Joi Lansing was born Joyce Rae Brown in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1929 to Jack Glenn Brown, a shoe salesman, and Virginia Grace Brown, a housewife. She would later be known as Joyce Wassmansdorff, which was the surname of her stepfather. She began modeling in her teens, and, aged 14, was signed to a contract at MGM. She completed high school on the studio lot. A model and actress, Lansing was often cast in roles similar to those played by her contemporaries, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. She was frequently clad in skimpy costumes and bikinis that accentuated her attractive figure, but never posed nude. Lansing practiced yoga for relaxation. A Mormon, she did not drink or smoke. Lansing broke into night club entertaining in 1965. Sadly, In 1972 Joi Lansing died from breast cancer at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California where she had initially been treated surgically for the disease earlier the same year.
