Judy Carne(1939-2015)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Trained in music and dance, tiny-framed, pixie-like Judy Carne was born
Joyce Botterill in Northampton, England on April 27, 1939, the daughter of a
grocer. Trained in dance, she appeared in music revues as a teenager
and changed her name at the advice of a dance teacher.
Slowly building up a career on British TV, she arrived in America in 1962, the eve of
the mid-60s "British invasion," and appeared to good advantage on the
TV series Fair Exchange (1962).
Beginning unobtrusively in film, she developed enough as a light
comedienne to score well on the smaller screen and won a regular role
on the sitcom
The Baileys of Balboa (1964).
Stardom came with her own romantic comedy series
Love on a Rooftop (1966)
opposite the late Pete Duel. The latter
series, though short-lived, was quite popular and showcased Carne's
appeal to maximum advantage. She found herself embraced by America as a
cute, pert-nosed Cockney lass with a Peter Pan-like effervescence.
It was no surprise when a couple of years later she soared to "flower
power" stardom on the hip and highly irreverent TV cult variety show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967),
where she introduced the phrase "Sock it to me!" to the American
vernacular. As the plucky brunette, she always seemed to be on the receiving
end of a slapstick prank, but the audiences loved her for it. The show
also made instant household names out of fellow Laugh-In comrades
Arte Johnson,
Ruth Buzzi,
Henry Gibson,
Jo Anne Worley,
Lily Tomlin, and, notably,
Goldie Hawn, who managed to out-perk even
Judy and grab the lion's share of attention. Judy proved herself a game
sport for a while, but made the decision to leave the series after only
two seasons-- tired of the grind, the typecast, and the disappointment
of having her singing/dancing skills undermined.
In the long run it probably was a major career mistake. With the
exception of her role as Polly (the
Julie Andrews roles) in a Broadway
revival of "The Boy Friend" that also featured
Sandy Duncan, Judy's post "Laugh-In"
professional life was unexceptional with a surprising quick descent.
There were a couple of mini-movies, a failed TV idea for a sitcom
called "Poor Judy", a failed Las Vegas music act, and the TV talk show
circuit. Nothing panned out. Despite an innocent, bubbly, cheery
exterior, her private life was anything but. Her 1963 marriage to
rising star Burt Reynolds was over
within a couple of years. The divorce was acrimonious, to say the
least, with nasty, below-the-belt accusations being flung from both
sides and feeding the tabloid sheets. A second marriage to TV producer
Robert Bergman in 1970 lasted even less
than that. More problematic, however, was Judy's escalating financial
problems and a drug problem which started with marijuana and
hallucinogens and developed into a full-fledged heroin addiction.
In the late 60s and 70s she tried to maintain somewhat with scattered
appearances on the musical and comedy stage with roles in "Cabaret" (as
Sally Bowles), "Absurd Person Singular," "There's a Girl in My Soup",
"The Owl and the Pussycat" and "Blithe Spirit". Her career pretty much
in shambles, she fell quickly into the lifestyle of a junkie and began
living in squalor. For the next decade, she literally dropped out of
sight. The only time she was heard from was when she was busted for a
drug arrest or when she made unhappy headlines for a near-fatal 1978
car crash (her ex-husband Robert was driving) that left her with a
broken neck.
Judy's tell-all 1985 autobiography, "Laughing on the Outside, Crying on
the Inside", was a harrowing and heart-wrenching read with explicit
detailing of her descent into degradation. Despite the book, the
adorable English girl who captured America's heart in the late 1960s
failed to win back a now-disinterested audience. She remains a prime
example of what the flip side of a glamorous Hollywood can turn out to
be.
In later years, Judy lived and was not heard of much since the
publishing of the book. She has allegedly been married twice more since
then. She was also in attendance for the televised 25th anniversary of
"Laugh-In" and a televised "Laugh-In" Christmas show both in 1993. Out of the picture since the early 1980's, she was a 1990 guest for talk show hosts Geraldo Rivera and Howard Stern and made an isolated appearance as a homeless person in the downbeat urban movie drama What About Me (1993), written and directed by the film's star Rachel Amodeo.
Living quietly in the village of Pitsford for two decades, she died from pneumonia on September 3, 2015, at a hospital in Northampton.
