Joan Hotchkis was born on September 21 1927 in Los Angeles. She grew up in San Marino, California. In 1949 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She later received a master's degree in early childhood education at Bank Street Teacher's College in New York. She briefly taught at a nursery school in New York.
It was while she was home visiting her family for the holidays that she She auditioned for a production of the play The Rainmaker at the Players Ring theatre in West Hollywood. She was cast in the lead role of Lizzie. Once Joan Hotchkis returned to New York City she became a member of The Actors Studio. There she studied with Lee Strasberg.
Joan Hotchkis made her television debut in an episode of Frontier in 1956. She guest starred on the shows Conflict and Robert Montgomery Presents before beginning a stint on the soap opera The Secret Storm in 1956. She guest starred on the sow Diagnosis: Unknown. She appeared on Broadway in Advise and Consent.
In the Sixties she played the role of Ellen Monroe on the sitcom My World and Welcome to It. While it lasted for only one season, it was critically acclaimed and won the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and, for William Windom, Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. She guest starred in the shows Way Out, Iron Horse, The Outcasts, Bewitched, and The Immortal. She appeared in the TV movies Inside Danny Baker and Abe Lincoln in Illinois. She appeared on Broadway in Write Me a Murder.
In 1974 Joan Hotchkis wrote the one-woman play Legacy, about a middle-class housewife who has a mental breakdown. She starred in the play at Actors Studio West in Los Angeles. In the Seventies she played the recurring character of Dr.Nancy Cunningham, the physician for lead characters Felix (Tony Randall) and Oscar (Jack Klugman) and Oscar's girlfriend on The Odd Couple. Later in the decade she was a regular on the short-lived, syndicated sitcom The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts. She guest starred on the shows The Interns; Mannix; Ghost Story; Temperatures Rising; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; The F.BI., The New Dick Van Dyke Show; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Barnbaby Jones; Medical Center; Executive Suite; Charlie's Angels; and Lou Grant. She appeared in the movie adaptation of her play Legacy (1975), as well as the movies The Late Liz (1971), Breezy (1973), Ode to Billy Joe (1976), and Old Boyfriends (1979).
In the Eighties she guest starred on the TV shows St. Elsewhere and The Magical World of Disney. He appeared in the movie The Last Game (1983). Her last appearance was in the TV movie The Disappearance of Christina in 1993.
Joan Hotchkis also appeared frequently on stage. Among other things, she appeared in productions of Cowboy Jack, Street, Madame Irma, and The Grace of Mary Traverse in Los Angeles. She appeared multiple times in The Glass Menagerie. She also performed with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Joan Hotchkis was a very talented actress. She was excellent as Dr. Nancy Cunningham on The Odd Couple. She also gave a great performance as Ellen Monroe, the practical wife of writer and cartoonist My World and Welcome to It. Joan Hotchkis usually played highly educated, sophisticated women, and on more than one occasion she played doctors. That having been said, she played other roles as well. She played Mama Hartley, the disapproving mother of lovestruck teen Bobbie Lee (Glynnis O'Conner) in the movie Ode to Billie Joe (1976), proving she could give a good performance even with poor material. Joan Hotchkis was a very talented actress who was also quite versatile.
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