Laurel Goodwin, an actor who made her movie debut at age 19 opposite Elvis Presley in the 1962 feature Girls! Girls! Girls! and four years later played a crew member in the original, failed Star Trek pilot starring Jeffery Hunter, died February 25. She was 79.
Her death was announced by her sister Maureen Scott. A cause was not disclosed.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, and relocating to California with her family during World War II, Goodwin studied drama at San Francisco State University and was soon signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures. She debuted in Girls! Girls! Girls! as one of two potential love interests for Presley’s character (the other was portrayed by Stella Stevens).
Laurel Goodwin (next to Jeffrey Hunter), ‘The Cage’ Everett Collection The following year, Goodwin played a daughter of Jackie Gleason’s railroad executive in the comedy Papa’s Delicate Condition.
Over the next decade, Goodwin will appear in numerous TV series, including The Virginian, Get Smart, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mannix and The Dain Curse, but it was a performance in an episode that never made it to air for which she earned an enduring cult following: She played Yeoman J.M. Colt in “The Cage,” the unaired 1965 pilot for Star Trek that starred Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. The pilot was rejected by NBC, although some scenes were recycled for a 1966 two-part episode (“The Menagerie”) after William Shatner had replaced Hunter as the Enterprise captain. (“The Cage” was subsequently been released in various home entertainment formats.)
Goodwin, along with her husband, producer Walter Wood, produced the 1983 Burt Reynolds-Loni Anderson NASCAR comedy Stroker Ace. She is survived by her sister.
