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Actress, writer and performance artist Joan Hotchkis, who was best known for her role as Dr Nancy Cunningham on The Odd Couple, died on September 27. She was 95.
A representative for the actress confirmed in a statement to People she died of congestive heart failure.
Prior to embarking on a career in the arts and entertainment industry – which spanned more than five decades – at 27, Hotchkis earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in early childhood education.
From 1958, Hotchkis played Myra in soap opera The Secret Storm and she made her Broadway debut in 1960 with Advise and Consent. She returned to the stage many times throughout the years, with perhaps her most memorable role bring Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, which she played four times.
Hotchkis was the daughter of Los Angeles civil leaders Preston Hotchkis and Katharine Bixby, and was their last surviving child. Hotchkis, throughout her life, supported nonprofits and mentored young women from underprivileged backgrounds, as well as notably supporting LGBT+ activist Torie Osborne and Ethiopian activist Bogaletch Gebre.
In 1958, she married director Bob Foster after meeting him on the set of a commercial, and in 1967, they divorced. They share daughter Paula Chambers.
Following her divorce, Hotchkis moved to Los Angeles with her daughter, which is where she earned her role on The Odd Couple.
Throughout her extensive career, she’s also starred in My World and Welcome To It, Bewitched, General Hospital, Lou Grant, Charlie’s Angels, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and St. Elsewhere. Hotchkis also starred in films including Old Boyfriends, The Late Liz, Ode to Billie Hoe and Breezy, which was directed by Clint Eastwood.
She was a prolific writer in addition to her on-screen achievements – Hotchkis wrote the one-woman play Legacy, in which she starred, and it was adapted into a film in 1975. The film, which Hotchkis also wrote, won the best newcomer award at the Tehran International Film Festival. In 1979, she also co-wrote the acting handbook No Acting Please.
Shortly after the book was published, Hotchkis was diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumour, which was surgically removed. She left television and film shortly after to return to the stage.
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