Joan Banks

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Joan Banks (October 30, 1918 - January 18, 1998) was an American film, television, stage and radio actress. Born in Petersburg, West Virginia on October 30, 1918, she worked in radio, and was a regular on the 1930s series Gangbusters, with weekly episodes based on real criminal incidents. She married fellow Gangsbusters voice actor Frank Lovejoy, with whom she had two children (a boy and a girl). Banks began her Hollywood career with small roles in film, such as 1951's Cry Danger and 1952's Washington Story. Banks became better known in the 1950s and early 1960s for her many appearances as a supporting actor on various television series, with appearances on I Love Lucy, Private Secretary, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the Rough Riders, the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Perry Mason and Hazel.

On October 2, 1962, Banks' husband Frank Lovejoy died of a heart attack while the two were appearing in a New Jersey production of the Best Man.^[1] Her career in radio continued after her work in television subsided, and she appeared in 33 episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater from 1974 to 1980. Banks died in Los Angeles, California on January 18, 1998 of lung cancer. Banks is buried with husband Frank Lovejoy at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.^[2]