Smith numbers and 'sophisticated' tunes that hotel nightclub bon vivants sang". She then met and married Jerry Gray, the famous bandleader and arranger, and the duo moved to Dallas, where he lead the Fairmont Hotel band into the 1970s before dying of a heart attack at the age of 61. Joan remained in Dallas until her passing on August 27, 1976.
Abbey Mausoleum
Restland Memorial Park
Dallas
COORDINATES
32° 55.567, -096° 44.369
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