Joan Hotchkis

Joan Hotchkis was an American actress who worked in theater, film and television and also wrote and performed her own material. Born in Los Angeles and raised in San Marino, she taught nursery school and kindergarten before turning to acting at 26, joining the Actors Studio and holding lifetime membership in the Dramatists Guild. Her first Broadway role came in Advise and Consent. On television, her most prominent role was Dr. Nancy Cunningham on The Odd Couple, and she played Ellen in the Emmy-winning My World and Welcome to It. Her film credits included Mama Hartley in Ode to Billy Joe (1976). She wrote the one-woman play Legacy, which became a 1975 film that took the Best Newcomer prize at the Tehran Film Festival, and co-wrote No Acting Please (1977) with Eric Morris. Her performance piece Tearsheets: Rude Tales from the Ranch won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.