Joy Patricia Harmon was born in Flushing, New York. She and her family moved to Connecticut in 1946. A Miss Connecticut, Harmon was a contestant during the last season of Groucho Marx's television program You Bet Your Life (titled The Groucho Show during its last season), and later a regular on Marx's program Tell It to Groucho (credited as "Patty Harmon"). She guest-starred on several 1960s TV series, including Gidget, Batman, and The Monkees. She appeared in a cameo role as blonde Ardice in the Jack Lemmon comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree in 1963. She had a role as Tony Dow's girlfriend in the 1965–66 television soap opera, Never Too Young.