Joyce Anne DeWitt (born April 23, 1949) is an American actress perhaps most famous for her role as Janet Wood on the television situation comedy Three's Company.
Dewitt was born in West Virginia to Shirley and Paul DeWitt. Although she was born in West Virginia, Joyce grew up in Speedway, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. After she received a bachelor's degree from Ball State University, she moved to California to earn her masters degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). While attending UCLA, she worked part-time as a house painter and once was hired to paint the actor Abe Vigoda's garage doors. This painting job spawned a friendship between DeWitt and Vigoda which still endures.
Famous for refusing to do any scenes bare-legged (she always wore either pantyhose or tights), she became a paid endorser for L'Eggs hosiery in the late 1970s. She became almost as famous for her disappearance after the series as she did for her Three's Company role; after the series, she did not appear as a regular player on any television series, which led to a number of "Whatever Happened to Joyce DeWitt?" retrospectives in newspaper entertainment columns and television gossip shows.
Years later, DeWitt would reveal that she turned her back on Hollywood and show business because of the "disrespectful treatment" she received from the producers of Three's Company. She also co-produced and hosted the television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company (2003) with actress Melanie Deanne Moore portraying her during her time on the Three's Company series.
DeWitt and her former Three's Company co-star Suzanne Somers have had an acrimonious relationship (caused by Somers' mid-season salary negotiation ploy in 1980) and, according to many sources, still do not speak to each other. However, she and Priscilla Barnes (Somers's replacement on the show) became lifelong friends.
DeWitt dated actor LeVar Burton, but her parents did not approve of the interracial romance, and it ended after six months. She lived with actor Ray Buktenica in the late 1970s before the relationship ended.
Her disappearance after Three's Company was parodied on an episode of Family Guy, when Brian finds DeWitt hiding in a wicker basket in a bazaar reminiscent of Indiana Jones. Surprised, Brian remarks, "Joyce DeWitt!? So that's where you've been!" To which she promptly responds with a "Shhh."
In an episode of Pinky and the Brain, DeWitt is revealed to be the ruler of the Earth.
