Biography
British actress Judy Carne vaulted briefly to stardom as a cast member on the anarchic 1960s comedy series "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (NBC, 1968-1973) before drug addiction and financial troubles ended her screen career. Born Joyce Audre Botterill on April 27, 1939 in Northampton, England, she began performing in local performances at an early age, and studied acting and dance at various schools and academies throughout her adolescence and teenaged years. After adopting the stage name of "Judy Carne," she made her screen debut in a 1961 episode of the cult British action series "Danger Man" (ITV, 1960-68), and soon established herself on both sides of the Atlantic by playing effervescent young women on series like "Fair Exchange" (CBS, 1962-63) and "The Baileys of Balboa" (CBS, 1962-64). During this period, she married another rising star, Burt Reynolds, but their marriage ended on an acrimonious note shortly before she gained her first leading role in a television series as Pete Duel's free-thinking wife in "Love on a Rooftop" (ABC, 1966-67). Though short-lived, the sitcom, and Carne's performance, proved popular with audiences, and she parlayed the spotlight into a featured role as a regular player on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." There, she attained pop culture stardom as the "Sock-It-To-Me Girl," a recurring segment in which she would utter the phrase and then be doused with a bucket of water, struck with a board, or fall through a door in the stage floor. Viewers found it funny, but Carne quickly bored of the routine and left the series at the end of its second season. But she found it impossible to shake the "sock-it-to-me" image, and the lack of work soon led to financial ruin and drug addiction. Carne was arrested on several occasions in the 1970s for drug possession and other charges, and suffered a broken neck after a near-fatal car crash. She returned to her hometown in England, penned an autobiography that detailed the more ruinous aspects of her life, and faded from view, save for occasional "where are they now" appearances on talk shows. Pneumonia claimed her life at a hospital in Northampton on September 3, 2015.
