Joyce DeWitt, 74, gained widespread recognition when she played a prominent role in the cult television series Three’s Company. The actress spent about ten years working in the industry before deciding to take a significant break from it after the show was canceled.
After appearing in several movies and television shows, DeWitt is now back in the workforce. The 74-year-old continues to look just as stunning as she did back then.
Then why did Joyce DeWitt decide to leave Hollywood? And why did she not communicate with co-star Suzanne Somers for 30 years? You only need to be aware of this information regarding her and her final encounter with Three’s Company co-star John Ritter before his passing.
Joyce DeWitt was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on April 23, 1949. She grew up in both West Virginia and Indiana as the second-oldest child of Paul and Norma DeWitt’s four children.
Joyce was constantly thinking about performing. She was actually aware that she wanted to perform even before she started school.
“When I was younger, I was a complete movie nut, but I always wanted to take on the part that Spencer Tracy or Clark Gable were playing. She admitted to Playbill, “I was never really interested in the roles that women were playing. I thought the roles that the men were playing were much more compelling.
“[Performing] never was a pastime. Even though I hadn’t started school yet, I already had a plan in place. Naturally, everyone simply laughed at me. I was very aware of it.
When Joyce DeWitt was 13 years old, she made her stage debut. At that point, she had developed a deep passion and love for performing, and it became her second home. When Joyce was a student at Speedway Senior High School, she started taking acting classes. She later enrolled at Ball State University, where she received her degree in 1972. The aspiring actress, however, was set on living in New York and pursuing a career in theater there.
Like many actors and actresses before her, she found “The Big Apple” to be extremely competitive and difficult at times. As Joyce DeWitt struggled after arriving in New York, that became apparent to her. She knew it would have to wait, even though she had always wanted to work on Broadway.
Instead, after completing her undergraduate studies, she worked a summer stock season in Chicago before moving to the west coast and enrolling at UCLA for graduate school.
DeWitt remained committed to moving back to New York City and achieving her goal of performing on Broadway. Life, however, had other ideas for her.
At UCLA, she completed a Master of Fine Arts degree, and she was given a role in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. DeWitt finally took off, and it didn’t take long for her major accomplishment to come into view.
Soon after, Joyce DeWitt discovered herself in the casting room for the Three’s Company pilot, a brand-new television comedy series. She had no idea that it would eventually turn into a cult favorite and mark the start of DeWitt’s new life at the time.
Along with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers, DeWitt played the role of Janet Wood in the television series. Between 1976 and 1984, she appeared in 171 episodes of the program.
It was a wonderful gift. It was truly iconic. Who would have believed it, though? According to Joyce DeWitt, The Spec, “The only goal we had was to make people laugh. I realize that the show was really an attempt to recreate a 16th-century farce in the modern era. It was about absurdity running amok. Even though we occasionally discussed serious topics, that was always present.
She continued, “John Ritter once said, ‘We don’t want people to just laugh; we want them to fall over their couch laughing.” The true problem was always the level of love and friendship those characters had for one another. They were popular because of that.
Three’s Company was canceled in 1984. The cast of the show became well-known celebrities after winning a Primetime Emmy. Joyce DeWitt wasn’t the one whining when it was shut down, though.
In fact, she believed that it was time to move on after eight years on the show.
It had come around, she said. “I was prepared for some solitude and thought. Janet was my favorite person to be with, but she was never the only reason I got out of bed in the morning. She wasn’t the center of my identity or sense of worth, and that was obvious.
Yes, there is a time when you feel alone. As much as the actors who played the characters did, I missed them too,” she continued. But I essentially live by myself. My inclination is to enter the cave and reflect rather than howl outside. Oh, I’m social, but there’s also the inner Joyce, I suppose.
At the time, Joyce DeWitt had only made a few productions, with Three’s Company serving as her primary project for many years. So, one might assume that since she was just starting her acting career, she would be open to more work.
Joyce, however, took the exact opposite action. The actress wasn’t particularly fond of fame, and initially, her leave of absence was only intended to be temporary. She doesn’t regret going missing for more than ten years, though.
“Regrets can be dangerous. She said to GayCalgary in 2009, “I am very fortunate that in my life I have only twice regretted something, and that was 10 or 15 years later.
