Trained in music and dance, tiny-framed, pixie-like Judy Carne was born Joyce Botterill in Northampton, England in 1939, and arrived in America on the eve of the mid-60s "British invasion." She began unobtrusively in film and TV parts, but developed enough as a light comedienne to win a regular role on a sitcom called The Baileys of Balboa, and then into her own romantic comedy series Love on a Rooftop opposite the late Pete Duel. The latter series, though short-lived, showcased Carne's appeal to maximum advantage. She found herself embraced by America as a cute, pert-nosed Cockney lass with a Peter Pan-like effervescence. It was no surprise when a couple of years later she would soar to "flower power" stardom on the hip and highly irreverent TV cult variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where she introduced the phrase "Sock it to me!" to the American vernacular. As the plucky, mini-skirted (sometimes bikini-clad) foil with the trendy brunet shag, she always seemed to be on the receiving end of a slapstick prank, but the audiences loved her for it. The show also made instant household names out of fellow Laugh-In comrades Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley, Lily Tomlin, and, notably, Goldie Hawn, who managed to out-perk even Judy and grab the lion's share of attention. Judy proved herself a game sport for a while, but made the decision to leave the series after only two seasons-- tired of the grind, the typecast, and the disappointment of having her singing/dancing skills undermined by the ever-present pratfalls she was obliged to endure. It was a major career mistake. Her post "Laugh-In" professional life was surprisingly brief with the exception of a couple of mini-movies, a failed Las Vegas music act, and the TV talk show circuit. Despite an innocent, bubbly, cheery exterior, her private life was anything but. Her 1963 marriage to rising star Burt Reynolds was over within a couple of years. The divorce was acrimonious, to say the least, with nasty, below-the-belt accusations being flung from both sides and feeding the tabloid sheets. A second marriage to TV producer Robert Bergman in 1970 lasted even less than that. More problematic, however, was Judy's escalating drug problem which started with marijuana and hallucinogens and developed into a full-fledged heroin addiction. Her career in shambles, she fell quickly into the lifestyle of a junkie while living in squalor. For the next decade, she literally dropped out of sight. The only time she was heard from was if she appeared infamously in the newspaper for a drug possession arrest or for the 1978 car crash that left her with a broken neck. Judy's tell-all 1985 autobiography "Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside" was a harrowing and heart-wrenching read with explicit detailing of her descent into degradation, but it failed to bring back a long-disinterested audience. A prime example of the flip side of Hollywood, she lives in England but has not been heard of much since the publishing of the book.
Ex-husband Burt Reynolds invited Judy as his guest the first time he guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the early 70s. They hadn't spoken in six years. Measurements: 33-23-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) She was one of the actresses considered for the lead role of Eglantine Price in Disney's Bedknobs And Broomsticks. Her performance of one of the film's songs, "Subsititutiary Locomotion," ended up on a Disneyland LP record containing cover versions of the songs (catalog # STER-1326).