Joan Darling

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Joan Darling (b. April 14, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an actor, a director and dramatic arts instructor. She was a regular on the law series, "Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law", playing office secretary to Arthur Hill, Lee Majors, Reni Santon, and David Soul.

She was one of the pioneering women directors (along with Karen Arthur, Gabrielle Beaumont, and Sharron Miller) who worked regularly in mainstream Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s. She directed the television series "Rhoda", "Doc", "Taxi", and "Hizzoner", and episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, "Magnum, P.I."and [Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, the film "The Check Is in the Mail", and made-for-television films. [1]

Darling directed the famous "Chuckles Bites the Dust" episode and received a 1976 nomination for her efforts, along with writer David Lloyd, who won an Emmy. [2]

In 1976 she broke new ground when she directed the feature film, First Love, starring Susan Dey. At the time, this made Darling part of a tiny circle of women directors to direct a major Hollywood studio feature film. Only such Hollywood icons as Ida Lupino and Dorothy Arzner preceded her in doing so.