Broadway Veteran Joan Hotchkis Passes Away at 95

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of stage and screen star Joan Hotchkis, who died from congestive heart failure. She was 95 years old. Hotchkis is best known for playing Dr. Nancy Cunningham, girlfriend of Oscar Madison, for several seasons on The Odd Couple.

She starred in the pre-Broadway production of It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman and later made her Broadway debut in Advise and Consent, followed by Write Me A Murder. In the early 1980s, she returned to the stage, performing for several years at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theater before returning home to star in The Glass Menagerie at Los Angeles Theater Center.

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.

Her many television guest appearances included: Bewitched, St. Elsewhere, Lou Grant, Charlie's Angels, Mannix, Marcus Welby, Barnaby Jones and more. On film, she played Mama Hartley in the feature film Ode to Billy Joe .