Joan Goodfellow is an American actress and singer who appeared on
stage, screen, and television throughout the s and s. Best known for
her lead role in Buster and Billie () as well as her performance in
Lolly-Madonna XXX (), she also appeared in the TV-movies Returning
Home () and Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill (). Her final
film was Victor Nuñez's A Flash of Green in . On stage, she was a
member of the original cast of Neil Simon’s Broadway hit comedy
Biloxi Blues ().Martha Joan Goodfellow was born February , , in
Wilmington, Delaware, where she has spent most of her life. Her
parents were the late Millard Preston Goodfellow and Allene Leach
Goodfellow. Ms. Goodfellow attended Brandywine High School, where she
participated in theater arts productions. including The King and I, in
which she sang and acted the role of Anna. She also performed in the
supporting cast of Beauty and the Beast just before her graduation in
. Two years later, she would return to Wilmington with other
high-school alumni to stage a production of Cabaret. Acting and
singing the part of Frau Schneider, Ms. Goodfellow received an
excellent notice from a local drama critic who maintained that "her
singing is strong and sure...it seemed that the audience recognized
her with the loudest applause."In , Goodfellow attended the University
of Delaware, majoring in theater and dramatic arts. While there, she
performed supporting roles in various plays, including George
Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear and G. B. Shaw's Arms and the Man. Then in
the spring of , she joined with seven other student/actors in
presenting George Tabori's Brecht on Brecht, described as an
"affectionate tribute to the great German playwright." The program
consisted of both readings and songs, many written by Brecht in
collaboration with Kurt Weill. Then in July , Goodfellow appeared as
Salvation Army girl Sarah Brown in the university's summer festival
presentation of Guys and Dolls. One local reviewer, Martha Hully,
noted the absence of New York accents in this Damon Runyon-based work,
but she praised Goodfellow's singing while remarking that she "does
have some trouble with the higher registration." However, another
critic, Otto Dekom, gave the entire program a scathing notice. His
lede paragraph read: "'Guys and Dolls' is a show to be missed." Then
turning his critical eye on the production's cast, he described
Goodfellow's performance as that of "an aspring actress unhappily
thrust into a major role. Miss Goodfellow is innocent of talent for
singing or acting. Her singing consists largely of some high-pitched
sounds which provide little pleasure to the ear; her speech is
somewhat similar. [Her] drunk scene looks like a first rehearsal." If
the purpose of Dekom's critique was to dissuade Goodfellow from
pursuing an acting and singing career, he failed. The following fall,
she transferred to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
And upon graduating in , she received a call from her agent, who had
secured an audition for her in a new MGM motion picture based on Sue
Grafton's novel The Lolly-Madonna War.Goodfellow's tryout was a
success; she landed her first part in a Hollywood picture, later to be
dubbed Lolly-Madonna XXX, starring Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan as
patriarchs of two rival families in the Tennessee hills. Their feud
turns into all-out war when the daughter of one family, Sister E
(played by Ms. Goodfellow), is captured, taunted, and then raped by
two sons from the other clan. Of her performance, a Daily Variety
reviewer praised Goodfellow for bringing about some of "the finest
dramatic moments seen on film." And author/essayist Harlan Ellison,
who called Lolly-Madonna "one of the most obstinately compelling films
I've ever seen," singled out her performance as "skillful and highly
promising of a long and honorable career. The rape scene...is a
directorial and acting masterpiece; Ms. Goodfellow manages to convey
all the terror and bravery of a bird stalked by ruthless hunters. I
commend her to your attention." Regarding her memories of making that
first film, Goodfellow would later recall, "We had a wonderful time.
