- Born
- Died
- Early in her career, in 1938, Joan Tompkins played opposite Henry Fonda in a run of plays in White Plains, New York. She later became well known on radio in the role of Nora Drake. During her long years in radio, she also acted on Broadway in "Pride and Prejudice," "My Sister Eileen" and many other plays. Joan met the actor Karl Swenson, "the man of a thousand voices," in the radio studio and later married him. Later, they moved to southern California and founded an acting company in Beverly Hills, with Karl directing and Joan acting. After Karl's death in 1978, Joan retired into a new career. She established a writing group. She wrote several books, herself, and was an insightful critic and a voice of encouragement to the group members, who themselves published many books. She died on January 29, 2005, at her home in Orange County, California, at the age of 89, and was survived by four stepsons, their children and grandchildren.- IMDb mini biography by: Tim Dunleavy
- SpousesKarl Swenson(December 21, 1951 - October 8, 1978) (his death)Bruce MacFarlane(October 18, 1942 - 1951) (divorced)Stephen Ker Appleby(July 25, 1936 - December 4, 1941) (divorced)
- After World War ll, Joan offered to become a foster parent for a war orphan. From many photos she chose a crippled Polish boy -- Tomasz "Tomek" Machcinski -- who later became a photographer known as " the man of a million faces". In 1994, their story was portrayed in the documentary, "Child from a Catalog".
- Stage actress on Broadway in "Pride and Prejudice", "My Sister Eileen", and many other plays. Early in her career, in 1938, she played opposite Henry Fonda in a run of plays in White Plains, New York. She was also a radio-actress, who became well known on radio as the title character of the soap opera "This Is Nora Drake".
- Ex-daughter-in-law of Alice Gentle.
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