The outlet added that she was working at her Burbank bakery, Aunt Joy’s Cakes<\/a>, the day before she went to the hospital.<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n Born in Queens, New York in 1940 and raised in Connecticut, Harmon began as a beauty pageant contestant and model before getting her start in regional theater. It was Groucho Marx’s quiz show The Groucho Show, later called You Bet Your Life, that kickstarted her screen career in the early 1960s, as Marx asked her to return as co-host of spin-off show Tell It to Groucho.<\/p>\n Joy Harmon in ‘The Odd Couple’ in 1972 After making her Broadway debut in 1958 in the play Make a Million, Harmon began making cameo appearances in TV and film until 1973. She played a giant in 1965’s Village of the Giants. Opposite Paul Newman, she featured as a character known as Lucille, The Girl, who sensuously washed his car in an iconic scene from 1967’s Cool Hand Luke.<\/p>\n Harmon was married to filmmaker Jeff Gourson from 1968 to 2001; the pair shared three children. She pivoted from Hollywood to baking after sharing treats she had baked with coworkers on film sets, including Marx.<\/p>\n Per the Aunt Joy’s Cakes website, the bakery \u201cstarted in the kitchen of her home in California. The name originated when Joy Harmon began supplying cakes to her niece’s coffee shop. Whenever she made a delivery her niece would cheer, \u2018Aunt Joy’s cakes are here!’\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Joy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a3d622a9358ffac92da51ae56425155e.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: ABC Photo Archives\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty<\/p>\n