Joan Darling facts for kids
Joan Darling (born April 14, 1935) is an American actress and director. She has worked in movies and on many popular TV shows. She also teaches acting.
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About Joan Darling
Joan Darling was born Joan Kugell in Newton, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1935. She grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her parents and three younger siblings. Her father, Simon Harris Kugell, was a lawyer. Joan went to Brookline High School, Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas.
From 1955 to 1958, Joan performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Audiences and critics really liked her acting because she was so good and could play many different types of roles. Her talent even earned her a scholarship in 1956.
In November 1960, Joan started acting again in New York. She joined an improv comedy group called "The Premise Players." Soon, she moved on to acting in plays both off-Broadway and on Broadway.
Joan Darling's Acting and Directing Career
Joan Darling appeared in her first movie, The Troublemaker, in 1964. She also acted in The President's Analyst (1967). In the 1970s, she began working in television. She was a regular actress on the TV show Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. On that show, she played the office secretary.
Joan Darling made history as the first woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award for directing. She was nominated four times and won one Emmy. She was also nominated twice for a Directors Guild of America award, winning one of those as well. She even received an Emmy nomination for her acting in Woven in a Crazy Plaid.
Darling directed episodes for many famous TV shows. These include Rhoda, Doc, Taxi, Hizzonner, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Magnum, P.I., Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, M*A*S*H, and The Bionic Woman.
She directed a very famous episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called "Chuckles Bites the Dust" in 1975. For this, she was nominated for an Emmy in 1976. She also directed "The Nurses" episode of M*A*S*H in 1976, earning another Emmy nomination in 1977.
Joan Darling also directed feature films like First Love (1977) and The Check Is in the Mail (1986). She directed many TV movies too. In 1976, she was one of only a few women to direct a major Hollywood movie when she made First Love. This was a big step forward for women directors.
In 1987, Joan Darling acted in an episode of Jake and the Fatman. Her character's name in that episode was Joan Kugell, which was Joan Darling's birth name. This was a fun nod to her real identity.
Joan Darling's Family Life
Joan Darling has been married three times. Her first marriage was to physicist Robert Klein in 1954, but it ended two years later. Her second marriage was to folk singer Erik Darling. They married on September 28, 1958, and were together for about five years before they divorced. Joan kept his last name, Darling, for her professional career. Since 1966, Joan Darling has been married to Bill Svanoe. He is a writer and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Shows and Movies Directed by Joan Darling (Partial List)
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (TV series)
- Episode 7, season 6, "Chuckles Bites the Dust", 1975.
- Doc (TV series)
- All 4 episodes in season 1, 1975.
- Rhoda (TV series)
- Episode 11, season 2, "Love Songs of J. Nicholas Lobo", 1975.
- Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (TV series)
- Directed 23 episodes in total, including the first 20 episodes of the show.
- Phyllis (TV series)
- Directed 4 episodes across season 1 and season 2.
- M*A*S*H (TV series)
- Episode 5, season 5 ("The Nurses"), 1976.
- First Love (1977 feature film)
- Taxi (TV series)
- a.k.a. Pablo (TV series), 3 episodes
- Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (TV series), 2 episodes
- Magnum, P.I. (TV series)
- Doogie Howser, M.D. (TV series), 4 episodes
