The famous Joan Hotchkis was an American stage, screen, and television actress, writer, and performance artist. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio and the Dramatists Guild, Hotchkis is best known for playing Dr. Nancy Cunningham for several seasons on The Odd Couple.
From the 1950s through the 1990s, Hotchkis played many 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), Advise and Consent and Write Me A Murder before playing Myra on the soap opera The Secret Storm for several years in the early 1960s.
In 1967, she moved back to Los Angeles 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; Ellen in the Emmy-winning series My World and Welcome to It, and co-starred on L.A.T.E.R. (1980).
Scene from The Odd Couple with (from left): Hotchkis and fellow actors Fred Beir, Jack Klugman, and Janis Hansen.
Was Joan Hotchkis vaccinated?
Hotchkis was not vaccinated due to her situation during the covid era, she was not stable and balanced.
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. The resulting film, Legacy (1975), won Best Newcomer at the Tehran Film Festival.
