Joan Copeland (1922 - 2022)

Joan Copeland Biography Born June 1, 1922 in New York City, New York, USA Died January 4, 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA Birth Name Joan Maxine Miller Mini Bio (1) Joan Copeland, the sister of famed playwright Arthur Miller, is a renowned actress in her own right. She made her name on Broadway, debuting there in 1945 to begin a career that lasted more than 60 years. She also had a long career on television, where she appeared in a number of that medium's most popular soap operas. She played scheming villain Andrea Whiting in Search for Tomorrow (1951), and also appeared in Love of Life (1951) and The Edge of Night (1956), among others. She occasionally worked in films, but made fewer than 20 of them in her career, preferring the stage and television, where she made her debut in 1950. Family (1) Spouse George Joseph Kupchik (1 September 1943 - 26 July 1989) (his death) (1 child) Trivia (11) Daughter of Augusta Miller and Isidore Miller. Younger sister of Kermit Miller and Arthur Miller. Sister-in-law of Inge Morath. Aunt of Jane Miller, Rebecca Miller, and Robert A. Miller. Former sister-in-law of Mary Slattery and Marilyn Monroe. The recipient of numerous stage awards in her later career, she won the Drama Desk Award for her stage work in "The American Clock" (1980) (which was written by her brother); the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1983), and the Obie Award for "The American Plan" (1990). Has graced a number of daytime soap operas over time, including Search for Tomorrow (1951), Love of Life (1951) (in which she played twins), The Edge of Night (1956), One Life to Live (1968), How to Survive a Marriage (1974) and As the World Turns (1956). Her father was a woman's clothes manufacturer and her mother was a schoolteacher/housewife. Her father and his family immigrated from Radomysl Wielki, Galicia (then part of Austria-Hungary; now Poland). Her mother's family immigrated from Austria. Prominent actress of the Broadway stage for over six decades. She made her debut in "Romeo and Juliet" in 1945 and played Desdemona in "Othello" the following year. She and her former sister-in-law Marilyn Monroe were both born on June 1: in 1922 and 1926 respectively. Replaced Polly Bergen in the musical stage production of "Camille Claudel" at the Goodspeed. [July 2007] Graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York. Her husband George Kupchik was a bacteriologist. One of the first members of The Actors Studio. Served as Katharine Hepburn's standby as Coco Chanel in the musical Coco, which ran for more than 320 performances from 1969-70.

Joan Copeland, the Broadway, film and TV actress and sister of playwright Arthur Miller whose career spanned more than six decades, died Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 99. Copeland died peacefully in her sleep at 5:47 a.m. at her home on the Upper West Side, her son Erik Kupchik and his wife Geralen Silberg-Kupchik told the Daily News. “She lived an amazing life,” Silberg-Kupchik said. “In addition to her brilliant career, she was a wonderful mother. And we’re going to miss her very much.” Actress Joan Copeland attends the opening of "Picturing Marilyn" at Milk Gallery on Nov. 9, 2011, in New York City. Copeland, who was Marilyn Monroe’s sister-in-law for five years, was best known for her work on Broadway, starring in the 1976 revival of “Pal Joey” and delivering a Drama Desk Award-winning performance in 1980′s “The American Clock.” That star turn came in a unique role: She played her own mother, and her brother was the playwright. “Arthur didn’t write the part for me but it’s one of the few roles I didn’t have to audition for my brother,” Copeland told the Southampton Press in 2012. “I’ve had to audition for several of his plays and he always treated me as an actress, not a sister.” Copeland only starred in one more of Miller’s plays to make it to Broadway, “The Price” in 1968. “It’s been said that blood is thicker than water, but whoever said it was not a writer,” she said in 2012. But Copeland was easily talented enough to earn credits for several other productions: “Detective Story” (1949), “Not For Children” (1951), “Tovarich” (1963), “Something More!” (1964), “Coco” (1969), “Two By Two” (1970) and “Checking Out” (1976) among them. Copeland made her film debut in 1958′s “The Goddess.” She played a small role in the movie, which was based on the life of Monroe, her sister-in-law at the time. Miller and Monroe were married from 1956 to 1961. Copeland moved seamlessly between stage, screen and television. She appeared in two soap operas, “Search for Tomorrow” and “How to Survive a Marriage” in the 1960s and ‘70s while also working on films including “Roseland,” “It’s My Turn” and “A Little Sex” into the 1980s. TV viewers probably knew her best for her recurring work on “Law & Order” as Judge Rebecca Stein. She also had a small voice role in the 2003 Disney animated film “Brother Bear.” Copeland married George Kupchik in 1946, and they remained together until his death in 1989. In addition to Erik and Geralen, Copeland is survived by niece Rebecca Miller and her husband, English actor Daniel Day-Lewis.