Joan Hotchkis (September 21, 1927 – September 27, 2022) was an American stage, screen and television actress, writer and performance artist. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio [1] and the Dramatists Guild, Hotchkis was best known for playing Dr. Nancy Cunningham for several seasons on The Odd Couple, for co-writing with Eric Morris the seminal acting manual "No Acting Please" (1977), [2] which is still used in colleges and conservatories, [3] [4] [5] and for her groundbreaking performance art works in the 1990s.
Hotchkis was born in Los Angeles on September 21, 1927. [6] [7] Her father, Preston, worked in insurance and investment; [7] her mother, Katharine (Bixby), hailed from a family of cattle ranchers in Orange County that turned Rancho Los Alamitos into a 26,000-acre cattle ranch. [6] [8] Hotchkis was raised in San Marino, [9] and attended Westridge School in nearby Pasadena. [10] She studied at Smith College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949. She then obtained a master's degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street Teachers College three years later, [7] before teaching nursery school and kindergarten for three years. [8] [11]
At the age of 26, Hotchkis switched from teaching to acting, [11] joining the Actors Studio and studying acting in New York City. [8] She made her Broadway debut in Advise and Consent, adapted from the novel by the same name. [8] From the 1950s through the 1990s, Hotchkis played various roles in television, film and theater (summer stock and Broadway). She was featured in Broadway productions of It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman (Philadelphia previews), [12] and Write Me A Murder, [13] before playing Myra on the soap opera The Secret Storm for several years in the early 1960s. [14] She moved back to Los Angeles in 1967 and worked steadily in television through the 1970s. [15] Most notably, Hotchkis played Dr. Nancy Cunningham, sometime girlfriend of Oscar Madison on the television version of The Odd Couple and Ellen in the Emmy-winning series My World and Welcome to It. [16]
Hotchkis also made many guest appearances on TV shows such as Bewitched, [16] St. Elsewhere, [7] Lou Grant, [17] Charlie's Angels, Mannix, [16] Marcus Welby, [18] Barnaby Jones, [16] and more. On the big screen, she co-starred as Mama Hartley in the feature film Ode to Billy Joe (1976). [16]
Hotchkis began writing original material in the 70s, beginning with a one-woman play, Legacy depicting an upper-class housewife having a mental and emotional breakdown. Eric Morris directed the play on stage; director Karen Arthur saw the play and approached Hotchkis proposing to make a film version, with Arthur as director and Hotchkis as writer, producer and star. [19] [20] The resulting film, Legacy (1975), won Best Newcomer at the Tehran Film Festival. [15]
During the early 1980s, Hotchkis returned to the stage, performing for several years in regional theaters such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. [21] She subsequently starred in The Glass Menagerie at Los Angeles Theater Center and did occasional television roles. [15] [22]
Beginning in the late 1980s, Hotchkis resumed writing original material, this time moving beyond legitimate theater into the performance art world. She founded the Santa Monica-based Tearsheets Productions [23] and wrote, produced and performed two solo performance pieces. [8] The first, Tearsheets: Rude Tales from the Ranch, [11] [24] toured the United States in the early 1990s [25] and went abroad to the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, [26] where it was the only U.S. production to win a Fringe First Award. [27] Her second solo work was Elements of Flesh: Or Screwing Saved My Ass (1996), about aging and sexuality. [28] [29] [30]
Hotchkis married Robert Foster in June 1958. [10] They met while filming a live commercial. [15] Together, they had one child, Paula. They eventually divorced in 1967, and Hotchkis consequently returned to Los Angeles with Paula. [11] [15] Hotchkis' lifelong interest in psychology led her to eventually become a part-time paraprofessional in aggression training at the Institute of Group Psychotherapy (mentored by George Bach). [6] [31]
Hotchkis died on September 27, 2022, in Los Angeles. She was 95, and suffered from congestive heart failure prior to her death. [15] [32]
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1971 | The Late Liz | Sally Pearson |
1973 | Breezy | Paula Harmon |
1975 | Legacy | Bissie Hapgood |
1976 | Ode to Billy Joe | Anna 'Mama' Hartley |
1979 | Old Boyfriends | Pamela Shaw |
1984 | The Last Game | Cory's Mother |
Personal: Born September 21, 1927, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Preston (in the insurance and investment business) and Katharine (Bixby) Hotchkis; married Robert Foster (a film director and writer) … Education: Smith College, B.A., 1949; Bank Street College of Education, M.S., 1952, studied acting with Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Kristen Linklater, Eric Morris …
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Joan Hotchkis (September 21, 1927 – September 27, 2022) was an American stage, screen and television actress, writer and performance artist. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio [1] and the Dramatists Guild, Hotchkis was best known for playing Dr. Nancy Cunningham for several seasons on The Odd Couple, for co-writing with Eric Morris the seminal acting manual "No Acting Please" (1977), [2] which is still used in colleges and conservatories, [3] [4] [5] and for her groundbreaking performance art works in the 1990s.
