Joan Hackett

Joan Ann Hackett, born on March 1, 1934, in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, was an American actress whose work spanned theatre, television, and film across more than two decades. The daughter of John and Mary Hackett, she grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, where she worked as a model and left school before completing her final year. Her mother was originally from Naples, Italy, and her father was of Irish descent; the family was Catholic, and Hackett attended Catholic schools. She had a sister, Theresa, and a brother, John. She died on October 8, 1983, of ovarian cancer at Encino Hospital in Los Angeles, having been diagnosed with the disease in 1981. A funeral mass was held on October 12, 1983, at St. Victor Catholic Church in Los Angeles, and her remains are entombed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where her epitaph reads: "Go Away — I'm Asleep."

Hackett's professional acting career began in 1959 with the role of Gail Prentiss on the television series Young Doctor Malone. That same year she made her Broadway debut, appearing in Much Ado About Nothing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where she played a Lady. Her Broadway career continued through 1972 and included roles in the musical Park, in which she played the Young Woman at the John Golden Theatre following an earlier run at Center Stage in Baltimore, as well as appearances in the play In the Night Watch and in Peterpat, which ran at the Longacre Theatre during the 1964–1965 season. She also appeared on Broadway in Dear Me, the Sky is Falling at the Music Box Theatre in 1963 and in The Rothschilds at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1970, where she played Gutele Rothschild.

In 1961, Hackett received three honors for her Off-Broadway performance as Chris in Michael Shurtleff's Call Me By My Rightful Name at One Sheridan Square: a Theatre World Award, an Obie Award for Best Actress, and a Drama Desk Award. That same year she took on a recurring role in the CBS legal drama The Defenders, playing the fiancée of Kenneth Preston, portrayed by Robert Reed, a role she continued through 1965. She also appeared in The Twilight Zone episode "A Piano in the House" and guest-starred on the ABC drama Channing during the 1963–1964 season.

Her film career gained significant momentum with Sidney Lumet's 1966 ensemble picture The Group, in which she appeared alongside Candice Bergen, Larry Hagman, Richard Mulligan, and Joanna Pettet, among others. The performance earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. Two years later she played Catherine Allen opposite Charlton Heston in the Western Will Penny, and she followed that with a role in the Western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff!, starring James Garner, in 1969. She appeared in the 1973 murder mystery The Last of Sheila and starred in the 1974 adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel The Terminal Man alongside George Segal, Donald Moffat, and Richard Dysart. In 1976, she took the female lead in the Disney adventure film Treasure of Matecumbe, and in 1980 she appeared in Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony.

In 1978, Hackett starred as Christine Mannon in a PBS miniseries adaptation of Mourning Becomes Electra, a performance that generated some of the strongest critical notices of her career. That same year she was a regular cast member on the short-lived CBS sitcom Another Day, playing Ginny Gardner. Her final film, Only When I Laugh, released in 1981, brought her the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Toby Landau, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Over the course of her career she was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Laurel Award. From 1966 to 1973 she was married to actor Richard Mulligan, who had also appeared alongside her in The Group.