She was credited simply as “The Girl,” but anyone who ever saw Cool Hand Luke knows her as “Lucille.” Harmon was the 27-year-old actress who tantalized a chain-gang of sweaty convicts in the Paul Newman classic in 1967. In just over 3 minutes of screen time, she left her mark on the film, the 196os, and pop culture at large: the car wash scene in Cool Hand Luke consistently ranks among the most iconic in cinema.

“I was just washing a car to my best ability and having fun with it, with the sponge and everything,” said Harmon. “My concept of the [scene] was not like what came out. I was not aware that there were two meanings to things that I was doing, and I’m still not really that much aware of what they all were.”

Joy Harmon—who had debuted on Broadway in 1958’s Make a Million and then partnered with Groucho Marx on his early 1960s TV show—said she scored the role after Newman marveled at the blueness of her eyes during the audition process. But once she arrived in Stockton, California, to film the scene, Harmon began to have second thoughts. The producers suggested the shoot would be better if Harmon smoked marijuana beforehand in order to act more uninhibited for the camera. “I don’t do that; I never have done that,” Harmon said in the interview in 2017. “I was so upset, and I called my dad and he said, ‘You just come on home. Don’t do the movie.’ I told Mr. Rosenberg I was going home and then they came to the room, and he brought me flowers and chocolate. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re not doing marijuana; you don’t need it.’ And it worked out fine.”

Most of the credit for the sequence goes to Harmon, who displays the perfect combination of sexual power and mischievousness. But director Stuart Rosenberg clearly was trying to milk the scene for titillating effect—so much so that he had kept wives and girlfriend away from the set for weeks and then surprised the men with Harmon’s appearance so as to capture their genuine reactions. When she emerges from the dilapidated country house, turns on the portable radio and the hose, and goes to work washing the car, Rosenberg pointed the cameras at the men, watching her from a distance. They didn’t require instruction on how to act. “The only one that I talked to was Stuart Rosenberg and the photographer,” Harmon added. “He just worked it like—‘Now, get the sponge, and squeeze it, and wash the car’ and so forth. I just followed [his instruction]. The shots were all like kind of broken up, you know, how he wanted me to do it. It was easy. It was so easy.”

Harmon realized that she’d made an impression after the film came out. In 1968, she married film editor Jeff Gourson, and their Las Vegas honeymoon was comped and their hotel introduced her at shows as “The Girl From Cool Hand Luke.” But she didn’t chase fame, and she eventually left acting to raise her three children. “I was never one who said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be a big star,’” Harmon said. “I just took whatever came to me. It got to be the point where I would just get calls—I didn’t have to go in and read for it—go in for wardrobe and do scenes in all those TV shows that were out at that time. It was simple and easy and fun.”

Their relationship was primarily one of friendship and mutual respect within the burgeoning punk scene. They often played at the same venues and were part of the same community of artists. There are several well-known photographs of them together, including one taken by Blondie’s Chris Stein in 1977 that was used for a photo montage in Punk magazine titled “Mutant Monster Beach Party.”

Both artists were highly influential in shaping the sound and image of punk and new wave. Joey Ramone’s distinctive vocal style and the Ramones’ fast, raw, and melodic punk rock were hugely impactful. Debbie Harry, with her powerful vocals, striking stage presence, and Blondie’s innovative blend of punk, pop, disco, and reggae, also left an indelible mark on music. Their respective bands helped define an era and influenced countless musicians who followed.

Rowan was in his first year of university here, having just graduated from the public school St. Bees, where he’d had quite the reputation as a highly intelligent student (especially in science and maths), but also an unruly and rebellious troublemaker. One fellow student remembered him as “the one who is always kept behind after lessons and gets his revenge by writing scurrilous verse in Latin about the master who kept him in.” 

But he could also often be found tinkering with equipment on campus, as he had a great passion for fixing things, and he became a valued member of the school choir and even served as choir secretary. Most notably, though, he had a great talent for the stage, and his performances in school plays left a lasting impression on teachers and peers alike, even prompting his headmaster to tell him, “I have never recommended to anyone that they should take up a career in the entertainment industry, but it would seem silly for you, Atkinson, not at least to try.”

But Rowan, who adored all things electrical and mechanical, put aside his gift for performance for awhile. He followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers and went to Newcastle University, pursuing his passion for engineering. He recalled that he kept to himself and “worked very hard” there, and he was nearly at the top of his class upon earning his undergraduate degree at only 20 years old.

He would next go on to Oxford to do research, and it was there he would discover that he wanted to seriously embrace and pursue a career in comedy and performance. Lucky for all of us!

The info and quotes are from the Rowan Atkinson biography by Bruce Dessau, and Rowan’s Desert Island Discs episode from 1988. (via rowanatkinsonlibrary)

Hanks made a guest appearance on a 1982 episode of Happy Days where he met writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel who were writing the film Splash (1984), to be directed by former Happy Days star Ron Howard. Ganz and Mandel suggested Howard consider Hanks for the film. At first, Howard considered Hanks for the role of the main character’s wisecracking brother, a role that eventually went to John Candy. Instead, Hanks landed the lead role in Splash, which went on to become a surprise box office hit, grossing more than US$69 million. He had a sizable hit with the sex comedy Bachelor Party, also in 1984. In 1983–84, Hanks made three guest appearances on Family Ties as Elyse Keaton’s alcoholic brother Ned Donnelly.

With Nothing in Common (1986), Hanks began to extend himself from comedic roles to dramatic. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hanks commented on his experience: “It changed my desires about working in movies. Part of it was the nature of the material, what we were trying to say. But besides that, it focused on people’s relationships. The story was about a guy and his father, unlike, say, The Money Pit, where the story is really about a guy and his house.” In 1987, he had signed an agreement with The Walt Disney Studios where he had starred to a talent pool in an acting/producing pact. After a few more flops and a moderate success with the comedy Dragnet (1987), Hanks’ stature in the film industry rose.

The broad success of the fantasy comedy Big (1988) established Hanks as a major Hollywood talent, both as a box office draw and within the industry as an actor. For his performance in the film, Hanks earned his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Big was followed later that year by Punchline, in which he and Sally Field co-starred as struggling comedians. Hanks then suffered a run of box-office underperformers: The ‘Burbs (1989), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). In the last, he portrayed a greedy Wall Street figure who gets enmeshed in a hit-and-run accident. Turner & Hooch (1989) was Hanks’ only financially successful film of the period.