Joan Hackett
Encyclopedia
Joan Ann Hackett was an American actress who appeared on stage, in films, and on television.
of Irish
and Italian
extraction. Her immigrant parents raised her Roman Catholic and sent her to Catholic schools
.
in 1959. In 1961 she won a Theatre World Award
, an Obie Award
, and a Drama Desk Award
for her portrayal of Chris in Michael Shurtleff
's play Call Me By My Rightful Name
. She had a recurring role on the CBS legal drama The Defenders (1961–1965) as the fiancee of Kenneth Preston (played by Robert Reed
), partner in the father-and-son law firm led by patriarch Lawrence Preston (E.G. Marshall). She appeared regularly in scenes with both lead actors. She had a leading role in The Twilight Zone
episode "A Piano in the House
". In the 1963-1964 season, she guest starred on the ABC
drama
about college
life, Channing
starring Jason Evers
and Henry Jones
. She had one of the starring roles in the 1966 Sidney Lumet
film The Group
, along with Candice Bergen
, Larry Hagman
, Richard Mulligan
, Joanna Pettet
and others.
One of her notable movie performances was the role of Catherine Allen, a young mother struggling to survive on the frontier, in the 1968 Western
Will Penny
, with Charlton Heston
in the title role. Hackett also had notable parts in the classic Western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff!
, with James Garner
, and the 1973 murder mystery The Last of Sheila
. After this she primarily had parts in TV movies and on episodes of TV series.
Hackett won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her performance in the 1981 movie Only When I Laugh
, the last movie she made before her death. She could also be seen in Paul Simon
's film One Trick Pony, in which she did a nude scene.
, who also appeared in The Group.
at Encino Hospital in California
in 1983. Both of her parents as well as her former husband Richard Mulligan also died of cancer. She is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
, where her epitaph
reads "Go Away—I'm Asleep", a reference to her love of beauty sleep.
Early life
She was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
of Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
and Italian
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
extraction. Her immigrant parents raised her Roman Catholic and sent her to Catholic schools
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
.
Acting career
Hackett debuted with the role of Gail Prentiss in the TV series Young Doctor MaloneYoung Doctor Malone
Young Doctor Malone is an American soap opera, created by Irna Phillips, which had a long run on radio and television from 1939 to 1963...
in 1959. In 1961 she won a Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
, an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
, and a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for her portrayal of Chris in Michael Shurtleff
Michael Shurtleff
Michael Shurtleff was a major force in casting on Broadway during the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote Audition, a book for actors on the audition process...
's play Call Me By My Rightful Name
Call Me By My Rightful Name
Call Me By My Rightful Name is an American play by Michael Shurtleff which is based on a story by S.F. Pfoutz. The production premiered Off-Broadway on January 31, 1961 at the One Sheridan Square theatre where it ran for a total of 127 performances...
. She had a recurring role on the CBS legal drama The Defenders (1961–1965) as the fiancee of Kenneth Preston (played by Robert Reed
Robert Reed
Robert Reed was a prolific American character actor of stage, film and television. In his first big break, he played Kenneth Preston on the popular 1960s TV legal drama, The Defenders, alongside E. G. Marshall. But he was best remembered for portraying the father, Mike Brady, on the popular...
), partner in the father-and-son law firm led by patriarch Lawrence Preston (E.G. Marshall). She appeared regularly in scenes with both lead actors. She had a leading role in The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "A Piano in the House
A Piano in the House
"A Piano In the House" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Drama critic Fitzgerald Fortune goes to Throckmorton's curio shop to buy his young wife Esther a player piano as a birthday present. At the shop, as the hard-bitten and hard-shelled owner...
". In the 1963-1964 season, she guest starred on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
about college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
life, Channing
Channing (TV series)
Channing is an American drama series that aired on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1963 to April 8, 1964...
starring Jason Evers
Jason Evers
Jason Evers was an American actor.Evers was born Herb Evers in New York City, New York. After quitting high school to join the United States Army, Evers was so inspired by stars like John Wayne that he decided to try acting...
and Henry Jones
Henry Jones (actor)
Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film and television.Jones was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen and John Francis Xavier Jones. He was the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk...