We boogied and played guitar, and Robert Ryan played the fiddle." She
also became close friends with one of her co-stars Season Hubley, who
at the time was another newcomer to films. According to Goodfellow,
she and Hubley "lived together in a red convertible ’ Galaxie with
two dogs. We were pretty wild, two crazy young kids in Hollywood. We
were having a hoot."
stage, screen, and television throughout the s and s. Best known for
her lead role in Buster and Billie () as well as her performance in
Lolly-Madonna XXX (), she also appeared in the TV-movies Returning
Home () and Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill (). Her final
film was Victor Nuñez's A Flash of Green in . On stage, she was a
member of the original cast of Neil Simon’s Broadway hit comedy
Biloxi Blues ().Martha Joan Goodfellow was born February , , in
Wilmington, Delaware, where she has spent most of her life. Her
parents were the late Millard Preston Goodfellow and Allene Leach
Goodfellow. Ms. Goodfellow attended Brandywine High School, where she
participated in theater arts productions. including The King and I, in
which she sang and acted the role of Anna. She also performed in the
supporting cast of Beauty and the Beast just before her graduation in
. Two years later, she would return to Wilmington with other
high-school alumni to stage a production of Cabaret. Acting and
singing the part of Frau Schneider, Ms. Goodfellow received an
excellent notice from a local drama critic who maintained that "her
singing is strong and sure...it seemed that the audience recognized
her with the loudest applause."In , Goodfellow attended the University
of Delaware, majoring in theater and dramatic arts. While there, she
performed supporting roles in various plays, including George
Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear and G. B. Shaw's Arms and the Man. Then in
the spring of , she joined with seven other student/actors in
presenting George Tabori's Brecht on Brecht, described as an
"affectionate tribute to the great German playwright." The program
consisted of both readings and songs, many written by Brecht in
collaboration with Kurt Weill. Then in July , Goodfellow appeared as
Salvation Army girl Sarah Brown in the university's summer festival
presentation of Guys and Dolls. One local reviewer, Martha Hully,
noted the absence of New York accents in this Damon Runyon-based work,
but she praised Goodfellow's singing while remarking that she "does
have some trouble with the higher registration." However, another
critic, Otto Dekom, gave the entire program a scathing notice. His
lede paragraph read: "'Guys and Dolls' is a show to be missed." Then
turning his critical eye on the production's cast, he described
Goodfellow's performance as that of "an aspring actress unhappily
thrust into a major role. Miss Goodfellow is innocent of talent for
singing or acting. Her singing consists largely of some high-pitched
sounds which provide little pleasure to the ear; her speech is
somewhat similar. [Her] drunk scene looks like a first rehearsal." If
the purpose of Dekom's critique was to dissuade Goodfellow from
pursuing an acting and singing career, he failed. The following fall,
she transferred to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
And upon graduating in , she received a call from her agent, who had
secured an audition for her in a new MGM motion picture based on Sue
Grafton's novel The Lolly-Madonna War.Goodfellow's tryout was a
success; she landed her first part in a Hollywood picture, later to be
dubbed Lolly-Madonna XXX, starring Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan as
patriarchs of two rival families in the Tennessee hills. Their feud
turns into all-out war when the daughter of one family, Sister E
(played by Ms. Goodfellow), is captured, taunted, and then raped by
two sons from the other clan. Of her performance, a Daily Variety
reviewer praised Goodfellow for bringing about some of "the finest
dramatic moments seen on film." And author/essayist Harlan Ellison,
who called Lolly-Madonna "one of the most obstinately compelling films
I've ever seen," singled out her performance as "skillful and highly
promising of a long and honorable career. The rape scene...is a
directorial and acting masterpiece; Ms. Goodfellow manages to convey
all the terror and bravery of a bird stalked by ruthless hunters. I
commend her to your attention." Regarding her memories of making that
first film, Goodfellow would later recall, "We had a wonderful time.
We boogied and played guitar, and Robert Ryan played the fiddle." She
also became close friends with one of her co-stars Season Hubley, who
at the time was another newcomer to films. According to Goodfellow,
she and Hubley "lived together in a red convertible ’ Galaxie with
two dogs. We were pretty wild, two crazy young kids in Hollywood. We
were having a hoot."
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