June Carter Cash, born as Valerie June Carter, is the daughter of country music legend Maybelle Carter. She married legendary country music star Johnny Cash on March 1, 1968, and remained married to him until her death on May 15, 2003. She and Johnny had one child together in 1970, son John Carter Cash.

June was also a successful singer, actress, comedienne, and songwriter who wrote contemporary classics "Ring of Fire," "Jackson," and "If I Were a Carpenter."

She learned to play the autoharp from her mother, Maybelle Carter and in 1937 she started performing with her sisters Helen and Anita in the country singing group that later became known as The Carter Sisters. June was known for her quick wit and eventually began to perform comedy skits and monologues during the shows. She became known for her "Aunt Polly" comedy routine. When she was sixteen she also worked on commercials for radio shows while she attended South Rowan High School in the town of her birth, Mace Springs, Virginia.

In 1952 she married her first husband, Carl Smith, a honky-tonk singer. Throughout their four-year marriage the two performed several times together at the Grand Ole Opry. They had one daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith, who later became a country singer in the 1970s working under the name of Carlene Carter.

On November 11, 1957, June married Nashville police officer and stock car driver Edwin "Rip" Nix. They had a daughter Rozanna (Rosie) Nix Adams who also became a singer. The couple divorced in 1966.

When her second marriage ended, June decided to go to New York and study acting with theater director and producer Elia Kazeen and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. She soon began to appear in the 1950s television series Gunsmoke and The Adventures of Jim Bowie. She also had feature roles in the movies Country Music Holiday in 1958, The Gospel Road in 1973, and That’s Country in 1977, as well as regular appearances in the soap operas The Secret Storm and The Edge of Night.

YUDDY