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.