Born March 1, 1934 in New York, New York to an Italian mother and an Irish-American father, Joa Hackett was one of three children. A natural beauty, she left high school during the twelfth grade to become a model.
On the cover of Harper’s Junior Bazaar in 1952, Hackett turned down an offer of a contract from 20th Century-Fox to study acting with Lee Strasberg.
Making her TV debut in an episode of the soap opera Young Dr. Malone in 1958, she made her stage debut in John Gielgud’s Broadway production of Much Ado About Nothing in 1959, while continuing to appear in TV roles. She gave an Emmy nominated performance in a 1961 episode of Ben Casey. She later won acclaim for essaying Joan Fontaine’s role in a TV version of Rebecca.
Hackett won numerous awards, including an Obie, for her off-Broadway performance in 1961’s Call Me by My Rightful Name. She continued to alternate her theatrical appearances with her TV work through 1965.
In 1966, Hackett married actor Richard Mulligan (TV’s Soap), the brother of Oscar nominated director Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird). That same year, she made her film debut as one of the 8 Vassar girls in Sidney Lumet’s film version of Mary McCarthy’s The Group. Second billed, alphabetically, to Candice Bergen who received a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, it was Hackett who received the film’s only acting nomination from BAFTA.
The actress had what has long been considered her best screen role as the unconventional mother in Tom Gries’ 1968 western, Will Penny opposite Charlton Heston. She followed that with a decidedly different role in the comic western, Support Your Local Sheriff opposite James Garner.
Still popular in guest starring roles on TV, Hackett did not have another big screen role until 1972 when she starred opposite Robert Klein as a recently widowed mother in Rivals in which her son played by Scott Jacoby has a pathological obsession with her that threatens to engender her newfound relationship. The following year’s The Last of Sheila in which she was fourth billed alphabetically behind Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, and James Coburn, and ahead of James Mason, Ian McShane, and Raquel Welch, became the most popular film of her career.
Divorced from Mulligan in 1973, Hackett continued to appear in numerous TV roles, her most memorable being her portrayal of Christine, the mother, in the highly regarded 1978 version of Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra.
In 1981, Hackett received the best notices of her career as Marsha Mason’s friend in Only When I Laugh for which she won a Golden Globe and finally received an Oscar nomination, losing to Maureen Stapleton in Reds. Her body already wracked with the cancer that would kill her, Hackett attended the Oscars in a wheelchair.
Joan Hackett died October 8, 1983 at 49.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
THE GROUP (1966), directed by Sidney Lumet
The film version of Mary McCarthy’s novel about a group of Vassar girls takes place from 1933-1940. Hackett, in her film debut, was the oldest of the eight principal characters which also included, alphabetically, Candice Bergen, Elizabeth Hartman, Shirley Knight, Joanna Pettet, Mary Robin-Redd, Jessica Walter, and Kathleen Widdoes. The men in their lives, also listed alphabetically, included James Broderick, James Congden, Larry Hagman, Hal Holbrook, and Richard Mulligan who was married to Hackett from 1966-1973. Bergen was nominated for a Golden Globe and Hackett was nominated for a BAFTA for their performances.
WILL PENNY (1968), directed by Tom Gries
Cast in a role turned down by Eva Marie Saint, Lee Remick, Joanne Woodward, and Jean Simmons, Hackett had her most substantial screen role as the unconventional mother in this superb western opposite Charlton Heston who considered it to be his favorite film. A box-office failure, the public was more interested in seeing Heston in Planet of the Apes, which was released at the same time. Jon Gries, the director’s son, plays Hackett’s son, a role he was given by the film’s producers who discovered him playing on the film’s set. Still acting today, he was cast over his father’s objections.
THE LAST OF SHEILA (1973), directed by Herbert Ross
This entertaining whodunit was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. The characters were all based on well-known Hollywood characters. Dyan Cannon was playing agent Sue Mengers, James Mason was playing Orson Welles, Richard Benjamin was playing Perkins, and Raquel Welch, although she was told she was playing Ann-Margret, was actually playing herself. The film’s wit is such that after Hackett announces that she would kill for a hot bath, she takes a bath and is murdered in the bathtub. Sondheim did not compose any of the film’s music. Instead, you will hear such songs as Bette Midler’s “Friends”.
MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (1978), directed by Nick Havinga
This five-part production of Eugene O’Neill’s famed play gets right what the disastrous 1947 got woefully wrong. Hackett plays Christine, the mother, a role played in the original 931 Broadway production by Alla Nazimova, then by Katina Paxinou in the 1947 film, and Colleen Dewhurst in the 1972 Broadway revival. The role of her daughter, previously played by Alice Brady, Rosalind Russell and Pamela Peyton-Wright in the earlier versions, was played by Roberta Maxwell. The part of Orin, Lavinia’s brother was played by Bruce Davison following Earle Larimore, Michael Redgrave, and Stephen McHattie in the earlier versions.
ONLY WHEN I LAUGH (1981), directed by Glenn Jordan
Based on Neil Simon’s 1971 Broadway play for which Maureen Stapleton won a Tony playing a boozy actress, Simon’s then wife Marsha Mason was given the role in the film version which co-starred Kristy McNichol as her daughter and James Coco and Joan Hackett as her friends. Mason was nominated for an Oscar, losing to Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond. McNichol, Coco, and Hackett were nominated for Golden Globes with Hackett winning. Coco and Hackett were then nominated for Oscars with Coco losing to John Gielgud in Arthur and Hackett ironically losing to Maureen Stapleton in Reds.
JOAN HACKETT AND OSCAR
Only When I Laugh (1981) –nominated Best Supporting Actress
