JOANNA BARNES: Belying the Big Chill

Films of the Golden Age
Issue Number 93
Summer 2018

“I’ am one of those people that once I’ve done something, I’ve done it and that’s it. It’s history. I love being in the present and don’t need or have the desire to look back.”

Making an unsympathetic name for herself, JOANNA BARNES (1934-2022) moved up the film rung as the gal you loved to hate. Three of her infamous scene-stealers were as an irrepressibly spoiled debutante (AUNTIE MAME, 1958), a devious gold-digger (THE PARENT TRAP, 1961) and a vain Roman patrician who delighted in sending gladiators to their deaths (SPARTACUS, 1960). An early professional direction in writing (she was about to start a job with Time magazine) was diverted for a time courtesy of a Columbia screen test and acting career switch. She later focused on TV where her portrayals seemed less devious and more benevolent. In the 1970s she returned to writing and became a novelist.

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