1953 Deb Star.
Following her film career, which faded with the end of the Hollywood studio system, she returned successfully to the musical stage. She starred as Marian the Librarian in the original national tour of "The Music Man" opposite Forrest Tucker, and played the lead in a Lincoln Center revival of "The Merry Widow." On Broadway she co-starred with Alfred Drake in "Kean" (1961).
In her salad days, she joined the chorus of the San Francisco Grand Opera Company (the youngest to ever be placed on contract) and later sang with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company. It was during a performance with the latter that she was spotted for films by 20th Century Fox. They subsequently passed on her but she eventually signed with Warner Bros.
In the book "Cars Of The Fabulous '50's" in the 1953 Packard section, on page 169, there appears an ad for a contest to "Give Joan Weldon, young Hollywood starlet a new name." The winner was given a choice of a new 1953 Packard Caribbean convertible and a trip to Hollywood, or $7500 cash".
Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book "I Was a Monster Movie Maker" (McFarland & Co., 2001).
Made a rare appearance in March of 2004 at a 3-D screening of The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953).