Purcell was born Lee Jeune Williams at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (North Carolina), the elder daughter of Major Frank D. Williams Jr., a decorated Marine Corps pilot who was killed while on active duty when she was two months old.

[4] Her mother, Lee (née McKnight) Williams, remarried, to Donald Purcell, a U.S. Navy doctor assigned to the Marine Corps.

[6] She graduated from Paragould High School in 1965[6] and briefly attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri as a dance and theatre student until she was expelled.[why?

[12] In 1969, Purcell was selected for her first feature film by Steve McQueen in his company's production of Adam at Six A.M., co-starring Michael Douglas.

In December 2010 Purcell launched an interactive fashion and beauty website, BoomerBabes, geared towards Baby Boomer women.