Joyce DeWitt

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title: "Joyce DeWitt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1949-births", "20th-century-american-actresses", "21st-century-american-actresses", "actors-from-wheeling,-west-virginia", "actresses-from-indianapolis", "actresses-from-west-virginia", "american-child-actresses", "american-film-actresses", "american-people-of-dutch-descent", "american-people-of-italian-descent", "american-people-of-swedish-descent", "american-stage-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "american-women-comedians", "ball-state-university-alumni", "comedians-from-indiana", "comedians-from-west-virginia", "living-people", "people-from-marion-county,-indiana", "ucla-school-of-theater,-film-and-television-alumni"] description: "American actress (born 1949)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_DeWitt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (born 1949) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Joyce DeWitt
image	10.10.10JoyceDeWittByLuigiNovi.jpg
caption	DeWitt at the New York Comic Con in 2010
birth_date
birth_place	Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S.
alma_mater	Ball State University (BA)
University of California, Los Angeles (MFA)
occupation	Actress
years_active	1962–1984, 1991–present
known_for	Three's Company
::

| name = Joyce DeWitt | image = 10.10.10JoyceDeWittByLuigiNovi.jpg | caption = DeWitt at the New York Comic Con in 2010 | birth_date = | birth_place = Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S. | alma_mater = Ball State University (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MFA) | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1962–1984, 1991–present | known_for = Three's Company

Joyce DeWitt (born April 23, 1949) is an American actress best known for playing Janet Wood on the ABC sitcom Three's Company from 1977 to 1984.

Early life

Joyce DeWitt was born on April 23, 1949, in Wheeling, West Virginia, and grew up in Speedway, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. She is the second of four children born to Norma (née Branch) DeWitt (1926–2013) and Paul DeWitt (1925–2016). She is of Italian descent from her mother, while her father was of Swedish and Dutch descent. DeWitt began appearing on stage at the age of 13. She competed in speech and debate through the Indiana High School Forensic Association. She graduated from Speedway Senior High School, and once worked at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ticket office.

She earned her bachelor's degree in theater from Ball State University. Subsequently, while she was performing in summer stock, the director convinced her to enroll in UCLA's Department of Theater MFA program, where she was awarded the Master of Fine Arts Fellowship as well as the Clifton Webb Scholarship. She graduated in 1974.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Three's_Company_roommates_1977.JPG" caption="DeWitt (left) with [[John Ritter]] and [[Suzanne Somers]] in the promotional photo of the series premiere of ''Three's Company'', 1977"] ::

While attending UCLA, she worked as a secretary until her television debut on an episode of Baretta.

DeWitt is best known for her role as Janet Wood during the 1977–1984 run of the sitcom Three's Company, a job she obtained after being cast in the show's second pilot. She also played Janet in a 1979 episode of the spinoff series The Ropers. DeWitt would also make several appearances on TV game shows, including Tattletales, which also featured her then-boyfriend, actor Ray Buktenica, as well as Pyramid. In 1978, she also appeared with her Three's Company co-stars (Ritter, Norman Fell, Audra Lindley, and Richard Kline) on a special celebrity edition of Family Feud (hosted by Richard Dawson) where they competed against the cast of the TV shows Soap and The Love Boat. In 2004, she appeared as a celebrity panelist on one of the last episodes of the syndicated version of Hollywood Squares (hosted by Tom Bergeron).

After Three's Company ended in 1984, DeWitt appeared in an episode of Finder of Lost Loves in 1984, after which she quit acting for several years. She resumed acting with a part in a production of Noises Off at Michigan's Cherry County Playhouse in June 1991. She later appeared in the 1995 TV comedy film Spring Fling! A character based on her, voiced by another actress, appeared in a 1997 episode of Pinky and the Brain. She made an appearance in an episode of Cybill, and had a cameo on the penultimate episode of Living Single. Her 2000s works includes TV shows such as Hope Island, The Nick at Nite Holiday Special and Call of the Wild.

DeWitt co-produced and hosted the 2003 NBC-TV television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company. In the film, DeWitt is portrayed by Melanie Paxson.

In 2008, she appeared in the indie film Failing Better Now. In 2009, DeWitt starred in a stage production of Married Alive in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In June 2011, DeWitt succeeded Eve Plumb in the title role of the play Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage at the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in New York City's Times Square.

In 2012, DeWitt appeared in two separate stage productions of Love Letters starring opposite Tab Hunter and Tony Dow, respectively. In August 2012, she starred with her niece, Katharine DeWitt, in a production of Remember Me at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida.

Also in 2012, DeWitt appeared on Suzanne Somers' talk show, Suzanne Somers: Breaking Through, during which she and Somers reminisced about their time on Three's Company together. Somers apologized for the conflict that arose between them, and they exchanged anecdotes about the last time they each spoke to their late co-star John Ritter. DeWitt's appearance on Somers' program marked the first time the two actresses had seen or spoken to each other since having a major falling out 31 years earlier, involving a salary dispute.

In 2014, DeWitt became a panelist on a local version of the classic game show Hollywood Squares (in turn she was also a panelist on the actual show itself back in the day) called The West Virginia Squareshosted by "The Master of The Hollywood Squares" himself Peter Marshall as part of an event called FestivALL at The Clay Center at the WV Music Hall of Fame. The other local celebrities were: Autumn Blair, Billy Edd Wheeler, Bil Lepp, Charlie McCoy, Charlisse Hailsop, Danny Jones, Donnie Davidson, Larry Groce, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., Michael Cerveris and Steve Bishop. It aired on WVPB on April 11 and April 25 and on The West Virginia Channel on April 12 and April 15 for two episodes. Additionally, Marshall, like DeWitt, was also a native of West Virginia.

