Harmon was 27 years old when she appeared in the 1967 Paul Newman-fronted crime drama, Cool Hand Luke<\/a>. She was technically credited as The Girl, but was nicknamed “Lucille” by the convicts that she tantalized in her three-minute appearance.<\/p>\n In 2017, Harmon sat down with Entertainment Weekly to honor the film for its 50th anniversary <\/a>\u2014 and admitted that she had no idea of the impact that her single scene would have on viewers.<\/p>\n Joy Harmon in ‘Love and the Secret Habit’ in 1972 “I was just washing a car to my best ability and having fun with it, with the sponge and everything,” Harmon told EW. “My concept of the [scene] was not like what came out. I was not aware that there were two meanings to things that I was doing, and I’m still not really that much aware of what they all were.”<\/p>\n The scene sees Harmon emerge from a dilapidated country house, turn on a portable radio, and get to work washing a car. Simple as it sounds, Harmon imbued the sequence with unforgettable sensuality.<\/p>\n Aside from Cool Hand Luke, Harmon appeared in classic films such as Village of the Giants, One Way Wahine, and Angel in My Pocket. On the small screen, she landed roles on The Odd Couple, Batman, Burke’s Law, Bewitched, and more.<\/p>\n Eventually, she left Hollywood behind, married film editor Jeff Gourson (Tron), and left acting to raise her three children.<\/p>\n “I was never one who said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be a big star,'” Harmon told EW. “I just took whatever came to me. It got to be the point where I would just get calls\u2014I didn’t have to go in and read for it\u2014go in for wardrobe and do scenes in all those TV shows that were out at that time. It was simple and easy and fun.”<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with\u00a0our\u00a0EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harmon later opened Aunt Joy’s Cakes, a Burbank wholesale bakery <\/a>that provides homemade desserts to the studios’ craft services. Her career was documented in the \u00a02013 short film, From Cheesecake to Cheesecake<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Joy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/48c87aee0f7cbd99fc282ee0634ad4ed.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: ABC Photo Archives\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty<\/p>\n