Joyce Botterill in Northampton, England on April 27, 1939, the daughter of a
grocer. Trained in dance, she appeared in music revues as a teenager
and changed her name at the advice of a dance teacher.
Slowly building up a career on British TV, she arrived in America in 1962, the eve of
the mid-60s "British invasion," and appeared to good advantage on the
TV series Fair Exchange (1962).
Beginning unobtrusively in film, she developed enough as a light
comedienne to score well on the smaller screen and won a regular role
on the sitcom
The Baileys of Balboa (1964).
Stardom came with her own romantic comedy series
Love on a Rooftop (1966)
opposite the late Pete Duel. The latter
series, though short-lived, was quite popular and showcased Carne's
appeal to maximum advantage. She found herself embraced by America as a
cute, pert-nosed Cockney lass with a Peter Pan-like effervescence.
It was no surprise when a couple of years later she soared to "flower
power" stardom on the hip and highly irreverent TV cult variety show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967),
where she introduced the phrase "Sock it to me!" to the American
vernacular. As the plucky brunette, she always seemed to be on the receiving
end of a slapstick prank, but the audiences loved her for it. The show
also made instant household names out of fellow Laugh-In comrades
Arte Johnson,
Ruth Buzzi,
Henry Gibson,
Jo Anne Worley,
Lily Tomlin, and, notably,
Goldie Hawn, who managed to out-perk even
Judy and grab the lion's share of attention. Judy proved herself a game
sport for a while, but made the decision to leave the series after only
two seasons-- tired of the grind, the typecast, and the disappointment
of having her singing/dancing skills undermined.
In the long run it probably was a major career mistake. With the
exception of her role as Polly (the
Julie Andrews roles) in a Broadway
revival of "The Boy Friend" that also featured
Sandy Duncan, Judy's post "Laugh-In"
professional life was unexceptional with a surprising quick descent.
There were a couple of mini-movies, a failed TV idea for a sitcom
called "Poor Judy", a failed Las Vegas music act, and the TV talk show
circuit. Nothing panned out. Despite an innocent, bubbly, cheery
exterior, her private life was anything but. Her 1963 marriage to
rising star Burt Reynolds was over
within a couple of years. The divorce was acrimonious, to say the
least, with nasty, below-the-belt accusations being flung from both
sides and feeding the tabloid sheets. A second marriage to TV producer
Robert Bergman in 1970 lasted even less
than that. More problematic, however, was Judy's escalating financial
problems and a drug problem which started with marijuana and
hallucinogens and developed into a full-fledged heroin addiction.
In the late 60s and 70s she tried to maintain somewhat with scattered
appearances on the musical and comedy stage with roles in "Cabaret" (as
Sally Bowles), "Absurd Person Singular," "There's a Girl in My Soup",
"The Owl and the Pussycat" and "Blithe Spirit". Her career pretty much
in shambles, she fell quickly into the lifestyle of a junkie and began
living in squalor. For the next decade, she literally dropped out of
sight. The only time she was heard from was when she was busted for a
drug arrest or when she made unhappy headlines for a near-fatal 1978
car crash (her ex-husband Robert was driving) that left her with a
broken neck.
Judy's tell-all 1985 autobiography, "Laughing on the Outside, Crying on
the Inside", was a harrowing and heart-wrenching read with explicit
detailing of her descent into degradation. Despite the book, the
adorable English girl who captured America's heart in the late 1960s
failed to win back a now-disinterested audience. She remains a prime
example of what the flip side of a glamorous Hollywood can turn out to
be.
In later years, Judy lived and was not heard of much since the
publishing of the book. She has allegedly been married twice more since
then. She was also in attendance for the televised 25th anniversary of
"Laugh-In" and a televised "Laugh-In" Christmas show both in 1993. Out of the picture since the early 1980's, she was a 1990 guest for talk show hosts Geraldo Rivera and Howard Stern and made an isolated appearance as a homeless person in the downbeat urban movie drama What About Me (1993), written and directed by the film's star Rachel Amodeo.
Living quietly in the village of Pitsford for two decades, she died from pneumonia on September 3, 2015, at a hospital in Northampton.