. She had one of the starring roles in the 1966 Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
film The Group
The Group (film)
The Group is a 1966 ensemble film directed by Sidney Lumet based on the novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy about a group of female graduates from a Connecticut College-like college during the early 1930s....
, along with Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
, Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
, Richard Mulligan
Richard Mulligan
Richard Mulligan was an American television and film actor best known for his role as Burt Campbell in the 1970s sitcom Soap and later as Dr. Harry Weston on The Golden Girls and its spin-off Empty Nest.-Early life:He was born in New York City, the younger brother of director Robert Mulligan...
, Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet is a British actress.-Biography:Her parents, Harold Nigel Edgerton Salmon, a British Royal Air Force pilot killed in World War II, and mother, Cecily J. Tremaine, were married in London in 1940...
and others.
One of her notable movie performances was the role of Catherine Allen, a young mother struggling to survive on the frontier, in the 1968 Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
Will Penny
Will Penny
Will Penny is a 1968 western film directed by Tom Gries starring Charlton Heston and Donald Pleasence. It was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner called "Line Camp," which was also written and directed by Tom Gries...
, with Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
in the title role. Hackett also had notable parts in the classic Western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff!
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Support Your Local Sheriff! is a 1969 American comic western film which parodies the often-filmed scenario of an iconoclastic new arrival who tames a lawless frontier town...
, with James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
, and the 1973 murder mystery The Last of Sheila
The Last of Sheila
The Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch....
. After this she primarily had parts in TV movies and on episodes of TV series.
Hackett won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her performance in the 1981 movie Only When I Laugh
Only When I Laugh (film)
Only When I Laugh is a 1981 film based on Neil Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady.The story is about an alcoholic Broadway actress who tries to stay sober while dealing with the problems of her teenaged daughter and her friends: an overly vain woman who fears the loss of her looks and a gay actor...
, the last movie she made before her death. She could also be seen in Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's film One Trick Pony, in which she did a nude scene.
Personal life
From 1965 to 1973 she was married to actor Richard MulliganRichard Mulligan
Richard Mulligan was an American television and film actor best known for his role as Burt Campbell in the 1970s sitcom Soap and later as Dr. Harry Weston on The Golden Girls and its spin-off Empty Nest.-Early life:He was born in New York City, the younger brother of director Robert Mulligan...
, who also appeared in The Group.
Death
Hackett died of ovarian cancerOvarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....
at Encino Hospital in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1983. Both of her parents as well as her former husband Richard Mulligan also died of cancer. She is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
, where her epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
reads "Go Away—I'm Asleep", a reference to her love of beauty sleep.
Partial filmography
- 1966: The GroupThe Group (film)The Group is a 1966 ensemble film directed by Sidney Lumet based on the novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy about a group of female graduates from a Connecticut College-like college during the early 1930s....
- 1968: Will PennyWill PennyWill Penny is a 1968 western film directed by Tom Gries starring Charlton Heston and Donald Pleasence. It was based upon an episode of the 1960 Sam Peckinpah television series The Westerner called "Line Camp," which was also written and directed by Tom Gries...
- 1968: Assignment to KillAssignment to KillAssignment to Kill is a 1968 American drama film directed by Sheldon Reynolds and starring Patrick O'Neal, Joan Hackett, John Gielgud, Herbert Lom and Oskar Homolka. A private detective is hired by an insurance company to investigate a shipping tycoon who is suspected of deliberately sinking his...
- 1969: Support Your Local Sheriff!Support Your Local Sheriff!Support Your Local Sheriff! is a 1969 American comic western film which parodies the often-filmed scenario of an iconoclastic new arrival who tames a lawless frontier town...
- 1970: The Other Man
- 1970: The Young Country
- 1970: How Awful About AllanHow Awful About AllanHow Awful About Allan is a 1970 television film thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington, his second collaboration with writer Henry Farrell, and starring Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris...
