Joanna Pettet, the London-born actress whose memorable performances in The Group (1966) and the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) made her a familiar face of 1960s cinema, has died. She was 83.
Pettet died Tuesday at Temecula Valley Hospital in California, according to her longtime friend and former manager, Pam DuBois. Her passing came exactly 31 years after the death of her son, Damien Cord, who died of a heroin overdose at age 26 in 1995. Damien was her only child with actor Alex Cord.
Pettet rose to prominence as Kay Strong in Sidney Lumet’s The Group, an adaptation of Mary McCarthy’s bestselling novel. Her character, one of eight Vassar graduates navigating life after college, endures an abusive marriage before meeting a tragic fate. The acclaimed ensemble cast included Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, Shirley Knight, Jessica Walter, Kathleen Widdoes and Mary-Robin Redd.
She followed that breakthrough with a standout role in Casino Royale, the 1967 Bond parody starring David Niven. Pettet played Mata Bond, the daughter of Niven’s James Bond and the legendary spy Mata Hari. One of the film’s most memorable scenes featured her performing an elaborate dance in a Buddhist temple before reuniting with her father.
Throughout the late 1960s, Pettet appeared in several notable films, including The Night of the Generals (1967) opposite Tom Courtenay, the crime thriller Robbery (1967) with Stanley Baker, and the Western Blue (1968), where she starred alongside Terence Stamp, with whom she later had a romantic relationship.
Her career began on Broadway in the early 1960s after studying at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her Broadway debut in Take Her, She’s Mine before earning a Theatre World Award for Poor Richard in 1964, where she stepped into the production shortly before opening night after replacing Shirley Knight. She also appeared in The Chinese Prime Minister during the same period.
Television became another successful outlet for Pettet. She appeared on NBC’s Dr. Kildare, Route 66, and the daytime drama The Doctors, before becoming a familiar face in television movies throughout the 1970s. She also appeared in four episodes of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, starred in the miniseries Captains and the Kings, and portrayed homicide detective Janet Baines in Knots Landing, investigating the murder of singer Ciji Dunne.
Pettet’s final screen appearance came in the Roger Corman-produced Terror in Paradise (1990), after which she quietly retired from acting.
Born Joanna Jane Salmon in London on Nov. 16, 1942, she lost her father, Royal Air Force pilot Harold Salmon, during World War II. Her mother later remarried, and the family settled in Montreal, where Joanna adopted her stepfather’s surname.
At just 16, she moved to New York with $1,000, believing it would support her for two years. “I’d never really fended for myself before and didn’t realize how fast money could go,” she recalled in a 1967 interview. “The whole nest egg was gone in three months.”
Beyond her acting career, Pettet was linked to one of Hollywood’s darkest chapters. On Aug. 8, 1969, she shared a poolside lunch with actress Sharon Tate and fellow actress Barbara Lewis at Tate’s home in Topanga Canyon. Hours later, Tate and four others were murdered by followers of Charles Manson. Pettet’s visit that day was later depicted in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Rumer Willis portraying her alongside Margot Robbie as Tate.
Pettet also appeared in Playboy magazine in 1968 to promote Blue and made a memorable guest appearance as herself in a 1984 episode of The Fall Guy, joining fellow Bond actresses Britt Ekland and Lana Wood.
Her personal life included high-profile relationships with actors Alan Bates and Terence Stamp. She reunited with Bates in 2002 shortly before he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Following his death in 2003, he left her a reported £95,000 in his will.
“It was a very touching gesture because he had done everything while he was in hospital to make sure I would be looked after following his death,” Pettet later told The Daily Mail.
Remembered for her elegance, versatility and memorable performances on stage, film and television, Joanna Pettet leaves behind a body of work that helped define an era of 1960s and 1970s entertainment.