LOS ANGELES — Actress Joy Harmon, best known for a car-washing scene in the 1967 film "Cool Hand Luke," died at her home in Los Angeles on Tuesday after being ill with pneumonia for weeks. She is survived by three children and nine grandchildren.

Harmon spent one to two weeks in the hospital, followed by a several-week stay at a rehabilitation center, and then returned home for hospice care, a family member said. She was born Patricia Joy Harmon in Queens and became a newsreel model at age three before moving to Connecticut.

Harmon started in the entertainment industry as a child model and pageant queen and worked her way up through appearances on comedy and quiz shows.

Harmon made 32 credited film and television appearances from the 1950s to the early 1970s, according to IMDB. Her television credits included "Bewitched," "Batman," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "The Odd Couple" and "The Monkees." Her film roles included "Village of the Giants," "Angel in My Pocket" and "One Way Wahine."

Her most recognized role was a short car-washing scene in "Cool Hand Luke," starring Paul Newman. Her character had no lines and appeared on screen for about three minutes. The character was officially credited as The Girl and was called "Lucille" by a prisoner in the film. In a past interview, Harmon reflected on the scene. "My concept of the [scene] was not like what came out. I was not aware that there were two meanings to things that I was doing, and I'm still not really that much aware of what they all were," she said.

Harmon moved away from her Hollywood career to focus on raising the three children she shared with her ex-husband Jeff Gourson. After leaving acting, she worked at Disney Studios. In 2003, she opened a bakery called Aunt Joy's Cakes.