Quick Facts
Biography
Joan Dixon (June 6, 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia – February 20, 1992 in Los Angeles) was an American film and television actress in the 1950s. She is known for her role in the film noir Roadblock (1951).
Life and career
Dixon's career, while under contract at RKO Pictures, was in the hands of Howard Hughes. He attempted but failed to make her into the star he made of Jane Russell (whom Dixon resembled). Hughes had personal contracts with Dixon, Russell, and Janis Carter.
In September 1952, it was revealed that Hughes had an agreement with the Ralph E. Stolkin syndicate to lend RKO Pictures the sum of $8,000,000. The loan commitment was made as part of a sales accord following losses sustained by RKO in the previous two years. Earlier Hughes controlled RKO-Radio studio.
Joan eloped and married Chicago, Illinois camera manufacturer Theodore (Ted) Briskin in October 1952. Briskin was formerly the husband of Betty Hutton, having married and divorced her twice. Dixon and Briskin were married in a surprise ceremony in the wedding chapel of the Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. She was 23 and he was 35. Their marriage lasted but three weeks, with Miss Dixon leaving Briskin in early November 1952. She was later married to writer William Driscoll, but they divorced in 1959.
The actress appeared in ten films (mostly westerns), co-starring in a number of cowboy pictures with Tim Holt. She had a starring role in a 1950 crime drama, Experiment Alcatraz. Dixon appeared on a few television programs, including episodes of The Ford Television Theater (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956).
She also performed as a vocalist at Dean Martin's nightclub, Dino's Lodge in Los Angeles, California, in December 1960.
She died on February 20, 1992, in Los Angeles at age 61.
Partial filmography
- Bunco Squad (1950)
- Gunplay (1951)
- Roadblock (1951)
- Pistol Harvest (1951)
- Desert Passage (1952)