# Joan Shawlee

Joan Shawlee (née Fulton; March 5, 1926 – March 22, 1987) was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role as Fiona "Pickles" Sorrell in The Dick Van Dyke Show, a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) playing Sweet Sue, the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band, and as the flamboyant Madame Pompey in the 1957 Maverick episode "Stampede" with James Garner. She was sometimes credited under her birth name.

## Early years

Shawlee was born in Forest Hills, New York to Theodore Cuyler Fulton, an automobile salesman, and Esther L. (Ring) Fulton, and she moved with her parents and two brothers, Theodore Cuyler Fulton Jr. and Albert Fulton, to Vancouver, British Columbia when she was five years old.

## Career
### Dancing and modeling

Shawlee studied ballet under Ernest Belcher. At the age of fourteen, she began to work as a model for the John Robert Powers agency in New York, and worked later as a showgirl on Broadway. Billed as Joyce Ring, she appeared in the musical productions By Jupiter (1942) and A Connecticut Yankee (1943).

### Film

A tall woman (5'9"), she was known for small parts in Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder films. She is probably best remembered for her role as bandleader Sweet Sue in Some Like It Hot (1959) starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Lemmon. She appeared as Sylvia in The Apartment (1960), and as Amazon Annie in Irma la Douce, both of which starred Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. She also appeared in Wilder's final film, Buddy Buddy (1981).

### Television

Shawlee had a recurring role on TV in The Dick Van Dyke Show as Fiona "Pickles" Sorrell, wife of writer Maurice "Buddy" Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam). She played the lead in The Adventures of Aggie (1956–57), which ran for only one season.$^{:20}$ She played Lorna Peterson on Betty Hutton's short-lived series$^{:94}$ Goldie; Margo on the 1976–77 crime drama The Feather and Father Gang;$^{:338}$ and Tessie on Joe's World.$^{:537–538}$ She was also a regular on The Abbott and Costello Show. She played a dead criminal's wife in Stories of the Century with Jim Davis and a 1957 episode of Maverick titled "Stampede", starring James Garner and Efrem Zimbalist Jr., in which she portrayed the exuberant Madame Pompey. Her final acting appearance was in an episode of Crazy Like a Fox in 1985.

### Comedy team

In the early 1960s, Shawlee and actress Mitzi McCall teamed up as a night club act. They opened at the Club Robaire in Cleveland. In January 1961, syndicated newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reported that the team was "causing quite a stir", while drawing attention to – and exaggerating – their discrepancy in height: "Joan being six feet, three inches tall and Mitzi four feet, 10 inches short."

## Personal life

Shawlee and her second husband, Eddie Barchet, had a daughter, Angela.
Shawlee was a Democrat who was supportive of Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election. Shawlee was a practicing Episcopalian.

## Death

Shawlee died of breast cancer, in Hollywood, California, on March 22, 1987, aged 61. She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

## Selected filmography and television

* Men in Her Diary (1945) - Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
* This Love of Ours (1945) - Chorus Girl (uncredited)
* Frontier Gal (1945) – Hostess (uncredited)
* Because of Him (1946) – Autograph Seeker
* Idea Girl (1946) – Mabel
* Tangier (1946) – Rocco's Blonde
* House of Horrors (1946) – Stella McNally
* Cuban Pete (1946) – Ann
* The Runaround (1946) – Mamie 'Baby' Willis
* Inside Job (1946) – Ruth
* Lover Come Back (1946) – Janie
* White Tie and Tails (1946) – Virgie
* I'll Be Yours (1947) – Blonde
* The Michigan Kid (1947) – Soubrette
* Song of Scheherazade (1947) – French Girl (uncredited)
* Buck Privates Come Home (1947) – Sylvia Hunter
* The Vigilantes Return (1947) – Ben's Girl
* Woman on the Run (1950) – Tipsy Woman at Bar
* Prehistoric Women (1950) – Lotee
* Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) – Tall Brunette in Boardinghouse (uncredited)
* The Marrying Kind (1952) – Tall Party Dancer / Woman at Airport (uncredited)
* Sound Off (1952) – Showgirl (uncredited)
* Something for the Birds (1952) – Woman in Subway Station (uncredited)
* Because of You (1952) – Autograph Seeker (uncredited)
* All Ashore (1953) – Hedy
* Loose in London (1953) – Tall Girl at Party (uncredited)
* From Here to Eternity (1953) – Sandra (uncredited)
* The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1953, TV Series) – Marion / The Registrar
* Pride of the Blue Grass (1954) – Mrs. Casey
* Casanova's Big Night (1954) – Beatrice D'Brizzi (uncredited)
* About Mrs. Leslie (1954) – Jill – Nightclub Girl
* Francis Joins the WACS (1954) – Sgt. Kipp
* A Star Is Born (1954) – Joan (uncredited)
* Bowery to Bagdad (1955) – Velma 'Cindy Lou' Calhoun
* Conquest of Space (1955) – Rosie McCann
* Born for Trouble (1955)
* The Adventures of Aggie (1956–1957, TV Series) – Aggie
* A Farewell to Arms (1957) – Blonde Nurse (uncredited)
* Maverick (1957, Season 1: Episode 9 “Stampede”)
* Zorro (1958, Season 1: Episode 18 "Zorro Fights His Father," Episode 19 "Death Stacks the Deck") – Barmaid Clara
* Some Like It Hot (1959) – Sweet Sue
* The Apartment (1960) – Sylvia
* The Rifleman (1961, TV Series) – Mary Woodson
* The Dick Van Dyke Show (1963, TV Series) – Pickles Sorrell
* Critic's Choice (1963) – Marge Orr
* Irma la Douce (1963) – Amazon Annie
* Guerillas in Pink Lace (1964) – Miss Gloria Maxine
* The Wild Angels (1966) – Momma Monahan
* The Reluctant Astronaut (1967) – Blonde in Bar
* The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) – Edna, Frank's Girlfriend (uncredited)
* Tony Rome (1967) – Fat Candy
* Live A Little Love A Little (1968) – Robbie's Mother
* One More Train to Rob (1971) – Big Nellie
* Willard (1971) – Alice
* Columbo (1971, season 1 episode "Suitable for Framing") – Mitilda
* Flash and the Firecat (1975) – Rose
* Farewell, My Lovely (1975) – Garrulous Woman in Dance Hall
* The Feather and Father Gang (1976–1977, TV Series) – Margo
* Longshot (1981) – Motel Manager
* Buddy Buddy (1981) – Receptionist
* Kiss My Grits (1982) – Wanda
* City Heat (1984) – Peggy Barker