Joy Garrett; Honored Soap Opera Actress

Joy Garrett, who won repeated awards as the mother figure Jo Johnson on the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives” over the past seven years, has died. She was 47.

She died Thursday at UCLA Medical Center of liver failure.

The Jo Johnson role won her several awards as best supporting actress from Soap Opera People Magazine and Soap Opera Digest.

Miss Garrett earlier appeared for one year as Boobsie Caswell on another daytime soap, “The Young and the Restless.”

A native of Ft. Worth, she was named Little Miss Ft. Worth at age 4, and Miss Ft. Worth 13 years later. As a teen-ager she was lead vocalist with the Ted Weems Orchestra for two years.

Miss Garrett was educated at Texas Wesleyan University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She began her career on Broadway, where she starred as bad girl Betty Rizzo in “Grease” and appeared in “Inner City” and “The Candy Apple.”

She also appeared in several off-Broadway productions and starred in stock and touring companies in such roles as Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls,” Sybil in “Private Lives,” and Rosemary in “How to Succeed in Business.”

Moving to Hollywood, she appeared in films including “Who?” with Trevor Howard and Elliott Gould, and “Callie and Son” with Lindsay Wagner and Michelle Pfeiffer.

But her most successful medium proved to be television. In addition to the soaps, she guest-starred on prime time series such as “Magnum P.I.,” “Night Court,” “Remington Steele,” “Quincy,” “Three’s Company,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and recently, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

She is survived by her parents, Clarence and Kathleen Garrett of Ft. Worth. The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Theatre Scholarship Fund, Texas Wesleyan University, 1201 Wesleyan St., Ft. Worth, Tex. 76105.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. March 7 at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga.