Joan Hackett was never one of your conventional leading ladies. Directors sometimes found her difficult to work with. Yet this strong-minded perfectionist had an unquenchable individuality that came through in her performances, and she never hesitated to appear unglamorous whenever the role demanded. Born of an Italian mother and an Irish-American father in East Harlem on March 1, 1934, teenage Joan left school during twelfth grade to become a model. On the cover of Harper's Junior Bazaar in 1952, the attractive brunette turned down the resulting offer of a contract with 20th Century-Fox and opted instead for acting classes at 'Lee Strasberg' 's play "The Gingerbread Lady", won Joan a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. By that time, she was already so ill with cancer that she had to travel to the award ceremony in a wheelchair. Joan Hackett was well known as a social activist, embracing solar energy and losing causes such as the preservation of the old Morosco Theatre in Times Square with equal fervor. According to personal friends, she accepted her fate with equanimity and dignity, dying at the age of just 49 in a hospital in Encino, California, in October 1983.
She won an Obie award in 1961 for Call Me By My Rightful Name.
Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, USA, in the Abbey of the Psalms, Sanctuary of Faith, 2nd from bottom, near the end of the hall. She always loved sleeping, and her mausoleum marker carries an admonition not to wake her while shes getting her beauty sleep: "Go Away - Im Asleep".
Ravaged by cancer, a few weeks prior to her death she checked herself out of the hospital to host a wedding party at her Beverly Hills home for Carrie Fisher and Paul Simon. Just a few days later, her condition rapidly deteriorated. She then spent her last few weeks at Encino Hospital under aggressive treatment. She lost her battle on Saturday, October 8, 1983, at 9:15 pm.
A firm believer in the paranormal, while on location in Texas filming Harnessing the Sun , she persuaded the films director, Dirk Wayne Summers , to fly in a clairvoyant aura reader. She arranged for the entire crew to receive extrasensory readings. The clairvoyant spent a week with the films cast and crew. When Summers was asked by a reporter from a Dallas newspaper why he approved such unusual arrangements--and did CBS know--Summers answered: "Joan Hackett is so great to work with and so perfect in her role that I would have flown in Uri Geller if Joan had wanted him.".
Filmed in 1980-1981, Harnessing the Sun was her last picture, although some films shot earlier (e.g., Only When I Laugh ) were released after that film.
Daughter of Irish and Italian immigrant parents, and educated at Catholic schools in NYC.
Was a dedicated social activist.
Was a successful teenage model.
Ex-stepmother of James Mulligan.
