Jo Helton

Jo Helton (born Joan Jeter; June 7, 1933 – March 26, 2021) was an American actress on stage, film, and television and a social worker.

Early years Helton was born Joan Jeter While she was there, she married her high-school sweetheart. He was drafted and stationed in New Jersey, and while they lived there she studied under actress Uta Hagen.

Career Before she became a professional actress, Helton was a copywriter for an advertising agency in Memphis, Tennessee.

Acting Helton performed in Memphis with Theatre 12 (later known as Front Street Theatre). Other shows on which she appeared included Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, and The Untouchables. and appeared in the films The Young Swingers (1963), The Yellow Canary (1963), Ready for the People (1964), and The Slender Thread (1965).

Helton's work on stage included acting at the Theaterama Playhouse and the Professional Theater Center in California.

Social work Acting left Helton feeling unsatisfied. She said, "I knew there were people on the other side of the bright lights with problems and feelings and I had a growing compulsion to be with those people -- to help them." She left California, selling one house and giving up the lease on another, and applied to be a volunteer with Volunteers in Service to America. Although that application was rejected, she put her "treasured antiques" in her station wagon, gave away the rest of her things, and returned to Tennessee. she spoke to Baptist groups about her experiences, sometimes along with the showing of the film.

Helton was divorced from her first husband after she had become known as an actress, so she kept her married name. She married Ray Wintker in 1968, and they remained wed until his death in 1997. They had two daughters. She died on March 16, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Selected filmography North to Alaska (1960) as Dance Hall Girl (uncredited) Peter Gunn (1961) (Season 3 Episode 27: "Short a Motive") as Ellen Clary The Twilight Zone (1961) (Season 3 Episode 3: "The Shelter") as Martha Harlowe Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962) (Season 7 Episode 14: "Bad Actor") as Secretary The Twilight Zone (1963) (Season 4 Episode 16: "On Thursday We Leave for Home") as Julie Baines Gunsmoke (1963) (Season 8 Episode 32: "Tell Chester") as Wendy