Mikki Jamison was a television and film actress that was best known for portraying the character of Officer Jim Reed’s wife on the classic 1968 cop drama Adam-12. Though Mikki was later replaced in the role after taking off to Paris with her second husband and starting a family, her portrayal of the character remained the most memorable in the eyes of the fans. Mikki returned to Hollywood for a little bit after her second marriage dissolved, though she never had a role more iconic than Officer Jim Reed’s wife. Tragically, she passed away as a result of a car crash in 2013. Join Facts Verse as we explore what happened to Mikki Jamison.
Mikki Jamison was born in Spokane, Washington, on November 13, 1942. During her teen years, she attended Lewis & Clark High School, which was located in her hometown. After graduating, Mikki moved out to California with dreams of becoming a star. During her time there, she furthered her education by attending Los Angeles City College while trying to get a foothold in the entertainment industry. She lived in the Hollywood Studio Club, which was a dormitory allotted for aspiring young actresses. She also got a job at the Pasadena Playhouse, which helped her make some connections. By 1962, at the age of only 20, Mikki was signed with Warner Bros. That year, the studio named Mikki their Hollywood Deb Star, meaning that the studio saw quite a bit of potential in the young actress!
While the title of Hollywood Deb Star carried some weight, Mikki’s career sadly wouldn’t end up making good on it’s promise. It seemed as if the young actress was poised for success, but she never quite found the right role to make her a star. Still, the actress worked diligently for the years that she was in Hollywood and gave every role her all. Some of the actress’s most notable works during the 1960s included the films Beach Ball and Ski Party. Both films were produced by American International Pictures and released in 1965. The former film was a beach picture, while the latter film was a comedy about skiing, featuring movie star Frankie Avalon.
In 1964, Mikki had received what she thought was going to be her big break when she was cast as the character of Veronica in a live-action television show that was based on the Archie comic book series. A pilot for the series was filmed, but it ended up being rejected by the networks. Several years later, in 1970, the Archie comic book spin-off series Josie and the Pussycats would be adapted into a successful animated show from Hanna-Barbera.
In 1990, television audiences would finally be treated to a live-action interpretation of the Archie comic book series with the made-for-television feature Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again. In the time since a live-action Archie adaptation has finally found success on network television with the darkly themed Riverdale. Still, it appears that audiences weren’t ready for live-action Archie back in 1964!
In addition to Mikki Jamison as Veronica, the live-action Archie pilot featured actress Cheryl Holdridge as the character of Betty, actress Mary Grace Canfield as the character of Miss Grundy, actor Roland Winters as the character of Mr. Weatherbee, and William Schallert and Jean Vader Pyl as Archie’s mom and dad. Mikki was devastated when the pilot didn’t get picked up, and she remained incredibly anxious for another opportunity of the same caliber over the course of the ensuing decade. It was with this attitude that Mikki received her role on Adam-12.
The defining role of Mikki’s career came in 1970, when she was cast to play the wife of Officer Jim Reed. Officer Jim Reed was the main character of the seminal cop drama Adam-12, which had premiered in 1968. Actor Kent McCord, who is still alive today, played the character of Officer Jim Reed. Like Mikki, Kent has remained best known for his time on Adam-12. However, his role proved to be quite a bit bigger than hers! Still, Mikki would make the part of Jean Reed her own. Although Mikki was replaced as Jean’s actress after only playing the character three times, hers remains the most iconic portrayal of Jim’s wife on the series.
The final time that Mikki Jamison played Officer Jim Reed’s wife was in an episode by the name of “A Rare Occasion”. The episode depicted a rare occasion indeed, as the plot revolved around Officer Jim Reed and his wife introducing their new baby to their friends and coworkers! Of course, they were also introducing the baby to the audience.
Although Mikki Jamison would never return to play the role of Jean Reed again after the episode, both Jim’s wife and his new baby would play major roles on the show for the remainder of it’s airing. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Mikki Jamison may not have appeared as the character of Jean Reed more than three times over the course of Adam-12’s run, but she took the role much more seriously than most others would have if they were in her position! After her failure with 1964’s Archie pilot, Mikki knew that she was going to have to go above and beyond to make an impression on the creative team of Adam-12. The show had a huge emphasis on the motor vehicles that it’s police officers used to get around and stars Kent McCord and Martin Milner were thought to be car buffs. Mikki knew that if she wanted to hold her own on set amongst the boys, she was going to have to know a thing or two about cars herself!
In order to impress her new costars on Adam-12, Mikki Jamison decided that she needed to attend an auto mechanics class. Mikki ended up doing incredibly well in the class, but she didn’t even tell the rest of the cast and crew of Adam-12 about it! Instead, Mikki just waited for a moment when she could put her newfound automotive knowledge to good use, which came one day when her on-screen husband, Kent McCord, was complaining about the breaks not feeling right on his fancy luxury sports car. Mikki suggested that her costar tighten them, to which he replied that he didn’t know how. Thankfully, Mikki did.
Apparently, Mikki became so sufficient during her days in the auto mechanics class that she could take apart and rebuild a carburetor like it was nothing! Because of this, the actress had absolutely no problem helping her supposedly macho costar tighten his breaks. Mikki asked her costar for a screwdriver and a tire jack, and she set about tightening Kent’s breaks for him better than they’d ever been tightened! Mikki then attempted to show Kent how to do it himself, though it remains uncertain if he was quite as fast of a learner as the woman that played his on-screen wife.
Mikki quite enjoyed her time portraying the character of Jean Reed on Adam-12, but she ended up having to quit the gig because her second husband wanted to take her off to Paris. Mikki ended up being replaced on Adam-12 by actress Kristin Harmon. Audiences never liked Kristin quite as much in the role as they had liked Mikki, but the new actress certainly tried her best! Kristin passed away in 2018, and became a successful painter after Adam-12 ended.
Before quitting Adam-12 to head off to Paris, Mikki had already been married once before. Her first husband was a man by the name of Jimmy Griffin, whom she had married in 1963. The two divorced in 1968, shortly before Mikki took her role on Adam-12. While Mikki had learned how to take apart and rebuild a carburetor for her role on Adam-12, she did a much different type of learning for her second husband.
Mikki’s second husband, John Trueblood, insisted that his wife be an excellent cook. Because of this, Mikki set about learning not only how to cook but also how to grow and manage her very own vegetable garden! Despite all of the work that Mikki put into pleasing her second husband, their marriage didn’t last any longer than her first. However, the couple did have one child before Mikki returned back to Hollywood from Paris in 1974. That child is son Jaimie, who remained Mikki’s only child until her 2013 death. Mikki would remarry twice and was married to a man by the name of John Rovtar at the time of her death. They married in 1992.
After divorcing her second husband and returning to Hollywood from Paris, Mikki resumed working in the entertainment industry for a period of time before giving it up and finding a more traditional line of work. Her most prominent role after her return was on Wonder Woman. After calling it quits, she moved back to her hometown of Spokane, Washington, and became a real estate broker.
In her final years, Mikki loved spending time with her three grandchildren and was reportedly hard at work cleaning out an old boat so that she could take them out on the lakes of her home state. Sadly, she passed away in a car accident before she got the job done. She died in 2013. At the time of her death, Mikki was 68 years old. Although she never got the breakout role that she had desired in Hollywood, she still seems to have lived a fairly peaceful and fulfilling life!
Though Mikki Jamison never got the breakout role in Hollywood that she had been looking for, she will always be remembered for portraying the character of Jean Reed on the 1960s cop drama Adam-12. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that the actress that played Officer Jim Reed’s wife on the cop show Adam-12 was replaced or did you think it was the same person the whole time? As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
