Joyce Mandel was an American actress and model who appeared in several TV shows and movies, such as The Baltimore Bullet (1980) and Mork & Mindy (1978). She was also known for her successful career as a pin-up and glamour model in three different stages of her life, under various names such as Rinah, Alexis Love, and Joyce Gibson. She was born on March 10, 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA, and died on October 13, 2016 in the same city, at the age of 66. The cause of her death was pancreatic cancer, a disease that she had battled for a long time.
Early Life and Career
Joyce Mandel was born as Henrietta Joyce Mandelcorn to Abraham Herbert Mandelcorn and Evelyn Auerbach, who were of Russian-Romanian descent. She had three siblings: Eugene Edward, Ronald Steven, and Judith Lynn. She grew up in Los Angeles and started her career as a model and actress in the late 1960s. She posed for various men’s magazines and appeared in some low-budget films, such as The Acid Eaters (1968) and The Toy Box (1971). She was also featured in Playboy magazine in 1970, as part of the pictorial “The Girls of Israel”.
Rinah and Alexis Love
In the late 1970s, Joyce Mandel reinvented herself as Rinah, a brunette model with a more voluptuous figure. She posed for several magazines, such as Gent, Fling, and Cheri, and became popular among the fans of big-bust models. She also appeared in some mainstream TV shows, such as The Love Boat (1977) and Mork & Mindy (1978), where she played a blonde alien named Joyce. In 1980, she starred in The Baltimore Bullet, a comedy film about pool hustlers, alongside James Coburn and Omar Sharif.
In the 1990s, Joyce Mandel made a comeback as Alexis Love, a mature model who claimed to be the “ultimate older woman”. She posed for magazines such as Score, Voluptuous, and Busty Beauties, and also launched her own website, where she offered exclusive photos and videos to her fans. She was praised for her natural beauty and sex appeal, and was considered one of the most successful models in the niche of older women.
Death and Legacy
Joyce Mandel died on October 13, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, USA, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was survived by her husband, Jerry Rush, whom she married in 1982. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. She was remembered by her fans and colleagues as a talented and versatile actress and model, who had a unique and exotic look. She was also admired for her courage and resilience in facing her illness, and for her positive and cheerful attitude towards life.
According to IMDb, Joyce Mandel had 11 credits as an actress, and 3 credits as a self. According to Mork and Mindy Wiki, she appeared in two episodes of the sitcom, as Joyce in “Mork’s Night Out” and as a blonde alien in “Mork Goes Erk”. According to Biography Zoom, she was also a singer and songwriter, and released a CD titled “Alexis Love Sings” in 1998. According to Stars Graph, she had a net worth of $1 million at the time of her death.
