Joan Hotchkis

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 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), which is still used in colleges and conservatories, and for her groundbreaking performance art works in the 1990s. Early life Hotchkis was born in Los Angeles on September 21, 1927. Her father, Preston, worked in insurance and investment; 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. Hotchkis was raised in San Marino, and attended Westridge School in nearby Pasadena. 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, before teaching nursery school and kindergarten for three years. Career At the age of 26, Hotchkis switched from teaching to acting, joining the Actors Studio and studying acting in New York City. She made her Broadway debut in Advise and Consent, adapted from the novel by the same name. 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), and Write Me A Murder, before playing Myra on the soap opera The Secret Storm for several years in the early 1960s. She moved back to Los Angeles in 1967 and worked steadily in television through the 1970s. 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. Hotchkis also made many guest appearances on TV shows such as Bewitched, St. Elsewhere, Lou Grant, Charlie's Angels, Mannix, Marcus Welby, Barnaby Jones, and more. On the big screen, she co-starred as Mama Hartley in the feature film Ode to Billy Joe (1976).