Joan Hackett

Joan Hackett was a renowned American actress. She was the recipient of Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award. She was lauded for her portrayal of Christine Mannon in ‘Mourning becomes Electra’. She was born on 1-3-1934 in New York Click to look into! >> Read More... to Mary (from Italy) and John Hackett (from Ireland). Their children were raised as Roman Catholics. She was a successful teenage model. Joan made her Broadway debut in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ in 1959. Her debut role was as Gail Prentiss in TV series Young Doctor Malone. In 1961, she won three awards for her role of Chris in the play ‘Call Me By My Rightful Name’ - a Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award for Best Actress, a Theatre World Award. She played the role of the fiancee of Kenneth Preston in the legal drama The Defenders. She played the lead role in The Twilight Zone’s ‘A Piano in the House’ episode. She played one of the lead roles in the movie The Group (1966). Her notable performances include the role of Catherine Allen (Will Penny - 1968), Support Your Local Sheriff!, The Last of Sheila (1973), Another Day (as Ginny Gardner - 1978), Only When I Laugh (1981). In The Group, a 150-minute part-satire and part-soap-opera directed by Sidney Lumet, Joan was featured as one of the eight Vassar graduates whose lives and loves over the years were examined.

She was married to The Group co-star Richard Mulligan in 1966. They were divorced in 1973. She was the ex-stepmother of James Mulligan. She was that unconventional leading lady who gave importance to perfection. Her strong-mindedness and individuality reflected in the roles she played. She never hesitated to do deglamorized roles if needed. Her off-beat personality limited her career. She is an eminent social activist, supporting solar energy and preservation of Time Square’s Old Morosco Theatre. She acted in a spy film Assignment to Kill (1968), and then a TV thriller How Awful About Allan (1970). It was followed by two subsequent thrillers - The Last of Sheila (1973), and Reflections of Murder (1974). She then acted in the movie Only When I Laugh (1981). She won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. Her TV series performances include - Trapper John, M.D. (1979) where she played the role of ‘Wilma - The Surrogate’. She was also seen in Lights Out Click to look into! >> Read More... , a TV Movie, in 1972. In the series ‘Love, American Style’ (1970-71), she played the role of Linda in the segments of "Love and the Jury" and "Love and the Proposal". In Ben Casey (1961-64), she was seen as Molly Hill / Ellen Parker in the episodes of ‘This Wild, Wild, Wild Waltzing World’; ‘A Certain Time’ and ‘A Certain Darkness’. In The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964), she essayed the role of ‘Helen Clarvoe’ in the episode Beast in View. In Theatre '62 (1962), she played the role of ‘The Second Mrs. de Winter’ in the episode ‘Rebecca’. In The Twilight Zone (1962), she was seen as Esther Fortune in the episode of ‘A Piano in the House’.

Her film performances include ‘The Escape Artist’ (1982), a crime drama film directed by Cale Deschanel where Joan played the role of Aunt Sibyl and ‘Only When I Laugh’ (1981), a comedy-drama directed by Glenn Jordan where she played the role of ‘Toby Landau’. In Treasure of Matecumbe (1976), a Western Family Adventure film directed by Vincent McEveety, she essayed the role of ‘Lauriette Paxton’. In The Terminal Man (1974), a Sci-Fi thriller movie directed by Mike Hodges, she was seen as Dr.Janet Ross. In the film Rivals (1972), an American Drama directed by Krishna Shah Krishna Shah was an Indian director. He was a well >> Read More... , Joan played the role of ‘Christine’. Joan was ill since 1981. Wrecked by ovarian cancer, she checked out of her hospital to celebrate the wedding party of Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (D.O.B- October 21, 1956) is >> Read More... and Paul Simon at her Beverly Hills residence, few weeks before her death. Her health worsened after participation in the event. She lost her battle to cancer on 8-10-1983 at Encino Hospital. Her grave has engraved text that says ‘Go Away - I’m Asleep!’ which reflects her love for beauty sleep. Her last picture was ‘Harnessing The Sun’, although ‘Only When I Laugh’ was her last released one. She believed in paranormal so much that she convinced the director of ‘Harnessing the Sun’, Dirk Wayne Summers, to arrange a clairvoyant-aura reader. The clairvoyant spent a week with the cast and crew and did extensive readings for everyone. When the director was asked why he approved such abnormal things, he replied, “Joan Hackett is an efficient worker and is perfect in her role so much so that I would have brought Uri Geller if Joan had desired".