Joan Copeland, the younger sister of legendary playwright Arthur Miller whose decades-long Broadway career included performances in two of her brother’s plays, died Tuesday at age 99.
The actress, whose TV credits included multiple daytime soap operas and NBC’s “Law & Order,”Eric Kupchik, Eric’s son, said that she died in her Manhattan home while sleeping.The Hollywood Reporter. Kupchik did not immediately respond to ’s request for comment.
Copeland starred in Miller’s 1968 play “The Price” and later won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Rose Baum in Miller’s 1980 Depression-era play “The American Clock.”Augusta, Augusta’s mother, was the inspiration for their music-loving character.
“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,”She stated in An interview from 2012.. “I’ve had to audition for several of his plays, and he always treated me as an actress, not a sister.”
Born Joan Maxine Miller in New York on June 1, 1922, Copeland made her professional acting debut as the female lead in a 1945 production of “Romeo and Juliet” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
For her Broadway debut in 1948’s “Sundown Beach,”She picked a stage name “I didn’t want Miller, for obvious reasons; I did not want to trade on my brother’s name,”She told The New York Times1981
Despite her name change, she struggled to find work after Miller’s blacklist in 1957. Pulitzer-winning playwright who wrote such classics as “Death of a Salesman,” “The Crucible” and “A View From the Bridge,” died in 2005 at age 89.
Copeland was one of the first members of the prestigious Actors Studio appeared on Broadway 13 times. After replacing Eleanor Parker as the musical’s revival in 1976, Copeland was nominated to her first Drama Desk Award. “Pal Joey.”
She also starred in several daytime soaps, with memorable turns as twins on CBS’ “Love of Life,” the villain Andrea Whiting on CBS’ “Search for Tomorrow,”Gwendolyn Lord Abbot on “One Life to Live,”Also, appearances “The Edge of Night” “As the World Turns.”
“Law & Order”Fans may be familiar with her as Judge Rebecca Stein, a role she played on the NBC drama between 1991 and 2001. She was also a guest on episodes of “All in the Family,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “ER” and “Chicago Hope.”
Her films include Paddy Chayefsky’s “The Goddess” (1958), based on Marilyn Monroe, who was married to Arthur Miller from 1956-1961.