Joan Marshall had one of the shortest roles in Munster history, playing Herman's wife Phoebe in the "Munsters" color pilot presentation and the following black and white pilot. Joan was born in 1931 in Chicago and in the 1940s, she did work as a showgirl and did Las Vegas productions. In 1961, she was credited as Jean Arless in the William Castle suspense film, Homicidal, which is probably her most popular work. The name was used so that viewers would be unsure if she was male or female during the movie.
In 1964, she played the role of Phoebe Munster in the earliest pilots of "The Munsters." Yvonne De Carlo soon replaced her, and the name was changed to Lily. In the 1970's she married Hal Ashby. He made a movie out of her life called Shampoo in 1975 and she has a small cameo in the movie. Hal Ashby died in 1988, and Joan remarried in 1989 to a man named Mel Bartfield. Joan died in 1992 in her beloved new home of Jamaica. She did many other TV shows in her life including, "Star Trek," "Maverick," "The Twilight Zone," "Gunsmoke," and "Petticoat Junction." She had a son named Steven, and a daughter named Shari.
Joan as Emily in Homicidal (1961)
Joan with James Arness in a 1961 episode of "Gunsmoke"
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