Hotchkis was born in Los Angeles on September 21, 1927. [6] [7] Her father, Preston, worked in insurance and investment; [7] her mother, Katharine (Bixby), hailed from a family of cattle ranchers in Orange County that turned Rancho Los Alamitos into a 26,000-acre cattle ranch. [6] [8] Hotchkis was raised in San Marino, [9] and attended Westridge School in nearby Pasadena. [10] She studied at Smith College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949. She then obtained a master's degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street Teachers College three years later, [7] before teaching nursery school and kindergarten for three years. [8] [11]
At the age of 26, Hotchkis switched from teaching to acting, [11] joining the Actors Studio and studying acting in New York City. [8] She made her Broadway debut in Advise and Consent, adapted from the novel by the same name. [8] From the 1950s through the 1990s, Hotchkis played various roles in television, film and theater (summer stock and Broadway). She was featured in Broadway productions of It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman (Philadelphia previews), [12] and Write Me A Murder, [13] before playing Myra on the soap opera The Secret Storm for several years in the early 1960s. [14] She moved back to Los Angeles in 1967 and worked steadily in television through the 1970s. [15] Most notably, Hotchkis played Dr. Nancy Cunningham, sometime girlfriend of Oscar Madison on the television version of The Odd Couple and Ellen in the Emmy-winning series My World and Welcome to It. [16]
Hotchkis also made many guest appearances on TV shows such as Bewitched, [16] St. Elsewhere, [7] Lou Grant, [17] Charlie's Angels, Mannix, [16] Marcus Welby, [18] Barnaby Jones, [16] and more. On the big screen, she co-starred as Mama Hartley in the feature film Ode to Billy Joe (1976). [16]
Hotchkis began writing original material in the 70s, beginning with a one-woman play, Legacy depicting an upper-class housewife having a mental and emotional breakdown. Eric Morris directed the play on stage; director Karen Arthur saw the play and approached Hotchkis proposing to make a film version, with Arthur as director and Hotchkis as writer, producer and star. [19] [20] The resulting film, Legacy (1975), won Best Newcomer at the Tehran Film Festival. [15]
During the early 1980s, Hotchkis returned to the stage, performing for several years in regional theaters such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. [21] She subsequently starred in The Glass Menagerie at Los Angeles Theater Center and did occasional television roles. [15] [22]
Beginning in the late 1980s, Hotchkis resumed writing original material, this time moving beyond legitimate theater into the performance art world. She founded the Santa Monica-based Tearsheets Productions [23] and wrote, produced and performed two solo performance pieces. [8] The first, Tearsheets: Rude Tales from the Ranch, [11] [24] toured the United States in the early 1990s [25] and went abroad to the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, [26] where it was the only U.S. production to win a Fringe First Award. [27] Her second solo work was Elements of Flesh: Or Screwing Saved My Ass (1996), about aging and sexuality. [28] [29] [30]
Hotchkis married Robert Foster in June 1958. [10] They met while filming a live commercial. [15] Together, they had one child, Paula. They eventually divorced in 1967, and Hotchkis consequently returned to Los Angeles with Paula. [11] [15] Hotchkis' lifelong interest in psychology led her to eventually become a part-time paraprofessional in aggression training at the Institute of Group Psychotherapy (mentored by George Bach). [6] [31]
Hotchkis died on September 27, 2022, in Los Angeles. She was 95, and suffered from congestive heart failure prior to her death. [15] [32]
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1971 | The Late Liz | Sally Pearson |
1973 | Breezy | Paula Harmon |
1975 | Legacy | Bissie Hapgood |
1976 | Ode to Billy Joe | Anna 'Mama' Hartley |
1979 | Old Boyfriends | Pamela Shaw |
1984 | The Last Game | Cory's Mother |
Personal: Born September 21, 1927, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of Preston (in the insurance and investment business) and Katharine (Bixby) Hotchkis; married Robert Foster (a film director and writer) … Education: Smith College, B.A., 1949; Bank Street College of Education, M.S., 1952, studied acting with Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Kristen Linklater, Eric Morris …
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cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)