Joan Shawlee

While working as a nightclub performer in her native New York City, Joan Shawlee was discovered by comedian Lou Costello of the Abbott and Costello comedy duo. Costello was so impressed by Shawlee that he cast her as an Army lieutenant in the 1947 Abbott and Costello war comedy "Buck Privates Come Home." Shawlee was billed as Joan Fulton in that film and several others, including 1947's "The Vigilantes Return" and "Woman on the Run" in 1950. By the mid-1950s she was credited by her birth name, Joan Shawlee, and started to gain credibility as a wisecracking comedienne, helped in part by her many appearances on TV's "The Abbott and Costello Show." It wasn't until she was cast alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon in 1959's screwball classic "Some Like It Hot," however, that Shawlee's career really began to take off. Shawlee played the tyrannical bandleader Sweet Sue, and quickly earned a fan in the film's director, Billy Wilder. Wilder continued to cast Shawlee in choice supporting roles in several of his later films, including 1960's "The Apartment," 1963's "Irma La Douce," and his last film, 1981's "Buddy Buddy," in which Shawlee played a receptionist.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

City Heat (1984)

Buddy, Buddy (1981)

Receptionist

Child Bride of Short Creek (1981)

Never Con a Killer (1977)

Margo

Matt Helm (1975)

Flash and the Firecat (1975)

Rose

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Willard (1971)

Alice

One More Train to Rob (1971)

Big Nellie

Dead Men Tell No Tales (1971)

Polly Grant

Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)

Robbie's mother

Tony Rome (1967)

Fat Candy

The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)

Blonde in bar

The Wild Angels (1966)

Mama Monahan

Guerrillas in Pink Lace (1964)

Irma La Douce (1963)

Amazon Annie

Critic's Choice (1963)

Marge Orr

The Apartment (1960)

Sylvia

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Sweet Sue

A Farewell to Arms (1957)

Blonde nurse

Bowery to Bagdad (1955)

Velma

Conquest of Space (1955)

Rosie

Francis Joins the WACS (1954)

Sergeant Kipp

Casanova's Big Night (1954)

Beatrice D'Brizzi

About Mrs. Leslie (1954)

Girl in nightclub

A Star Is Born (1954)

Announcer

Pride of the Blue Grass (1954)

Mrs. Casey

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Sandra

All Ashore (1953)

Hedy

Loose in London (1953)

Tall girl

Miss Body Beautiful (1953)

Something for the Birds (1952)

Woman in station

Sound Off (1952)

Showgirl

The Marrying Kind (1952)

Girl dancing partner

Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)

Girl

Prehistoric Women (1950)

Lotee

Woman on the Run (1950)

Blonde

I'll Be Yours (1947)

Blonde

The Vigilantes Return (1947)

Ben's girl

Song of Scheherazade (1947)

French girl

Buck Privates Come Home (1947)

Sylvia Hunter

Michigan Kid (1947)

Soubrette

Smash Up--The Story of a Woman (1947)

Off-stage voice

Because of Him (1946)

White Tie and Tails (1946)

Virgie

House of Horrors (1946)

Stella

Lover Come Back (1946)

Janie

This Love of Ours (1945)

Chorus girl

Frontier Gal (1945)

Hostess

Cast (Special)

The Circle Family (1982)

Meter Maid (Guest)

Life Events

Photo Collections

House of Horrors - Lobby Cards

Here are a few lobby cards from Universal Pictures' House of Horrors (1946), starring Rondo Hatton as The Creeper. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.