'The Odd Couple' Actress Joan Hotchkis Dead at 95

Joan Hotchkis, the actress, writer and performance artist best known for her role as Dr. Nancy Cunningham on The Odd Couple, died last week. She was 95.

Hotchkis died on Sept. 27 of congestive heart failure, a rep for the actress confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

Hotchkis earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and an M.A. in Early Childhood Education, then briefly taught at a nursery school in New York before embarking on career in the arts that spanned more than five decades starting in 1954 when she was 27 years old.

She played Myra on the soap opera The Secret Storm starting in 1958 and made her Broadway debut at the Cort Theatre in Advise and Consent in 1960.

Hotchkis was the last surviving child of Los Angeles civic leaders Preston Hotchkis and Katharine Bixby. She married director Bob Foster, who she met early in her career on the set of a commercial in 1958, but the couple divorced in 1967. They have one daughter, Paula Chambers, together.

After her divorce, Hotchkis moved back to her hometown of Los Angeles with her daughter, where she played female lead in My World and Welcome To It, earned her beloved role on The Odd Couple and made brief appearances on Bewitched, General Hospital and more.

Throughout the following decade, she also guest starred on shows including Lou Grant, Charlie's Angels, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and St. Elsewhere. In 1980, she played as Lydia in The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts. Hotchkis also starred in films including The Late Liz, Old Boyfriends, Ode to Billie Joe and Clint-Eastwood directed Breezy.

Hotchkis wrote Legacy, a one-woman play that she starred in at Actors Studio West. In 1975, she went from playwright to screenwriter for the film adaptation of the play, which won the best newcomer award at the Tehran International Film Festival. She also co-wrote the acting handbook No Acting Please with method acting teacher Eric Morris, originally published in 1979.

Shortly after, Hotchkis was diagnosed with meningioma, a non-cancerous brain tumor that was then successfully surgically removed. After surviving this cancer, Hotchkis left TV and film to return to the stage.

She starred in Cowboy Jack Street and The Balcony at the Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles. She also starred in various productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater and L. A. Theatre Works. Perhaps Hotchkis' most memorable on-stage role is Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, who she portrayed four times throughout the 1980s.

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In 1990, Hotchkis went from actress to performance artist, creating performance art pieces like Tearsheets: Letters I Didn't Send Home and Elements of Flesh, or Screwing Saved My Ass.

Throughout her life, Hotchkis was also interested in social justice. She supported nonprofits and mentored young women from underprivileged backgrounds. She also supported activists including Torie Osborne of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and Ethiopian activist Bogaletch "Boge" Gebre.