Joyce Gordon

Joyce Gordon was born on March 25, 1929, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Jule and Diana (Cohn) Gordon.{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=March 4, 2020 |title=Joyce Gordon, Who Broke the Glasses Ceiling on TV, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/arts/television/joyce-gordon-dead.html |website=New York Times}} Her father was the founder of the National Barber and Beauty Manufacturers Association.{{cite news |last1=Langer |first1=Emily |title=Joyce Gordon, trailblazing bespectacled pitchwoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59094215/joyce-gordon/ |accessdate=September 11, 2020 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |agency=Washington Post |date=March 8, 2020 |page=B 9|via = Newspapers.com}} She grew up in Chicago, later attending the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin. In her late teens, she left Chicago and went to New York to seek opportunities to appear on television programs.

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On television, Gordon appeared on The Ad-Libbers,{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=8|edition=2nd}} Studio One and Robert Montgomery Presents.{{cite news |last1=Beresford |first1=Trilby |date=February 29, 2020 |title=Joyce Gordon, First Female President of Screen Actors Guild Branch, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joyce-gordon-dead-screen-actors-guild-president-dies-at-90-1281957 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321193331/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joyce-gordon-dead-screen-actors-guild-president-dies-at-90-1281957 |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |accessdate=March 1, 2020 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}} She also acted in commercials, at one point appearing daily on CBS as she promoted different products.{{cite news |title=Television Viewers Hail Joyce Gordon's Glasses |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59097318/joyce-gordon/ |accessdate=September 11, 2020 |work=Green Bay Press-Gazette |date=April 7, 1963 |location=Wisconsin, Green Bay |page=12|via = Newspapers.com}} Gordon was the on screen spokeswoman for Crisco and Duncan Hines and did numerous promos for sports and news programs. She was the first woman of many things in her field. In the 1950s, she became the first woman to do network promos, and the first woman announcer for a political convention on network television.{{Cite web |last=Robb |first=David |date=2020-02-29 |title=Joyce Gordon Dies: Pioneering Actress And SAG Leader Was 90 |url=https://deadline.com/2020/02/joyce-gordon-dies-pioneering-actress-and-sag-leader-was-90-1202871464/ |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}} She was very active in the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and became the first woman to lead a local branch of the union when she became president of the New York branch in 1966. She was the first person to wear glasses on television while playing herself, earning her the nickname "The Girl With the Glasses". She was also the voice of the Intercept messages for callers hear when dialing a disconnected number, forgetting to dial a 1, and others{{Cite web|url=https://www.today.com/video/joyce-gordon-trailblazing-girl-who-wears-glasses-on-tv-dies-at-90-80681541566|title=Joyce Gordon, trailblazing 'girl who wears glasses' on TV, dies at 90|website=TODAY.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-16}}She is commonly played on Verizon Wireline Exchanges and Ziply Fiber Exchanges (Former Verizon, GTE and Frontier).

Gordon provided English-language voices for actresses who spoke other languages including Jeanne Moreau and Claudia Cardinale, such as for Once Upon a Time in the West. Over a two-year span, she dubbed 32 films that originally had dialog in other languages.{{cite news |last1=Bolton |first1=Whitney |title=Glancing Sideways |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59098577/joyce-gordon/ |accessdate=September 11, 2020 |work=Cumberland Evening Times |agency=McNaught Syndicate, Inc. |date=February 15, 1960 |location=Maryland, Cumberland |page=6|via = Newspapers.com}}

On radio, Gordon portrayed Cherry on Mark Trail{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=John|title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-19-507678-3|page=438|edition=Revised}} and Barbara Miller on the comedy My Son Jeep.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7864-4513-4|page=248}}

Gordon was married to actor Bernard Grant for more than 50 years, and they had two children, Mark and Melissa. She died on February 28, 2020 at age 90.{{cite news |last1=Robb |first1=David |title=Joyce Gordon Dies: Pioneering Actress And SAG Leader Was 90 |url=https://deadline.com/2020/02/joyce-gordon-dies-pioneering-actress-and-sag-leader-was-90-1202871464/ |accessdate=March 1, 2020 |work=Deadline Hollywood |date=February 29, 2020}}

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Category:1929 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:Actresses from Chicago

Category:Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa

Category:Place of death missing

Category:Actresses from New York City

Category:Screen Actors Guild

Category:University of Illinois alumni

Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:American television actresses

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