Jean Carson (born February 28, 1923, Charleston, West Virginia, died November 2, 2005, Palm Springs, California) was an American actress best known for her work on the classic 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show.

Born to Alexander and Sadie Leete (descendant of William Leete, first governor of the Colony of Connecticut) Carson, Jean first became interested in show business as a child, playing a "bad little Indian girl". At age 12 she got her first acting job, five dollars for a small part in a production of Carmen that traveled through Charleston. In high school she was voted Girl Most Likely to Succeed as an Actress. Carson told her mother she was going to be on Broadway and in 1948, after studies at Carnegie Mellon University, Carson made her Broadway debut in George S. Kaufman's Bravo. Other Broadway work included Anniversary Waltz with Macdonald Carey, Two Blind Mice with Melvyn Douglas, and Bird Cage, which garnered her a Tony Award nomination.

Carson went on to appear in many pioneering television series, including Studio One, NBC Presents, The Twilight Zone (as Paula in A Most Unusual Camera, a part written especially for her by Rod Serling) and The Ford Theatre Hour. She continued to make guest starring appearances throughout the 1950's, as well as a regular role on 1959's The Betty Hutton Show (Carson described Hutton as a "foulmouthed old biddy" and said that was the only acting experience she did not enjoy) and roles in films such as 1955's The Phenix City Story and 1958's I Married a Monster from Outer Space. Carson felt she was typecast by some of these roles ("I'm what you call a 'second woman' or 'second tomato.' They never get the man.") and that they helped her get work on The Andy Griffith Show.

Carson had a brief role as Naomi in a 1962 episode, but her most popular role was Daphne, one of the "fun girls," who appeared with Joyce Jameson on a recurring basis from 1962 to 1965. Daphne was a notorious flirt who greeted her objects of affection with a throaty "Hello Doll." These episodes are among the most popular with fans of the series.

Carson obtained fourth billing in the 1968 Peter Sellers comedy The Party, perhaps her best known film. For the first half of the 1970s Carson had a drinking problem which limited her acting career. Her last film role was 1977's Fun with Dick and Jane. She retired early in the next decade, save for some plays in the Palm Springs area (where she had moved to be close to her children); Carson was also active in Alcoholics Anonymous. Carson associated herself with The Andy Griffith Show for many years, attending cast performances, conventions, and other meetings and writing back to fans personally until she was paralyzed by a stroke in September 2005.

Carson died at the age of 82 on November 2, 2005. She was survived by two sons, a sister, and a niece.

All this shapely character "broad" had to do was open her mouth to induce laughter -- and so she did, primarily on TV during the 50s and 60s. And although she milked that unmistakable rasp for all its worth, she also showed great comedy sense. Born Jean Leete on February 23, 1923 in Charleston, West Virginia, actress Jean Carson (not to be confused with pert British actress Jeannie Carson of "Hey, Jeannie!" (1956) TV fame) was trained in music and dance and started performing by age 12. With high aspirations of becoming an actress, she subsequently studied at Carnegie-Mellon University. She was first discovered appearing on Broadway in 1948 in George S. Kaufman's "Bravo!" with a cast including Kevin McCarthy (I) and Oskar Homolka. Set in New York, the show was a bust (running only 44 performances) but Jean made a wonderful comic impression and earned a Theatre World Award in the process. She followed this with another Kaufman-staged play "Metropole" in 1949, as well as "The Bird Cage" (1950) with Melvyn Douglas and Maureen Stapleton and "Men of Distinction" (1953) with Robert Preston (I), but these shows fared just as badly. A hit Broadway comedy finally came her way with "Anniversary Waltz" in 1954, which ran 544 performances. Jean stood out among the cast just for those inimitable deep tones alone. She was typically on display throughout the 50s and 60s, gracing many of the popular shows of the day including "The Red Buttons Show," "The Tom Ewell Show," "Wagon Train," "Sugarfoot," "Perry Mason," "The Untouchables" and "Gomer Pyle." Surprisingly she never had her own TV sitcom although she did appear as a regular on the short-lived "Betty Hutton Show, The" (1959) playing a girlfriend to the star. A single standout episode of "The Twilight Zone" had Jean and Fred Clark (I) as a pair of thieves who discover that a camera they've stolen takes pictures of the future. Jean essayed a number of bleached blonde floozies, jail birds, party girls and golddiggers over the course of her career, but was never better than as both convict Jalene Naomi and good time girl Daphne on the "Andy Griffith Show, The" (1960). In one classic episode, her character Jalene was paired up with sexy cohort Joyce Jameson as two dames- hiding out from the law who hold both Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney hostage while putting designs on them at the same time. An unfortunate alcohol problem dogged Jean's career for many years. Active with Alcoholics Anonymous, she eventually retired from Hollywood in the early 1980s and moved to the Palm Springs area to be closer to family. There she appeared occasionally in such local theater productions as "The Elephant Man" and "Steel Magnolias". Jean had been in spiraling health since suffering a paralytic stroke in September of 2005. She died in a Palm Desert convalescent home on November 2, 2005, at age 82. Two sons survive.