- 1971: Five Desperate Women
- 1972: Lights Out
- 1973: The Last of SheilaThe Last of SheilaThe Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch....
- 1974: Reflections of Murder
- 1974: The Terminal ManThe Terminal ManThe Terminal Man is a novel by Michael Crichton about the dangers of mind control. Published in 1972, it was later made into a film of the same name.-Plot summary:...
- 1975: Mackintosh & T.J.Mackintosh & T.J.Mackintosh & T.J. is a soundtrack album to the film of the same name, featuring four songs performed by Waylon Jennings and another by Willie Nelson. It was released on RCA Victor in 1976. Three of the Jennings songs had been previously unreleased; four of the tracks on the album are instrumentals...
- 1976: Treasure of MatecumbeTreasure of MatecumbeTreasure of Matecumbe is a Walt Disney Productions family adventure film released in 1976, directed by Vincent McEveety. It was based on the novel by Robert Lewis Taylor. The plot involves a boy and his companion who run away from home to hunt for treasure. The filming locations were in Kentucky...
- 1977: Dead of Night
- 1980: The Long Days of Summer
- 1980: One Trick Pony
- 1980: Harnessing the Sun
- 1981: Only When I LaughOnly When I Laugh (film)Only When I Laugh is a 1981 film based on Neil Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady.The story is about an alcoholic Broadway actress who tries to stay sober while dealing with the problems of her teenaged daughter and her friends: an overly vain woman who fears the loss of her looks and a gay actor...
- 1982: The Escape ArtistThe Escape ArtistThe Escape Artist is a 1982 film starring Griffin O'Neal and Raúl Juliá. It was based on a book by David Wagoner, and was the directorial debut of Caleb Deschanel.-Plot:...
Selected TV guest appearances
- 1960 Diagnosis: UnknownDiagnosis: UnknownDiagnosis: Unknown is an American medical drama that aired on CBS from July 5 to September 20, 1960. Produced by Bob Banner, the series aired as a summer replacement for The Garry Moore Show, a variety program.-Synopsis:...
in episode 7 "Gina, Gina", September 6 - 1962 The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
(1959) playing "Esther Fortune" in episode: "A Piano in the HouseA Piano in the House"A Piano In the House" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Drama critic Fitzgerald Fortune goes to Throckmorton's curio shop to buy his young wife Esther a player piano as a birthday present. At the shop, as the hard-bitten and hard-shelled owner...
" (episode # 3.22) February 16 - 1962 GunsmokeGunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(1955) playing "Mady Arthur" in episode: "The Widow" (episode # 7.25) 24 March - 1963 Combat! (1962) playing "Gabrille" in episode: "The Chateau" (episode # 1.19) February 12
- 1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) playing "Helen Clarvoe" in episode: "Beast in View" (episode # 2.21) March 20
- 1965 BonanzaBonanzaBonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
(1959) playing "Margarita Miguel" in episode: "Woman of Fire" (episode # 6.17) January 17 - 1969 Daniel BooneDaniel BooneDaniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
(1964) playing "Theodora Liggett" in episode: "A Pinch of Salt" (episode #5.26) May 1 - 1979 Trapper John, M.D.Trapper John, M.D.Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986....
(1979) playing "Wilma" in episode: "The Surrogate" (episode # 1.10) December 23 - 1979 TaxiTaxi (TV series)Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
playing "Charlotte", the sister of "Alex Reiger" in episode: "Honor Thy Father" (season 2, episode 2) aired on 18 September 1979 - 1982 Paper DollsPaper DollsPaper Dolls is an American prime time soap opera which aired for 14 episodes on ABC from September 23, 1984 to December 25, 1984. Set in New York's fashion industry, the show centered around top modeling agency owner Racine , her conflicts with the family of cosmetics tycoon Grant Harper , and the...
(1982) playing "Julia Blake" mother of teen model Taryn Blake