PicoBlog

(via ew.com)

There are funny ladies who are funny for a living, and funny ladies who just happen to have a great sense of humor. Our spotlighted gal for this week is the latter. Much like MOTW from last month, Debralee Scott, June was in the middle of Hollywood as both a screen performer and a significant other in the classic rock music scene, but about a decade earlier than Debralee. June was a SoCal local lucky enough to be cute, have rhythm on the dance floor and natural comedic timing. By the time she was 18 and out of high school, the former prom queen put her dance lessons to good use and was hired for the Los Angeles based Gazzarri Dancers in 1964. This gig consisted of dancing on stage at the Gazzarri nightclub on the Sunset Strip and in the background of the KHJ-TV variety program “Hollywood a Go-Go” (1964-66). Since this period was the prime of live music, June along with other dancers got to socialize and perform opposite many of the British Invasion era acts. She co-starred with the Monkees on a 1966 episode of their self-titled NBC sitcom and in Bob Rafelson’s cult flick Head (1968), and she briefly dated singer-songwriter Gene Clark, whose group the Byrds made appearances on “HaGG” in 1965 and 1966. You could spot her dancing at clubs with the likes of Barry McGuire, the Rolling Stones, Duane Eddy, the Doors and Buffalo Springfield; and even modeling for the covers of Kim Fowley’s 1968 LP ‘Born to be Wild’ and Bobby Vee’s 1969 album ‘Gates, Grills and Railings.’ During the later part of her dancing career, June was in a relationship with Three Dog Night vocalist Danny Hutton from 1967 to 1969. The legend goes that the pop-rock group got their band name from June randomly learning a really cold evening is referred to as a ‘three dog night’ in aboriginal communities of Australia.

Quite a few of June’s dancer friends went on to their own success as well, including actresses Helena Kallianiotes and Teri Garr, actress/editor Mimi Machu, actress/singer/choreographer Toni Basil, and athlete Deanna Mollner. June also crossed over to acting and steadily appeared in movies throughout the 1970s, most notably Roger Vadim’s Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), Jack Nicholson’s Drive, He Said (1971), Michael Cimino’s Thunderbolt & Lightfoot (1974) and Lou Adler’s Up in Smoke (1978). As an actress, June was known for playing bubbly characters and providing comic relief, as well as being a blast to work with.

(Columbia Pictures)

Unlike Teri, Helena and Toni, you’ll notice on June’s Wiki and IMDb pages that her resume stops not long after Up in Smoke. You’ve probably also noticed my Muse of the Week series borders on “Behind the Music” territory with the amount of cautionary tales I’ve shared. Sadly, June is another one of those. She had the friends and connections to swiftly switch jobs and enjoy the high life of showbusiness, but unfortunately, not the foresight to see into the future. After giving birth to her one child, daughter Megan, in 1980 during a short marriage, June became so addicted to drugs, it derailed her career, relationships and parenting for the rest of her life. What’s even sadder is how a lot of her misfortunes could have been easily avoided, like drunk driving and getting busted for violating an open container law. June’s lowest point was living on LA’s Skid Row in the 1990s and selling random items on the street for money to make up for her first stint in jail. By the 2000s, she was living in a motel room on social security and disability benefits after being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Though her second time behind bars for drugs successfully motivated her to become sober, she then developed liver cancer and died penniless from the disease at age 68 in 2015.

So what is the moral of the story here besides “don’t do drugs”? Don’t have too much fun when you’re young? Don’t become famous? Don’t party in Hollywood? Plenty of June’s pals continued to live their life healthily and are with us today. Toni in particular continues to be a regular choreographer to this day. I don’t know if I believe that fame itself is to blame for downfalls like this, since we do get impressive success stories and comebacks over the years. But it is truly depressing when someone reaches June’s point and has no return. She left behind friends, family, a daughter and grandson, who were probably rooting for her recovery. Hindsight is 20/20 and I sympathize with anyone struggling. But I can only imagine how much bigger an impression June could have made if she hadn’t suffered with so many demons; and wish things could have turned out better for her so more people could see how talented and charming she was.

ncG1vNJzZmismJq6prPGopysrZVjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89oq6arXaLCtLGMqJ1mrJiaerixxKRko62emnqnrcirmqGhnJk%3D