Joyce Taylor was a petite, blue-eyed brunette born as Joyce Crowder in Taylorville, Illinois. Her father was a vocalist with his own radio show in St. Louis, and music was a strong presence in the family. Joyce began singing and playing the piano at a young age and performed her own composition, 'You've Got Something', at a school talent contest at 15. Spotted by an agent for Mercury Records, she was signed to a three-year contract and released her debut single, 'You've Got Something', under the name Joyce Bradley.
Joyce relocated to Chicago, where she sang at the famous Chez Paree nightclub and other venues, performing numbers like 'St. Louis Blues'. She then moved to Los Angeles, performing at Billy Gray's Band Box comedy club. In 1954, at 17, she sang on Walter Winchell's weekly television show on ABC. Around this time, she changed her stage name from Bradley to Taylor, reportedly at the suggestion of her hometown residents.
Joyce caught the attention of Howard Hughes, who offered her a seven-year contract with RKO. However, she rejected the offer, and her only film appearance during this period was a small role in the murder mystery Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). In 1957, her contract was terminated, and Joyce resumed her career as a freelancer in television, appearing in classic shows like 77 Sunset Strip, Sea Hunt, The Untouchables, and Tales of Wells Fargo.
Joyce also featured as the wife of the main lead in several episodes of the sci-fi adventure series Men Into Space (1959). In 1959, she married Beverly Hills stockbroker Edward S. Bellinson, with whom she had a son several years later but later divorced.
Joyce made a return to films when George Pal cast her as Princess Antillia in his production Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961). The film was set in the days of the Roman Empire and featured Joyce alongside Sal Ponti and Victor Buono.
In September 1960, Joyce won an audition for the lead role in writer-director Andrew L. Stone's crime drama Ring of Fire (1961),playing a tough-talking juvenile delinquent who is reformed and joins the white hats out of love for the local deputy sheriff.
Joyce's last notable film role was in 'Rappaccini's Daughter', a segment of the anthology drama Twice-Told Tales (1963),based on a Gothic horror story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She portrayed Beatrice, the ill-fated daughter of a mad botanist who imprisons her in a garden filled with poisonous plants to keep out unwanted suitors.
Joyce did a few more TV guest spots before retiring from acting in 1971. The following year, she married Richard Perry Hinnant and continued to write music for other artists, having also set up her own publishing company, Joyce Taylor Music. She died as Joyce Taylor Hinnant in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 2024.
