Girls! Girls! Girls! actress Laurel Goodwin died on February 25th in Cathedral City, California, at the age of 79. Her sister, Maureen Scott, announced the news.
Goodwin made her movie debut at the age of 19, playing Laurel Dodge, who vies for Ross Carpenter’s (Elvis Presley‘s) heart in the 1962 film Girls! Girls! Girls!. She also starred in Papa’s Delicate Condition and The Glory Guys.
In 1965, Goodwin appeared in the rejected first pilot for Star Trek. She ended up turning down two comedy pilots in order to stay with Star Trek producers as they tried again. “I said, ‘Oh, no. Star Trek is it. I’ve got to do Star Trek. It’s great, it’s gonna be wonderful,'” she said in a 2016 interview. However, producers later decided they no longer needed her.
Following this, Goodwin made appearances on Get Smart, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Mannix, before leaving acting in 1971 for nursing.
In 1983, Goodwin co-produced Stroker Ace, starring Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, with her husband, Walter Wood. She and Wood were married for 43 years before his death in 2010.
Goodwin is survived by her sister, Maureen Scott, “and a multitude of friends and relatives around the world.”