In 2018, DeWitt played Mother Superior in a stage production of Nunsense at the Hunterdon Hills Playhouse in New Jersey.

In 2023, DeWitt made her debut appearance in the country music video ballad called "Home"by the Davisson Brothers Band where it captures the nostalgia and comfort of returning to where it all began. The song can be heard from the album "Home is Where the Heart is".

Charity work

DeWitt participated with members of the House and Senate at the Capitol Hill Forum on Hunger and Homelessness, and has hosted presentations for the Family Assistance Program of Hollywood. She hosted the International Awards Ceremony at the White House for the Presidential End Hunger Awards, and co-hosted, with Jeff Bridges, the World Food Day Gala at the Kennedy Center.

Personal life

DeWitt has never married or had any children. She was in a romantic relationship with actor and director Ray Buktenica from 1973 to 1980.

On July 4, 2009, DeWitt was arrested in El Segundo, California, and cited for DUI. She was booked at the police station, cited, and released on her own recognizance. On May 27, 2010, she pleaded no contest to one count misdemeanor and was placed on three years' probation and ordered to undergo a nine-month alcohol program. She was also ordered to pay a $510 fine, plus penalty assessments. In exchange for her plea, a second misdemeanor count was dismissed.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Baretta	Mother Earth	Episode: "Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"
1976	Most Wanted	Cindy	TV movie
1977–1984	Three's Company	Janet Wood	Main cast (170 episodes)
1978	With This Ring	Jilly Weston	TV movie
1979	Supertrain	Natalie Smithburne	Episode: "Pirouette"
1979	The Ropers	Janet Wood	Episode: "The Party"
1979	The Love Boat	Jackie Landers	Episode: "The Audit Couple/The Scoop/My Boyfriend's Back"
1980	The B.B. Beegle Show	Herself (guest star)	TV pilot episode
1984	Finder of Lost Loves	Lynn Powell	Episode: "Portraits"
1995	Spring Fling!	Linda Hayden	TV movie
1995	Cybill	Psychic Pals Host	Episode: "The Odd Couples"
1998	Living Single	Herself (guest star)	Episode: "To Catch a Thief"
1998	Twitch City	Herself (guest star)	Episode: "I Look Like Joyce DeWitt"
2000	Hope Island	Laetitia Barton	Episode: "A Rising Tide Takes All Boats"
2003	The Nick at Nite Holiday Special	Miss DeWitt, The Housekeeper	TV special
2009	Call of the Wild	Jolene	Feature film
2010	Failing Better Now	Irene	Feature film
2011	The Great Fight	Randi Toney	Feature film
2014	Snapshot	First Lady	Feature film
2014	My Boyfriends' Dogs	Nikki	TV movie
2015	Rock Story	Judge Carol Anne Connelly	Feature film
2018	The Savant	Detective Randi Toney	Feature film
2022	Ask Me to Dance	Nana	Feature film
::

References

References

1. Peterson, Bettelou. (July 21, 1991). "Joyce DeWitt has quit acting". [[The Beaver County Times]].
2. Heyman, Marshall. (June 2, 2011). "Sitcom Star Takes the Stage". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
3. Fadal, Tamsen. (March 9, 2017). "Three's Company 40th Anniversary Cast Reunion for Antenna TV". [[Antenna TV]].
4. Mullinax, Donna S.. (May 23, 1981). "Joyce DeWitt back home again for '500'". [[The Indianapolis Star]].
5. (July 14, 2011). "Seven Questions with Joyce DeWitt of Three's Company; The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations".
6. Rosky, Nicole. (May 31, 2011). "Photo Flash: Joyce DeWitt Joins MISS ABIGAIL'S GUIDE".
7. "Notable Alumni Actors".
8. "Married Alive".
9. Pope, Amanda. (August 26, 2013). "Joyce DeWitt stars in "Dinner with Friends" at Theatre Aquarius". [[CHCH-DT.
10. Gans, Andrew. (January 13, 2012). "Joyce DeWitt and Tab Hunter Will Share Love Letters Jan. 19-22".
11. Rizzo, Frank. (January 14, 2018). "Tony Dow on 'Love Letters,' Facing Depression and Growing Up With the Cleaver Clan".
12. Gans, Andrew. (August 31, 2012). "Joyce DeWitt and Niece Katharine DeWitt Will Co-Star in Florida Production of 'Remember Me'".
13. (February 2, 2012). "Three's Company Reunion with Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt". Suzanne Somers Breaking Through, CafeMom Studios.
14. Marikar, Sheila. (February 3, 2012). "Suzanne Somers, Joyce Dewitt Lay 'Three's Company' Feud to Rest".
15. (April 11, 2019). "WVPBS to air "West Virginia Squares", Starring Huntington Native Peter Marshall".
16. (June 27, 2025). "The Bootleg Files: West Virginia Squares - Cinema Crazed".
17. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZa9C4AiJU West Virginia Squares]
18. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4MQ1_wAiok West Virginia Squares]
19. Antonucci, Alexandra. (July 6, 2018). "Television sitcom star Joyce DeWitt to star in "Nunsense" at Hunterdon Hills Playhouse". [[Courier News]].
20. (June 20, 2023). "'Three's Company' Star Joyce DeWitt, 74, Honors West Virginia Roots in New Country Music Video".
21. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFxL9MMamUo Davisson Brothers Band - Home (Official Video) {starts at 0:07 / 5:23}]
22. Armstrong, Lois. (August 4, 1980). "Success and Self-Doubt Had Joyce Dewitt Licked—Until She Shed Her Man and Found Herself".
23. (July 7, 2009). "Joyce DeWitt cited for DUI". [[Today (American TV program).
24. (May 27, 2010). "Actress Joyce DeWitt Sentenced to Probation in DUI Case". [[KNBC]] News.

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