Obituary: Jodean Lawrence

Jodean Lawrence, a striking beauty who forged a decades-long acting career in film, television and theater, with roles in one of the earliest Hollywood westerns to feature nudity, died March 18 of natural causes stemming from dementia.

She was 77.

Over a career that spanned more than 50 years, Lawrence — who also acted under the name Jodean Russo, from her first marriage — amassed a long list of film and television credits.

Her movie work included a role as actor George Kennedy's wife in "Airport" and parts in "Johnny Got His Gun," "Funny Lady," "Soylant Green" and "Gable and Lombard."

She worked extensively in television soap operas, including "General Hospital," "The Young and the Restless" and "Days of Our Lives." She also had guest roles on "The Rockford Files," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Fame," "Archie Bunker's Place," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Falcon Crest," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Streets of San Francisco."

It was her early role as a prospector's wife in the 1959 western "Revenge of the Virgins" that later earned her some celebrity.

The film, which featured a tribe of bare-chested Indian maidens facing off against a group of gold-hungry settlers, was one of the first mid-20th century films to show partial nudity in a genre that became known as "nudie-cuties."

The movie became a camp classic, with a following that Lawrence learned about late in life but which made her laugh, family and friends said.

"They knew it was a bit cheesecake," her son, Santa Rosa-based actor Del Russo said of the movie.

Her approach to work was, "Shoot quick and ask questions later," he said.

Born Jodean Rowan Busby on November 12, 1932, in Grass Valley, Calif., and raised in Napa, Lawrence began acting after moving on her own to Southern California at the age of 18.

She performed at the Pasadena Playhouse, where she met her first husband, Tony Russo.

The couple, who later divorced, lived in Rome in the early 1960s, where both Lawrence and her son — acting under the name Del Russel — had a part in the 1963 movie "Cleopatra," starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Back in the United States, she performed on stages across the country, including at Theater West in Los Angeles and on Broadway in the 1969 production of "But Seriously, Folks."

In the mid-1970s, she left acting to become a talent agent with the firm Barr-Wilder in Los Angeles. Around 1980 she married artist Michael Lawrence, son of the film actor Mark Lawrence. They later divorced.

Lawrence spent several years in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on what her son described as a spiritual retreat before moving to Santa Rosa and then Sebastopol in the early 1990s.

She appeared in "Foxfire" at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center and in "Taking a Stab at O'Keefe" at Studio Be in Santa Rosa.

Lawrence was as humble about her acting career as she was bawdy in her sense of humor, said her friend, Sheila Groves-Tracey, a local talent agency owner.

"She swore like a sailor," Groves-Tracey said. "She had no problem speaking her mind, and she expected that of everyone else."

In addition to her son, Lawrence is survived by a granddaughter, Sascha O'Rourke, and several cousins.

A memorial service is set for May 31 at 11 a.m. in Sebastopol. For directions, call Sheila Groves-Tracey, (707) 765-1935.