Joan O’Brien death: Operation Petticoat and It Happened at the World’s Fair actor dies aged 89

Massachusetts-born actor was known for starring opposite Elvis Presley, Cary Grant and John Wayne

Joan O'Brien at London Airport on April 27, 1962 (George Stroud/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Joan O’Brien, the actor who starred in a string of film and television hits throughout the 1950s and 1960s, has died. She was 89.

O’Brien was perhaps best known for her work in the Blake Edwards submarine comedy Operation Petticoat, in which she starred opposite Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.

She also played the love interest of Elvis Presley in 1963’s It Happened at the World's Fair, and worked with John Wayne in both 1960’s The Alamo and 1961’s The Comancheros.

Her death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by her daughter, Melissa, who did not provide any further details.

O’Brien was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 14, 1936. Her parents, David and Rita, moved the family to California while O’Brien was still a child and enrolled their daughter in dance classes.

She was hired as a singer on the television show Hometown Jamboree before she left high school, and performed on bandleader Bob Crosby’s eponymous show from 1954 to 1958.

Joan O'Brien with Elvis Presley in director Norman Taurog's film 'It Happened At The World's Fair' (Evening Standard/Getty Images)

She made her film debut in David Friedkin’s drama Handle with Care in 1958, before landing her breakthrough role as Lt. Dolores Crandall in Operation Petticoat the following year.

In the early 1960s, O’Brien starred in a series of Western movies, including The Alamo, The Comancheros and Six Black Horses. She also appeared in a string of Western television shows including Man Without A Gun, Bat Masterson and Wagon Train.

Other memorable television appearances included playing a high school friend of Dick Van Dyke’s character on The Dick Van Dyke Show who makes his wife (Mary Tyler Moore) jealous.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

In 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair, O’Brien portrayed a nurse who is called upon to care for pilot Mike Edwards (Elvis Presley) at the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. The pair memorably dine in a restaurant at the top of the Space Needle and end up falling in love.

After appearing on the spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1964 she began a relationship with star Robert Vaughn.

Her acting career subsequently came to an end after personal issues arose in 1965.

She was married five times, first to the Wrecking Grew musician Billy Strange​​ from 1954 to 1956.​ She was then married to NBC executive John Meyers, actor Harvey Allen, and artist Dino Kotopoulis.

Her final marriage, to the retired US military officer Lt. Colonel Malcolm Bernard Campbell, lasted from 1979 until his death in 2004.