Joanne Samuel (born 1957 in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia) is an actress who remains best known for her role as the ill-fated screen wife of Mel Gibson in the 1979 film Mad Max.
Prior to her appearance in the film, Samuel had been a regular cast member in the television soap operas Class of '74 and The Young Doctors, playing Nurse Jill Gordon. Indeed, she left the series very suddenly - the producers kindly wrote her out of the show quickly as she was offered the Mad Max role after a fellow Young Doctors actress who had been due to take the role fell ill.
Won the role of Jessie, the ill-fated wife of Mel Gibson's character Max in Mad Max (1979) by default. The actress who was originally going to play Jessie was injured in a road accident before shooting was about to start, and Joanne was quickly re-cast in the part at the last minute.
