Joy Harmon, the actress who memorably and without a word stole a scene in the Paul Newman classic Cool Hand Luke, has died. Deadline confirmed the news with a business associate. She was 87.
Harmon, then 27, played “Lucille” in Cool Hand Luke, and in her three-minute appearance, she outshines Newman, a young Dennis Hopper and even the film’s eventual Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner George Kennedy. In it, she plays a young, unnamed woman who washes her car wearing only a tattered, tight fitting floral dress. Nearby is a chain gang of convicts digging a ditch in the hot, midday sun. Her character seems to enjoy their attention as she uses a very soapy sponge and, at times, her body to clean the car.
At one point, Kennedy’s character begins calling her “Lucille.”
Newman’s Luke asks him, “Lucille. Where’d you get that?”
Kennedy’s character answers,
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