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1960s screen icon Joy Harmon has died aged 87. Harmon was best known for playing car-washer Lucille in the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman. Harmon passed away surrounded by her loved ones in her home in the Los Angeles area, a family member confirmed to TMZ.

Harmon, who established a bakery after turning her back on acting, had been battling pneumonia in the weeks before her death. She was expected to recover before her tragic passing and was said to have "fought until the end". Before being taken to hospital, Harmon was working at her bakery.

The TV star spent "one to two weeks in the hospital, followed by a several-week stint at a rehabilitation center, and then returned home to spend her final days on hospice care and with her loved ones", her family member told the publication.

Harmon began working as a newsreel model at the age of three before her family relocated to Connecticut, where she was largely raised.

As a teenager, she became a finalist in the Miss Connecticut pageant and started performing locally in Bridgeport - a move that set her on the path to her Broadway debut at just 18 in Make a Million.

Her Hollywood career took off after Groucho Marx discovered her on his quiz show, later known as You Bet Your Life.

A movie star in the 50s and 60s, Harmon appeared in Let's Rock (1958), Mad Dog Coll (1961), Village of the Giants (1965) and Angel in my Pocket (1969).

She also made appearances in several TV series, starring in The Beverly Hillbillies (1963), My Three Sons (1964), Bewitched (1966), Batman (1966), and The Odd Couple (1972).

Her final TV appearance came in 1977, when she starred in the American sitcom Thicker than Water.

She took a step back from her Hollywood career to focus on raising her three children with her ex-husband Jeff Gourson, who she was married to from 1968 to 2001.

Harmon's family remembered her as a "positive thinker full of life and vibrancy, and certainly had no problem spreading joy throughout her life".

Another wrote: "Sad to hear about the passing of Joy Harmon. She stole the scene with that car."

Also paying tribute, a second penned: "RIP Joy Harmon. Her brief but unforgettable role in Cool Hand Luke remains a lasting part of film history."