” I couldn’t change it if I had to do it again. I intended to take six months off to unwind. I observed Hollywood and the way it acted, and it did not conform to my moral standards. I wasn’t sure I wanted to play the game if this was how it was supposed to be played. I took some time off and began conversing with and learning from various spiritual teachers all over the world. I anticipated it would last six months instead of 12 years.
In 1995, Joyce DeWitt made a comeback, playing bit parts in a few films as well as the television shows Cybill and Hope Island.
Fans still remembered her and praised her for the role, even though ten years had passed since she played the lead in Three’s Company. It turned out that she, playing Janet Woods, had a profound impact on people’s lives.
Women in their 30s have come to me and said that DeWitt inspired them to become lawyers, she continued. “I knew that women could be intelligent and successful in the world.
Additionally, I fought valiantly to portray Janet in the manner I desired. She really enjoyed working with John Ritter and Suzanne Somers. But Somers left the program in 1980 because she wasn’t paid equally to her male co-star, John Ritter.
In 2020, Somers claimed, “They painted me as if she was trying to ruin the show.” “As a result, I never spoke to anyone from that show again. In the future.”
More than 30 years passed before DeWitt and Somers were able to speak again after losing all contact. In 2012, Joyce appeared on Suzanne’s talk show with her, and it was a memorable reunion.
After the show, DeWitt described her and Somers’ relationship as “very different approaches to our careers.” “Our needs were very different. I didn’t support a child on my own because I didn’t have one. I didn’t understand someone with a business head because I didn’t have one.
On the other hand, Joyce DeWitt and co-star John Ritter continued to have a fantastic relationship. Up until his passing in September 2003, Ritter kept acting. According to reports, an aortic dissection, a heart defect that went unnoticed, was the cause of his sudden death. DeWitt talked about her last encounter with her former co-star on Somers’ talk show.
DeWitt told herself it was fate when Ritter stayed in a hotel close by in New York City. He quickly returned her call after she left him a message in his hotel room.
The phone rang as she was leaving, and when she picked it up, it was Jonathan, she recalled. We have three parties and a dinner to attend tonight, he says. At seven, I’ll pick you up. It was incredibly tasty. and he passed away a month later.
Joyce had one big dream that she continued to work toward even though she made a comeback to the screen after a decade away from the television industry.
DeWitt’s dream of working in theater was realized in 2011 when she made her stage debut in New York City.
Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating, and Marriage was an off-Broadway production, but for DeWitt, that made no difference at all. Additionally, she thought that because it was a 90-minute comedy, it was very similar to her role in Three’s Company.
She admitted to being a “late bloomer” to the San Diego Tribune. “Having confidence in my work took me a long time to develop.”
According to DeWitt, “[the show] allows us to play, be silly, be funny, and laugh about human interactions.” “My favorite kind of play to do” is one in which the audience is intended to laugh, enjoy themselves, and occasionally have their hearts touched.
DeWitt carried on working on numerous projects, such as the movies The Savant (2018), Rock Story (2015), and Snapshot (2014).
She was given a role in the 2018 stage production of Scattered, Smothered, and Covered Christmas, which was set in a Waffle House. Due to the pandemic, it was broadcast on YouTube in December 2020.
Given the extremely difficult situation we are in, Joyce DeWitt stated, “We are offering this play for free this Christmas because it has a message that needs to be shared.” It’s a fantastical journey of love and truth that should be enjoyed by people all over the world.
There have been no rumors of Joyce DeWitt ever getting married or having kids. However, what matters most is that she appears to be doing well and continues to enjoy performing on stage and in films.
Celebrity Net Worth has estimated Joyce DeWitt’s net worth at $4 million.
What in her professional life makes her most proud? The solution isn’t all that shocking.
Asked to name her proudest moment, Joyce DeWitt replied, “I don’t know that there is one, but if asked to name one, it would have to be being a part of Three’s Company, and that’s an easy one to say because if as an actor you are given the opportunity to create joy and laughter in the world — that’s a great gift.”
‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for this part,’ any actor would say. And if it’s still doing that thirty or so years later, In essence, that is a fantasy that is impossible to conjure up. You must not even consider that one. It merely enters your life.
It doesn’t seem like 74-year-old DeWitt will retire from acting anytime soon. But even today, she still has a gorgeous appearance.
We hope the future is successful for her. If you watched Three’s Company, please tell your friends and family about this article.