Renowned casting director Joan D'Incecco, famous for casting All My Children's Susan Lucci, died of heart failure on December 19, her family reports. She was 89.
The entertainment professional cast for a series of shows in her long career, including The Patty Duke Show, For the People, and Car 54, Where Are You? She even helped cast Mel Brooks's 1967 film The Producers. But it was the Marquette University and University of Wisconsin alum's time at All My Children and One Life to Live that really put her on the map.
During D'Incecco's run at ABC Daytime, she introduced a slew of at the time unknown actors including OLTL's Laurence Fishburne (Dr. Joshua Hall), Tom Berenger (Timmy Seigel), and Erika Slezak (Victoria Lord), as well as AMC's Kelly Ripa (Hayley Santos) and Lucci -- the latter of whom even thanked D'Incecco during her legendary speech at Madison Square Garden upon winning a Daytime Emmy Award in 1999.
"She cared about actors and always wanted them to win and to get the part," says her daughter, Nicole Kahn. "If she saw somebody who was young and considered a little green, she'd give them every opportunity to shine."
When contacted about D'Incecco's death, Lucci told reporters that her agent sent her to D'Incecco in the summer of 1969, a year before AMC debuted. The actress had recently received a drama degree from Marymount College.
"At the time I was told I could not work in television because I was too ethnic looking -- I had dark eyes and an olive complexion -- but Joan was able to look past that and was very warm and encouraging," Lucci said, adding that D'Incecco made good on her promise to call her back in six months. At the second meeting, with D'Incecco, show creator Agnes Nixon, and other producers in attendance, Lucci won the part of Erica Kane.
"Joan remained as accessible, warm and smart as the first day I met her," said Lucci, adding that she was able to get a message of gratitude to the casting director in the days before she died.
According to an official press release, the former Joan Gebhart studied acting in her native Wisconsin and, with a friend and eleven suitcases between them, boarded a train for New York. The aspiring actresses lodged at the Barbizon Hotel for Women before taking an apartment together. Joan landed roles in off-Broadway theater and commercial voice-over work for Kellogg cereals, Joy dishwashing liquid, and other products. She also landed a husband -- New York Journal-American reporter Nicholas D'Incecco. They married in 1957.
When her husband went back to school for a master's degree, Mrs. D'Incecco became the breadwinner and sought steadier work. A production job on NBC's Sunday Showcase opened the door to her subsequent casting gigs.
D'Incecco was the winner of the Casting Society of America's prestigious Artios Award in 1985, 1989, 1991, and 1992 and was nominated for the award three additional times.
D'Incecco is survived by her son, John, and his wife, Meg; her daughter, Nicole, and her husband Ian; and her grandchildren, L.J., Benjamin, and Sam; as well as her sister, Doris Mueller.
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