Joanna Pettet

Lovely golden-haired actress Joanna Pettet got her start working on Broadway in the 1960s, but it was her feature film debut in Sidney Lumet's controversial film "The Group," based on Mary McCarthy's bestselling novel, that propelled her into the spotlight. More work quickly piled up. She starred opposite Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in the World War II thriller "The Night of the Generals"; played James Bond's daughter in the all-star spoof "Casino Royale"; and co-starred with Terence Stamp in the cult Western "Blue." Over the next couple of decades, she continued to work in film, guest starred on television shows like the drama series "Fantasy Island," the romantic comedy series "The Love Boat," and became a regular on the CBS primetime soap "Knots Landing." Outside of her film and television career, Pettet gained some notoriety when she posed for Playboy magazine in 1968, not something working actresses did at the time. She was also a close friend of actress Sharon Tate and had a brush with death, having visited at her friend's home just hours before Tate was murdered (along with four others) by so-called Manson Family members. This was the second time that Pettet had lost friends to violence. In 1963, two close friends were stabbed to death in New York City. Tragedy would strike again in 1995, when her 26-year-old son died of a heroin overdose.