Biography

As an actress, screenwriter Joan McCall had starred on Broadway as the ingénue lead in Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" directed by Mike Nichols, "Star-Spangled Girl" also written by Neil Simon, and "A Race of Hairy Men" written by Evan Hunter. She starred in the national tours of Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water," "Barefoot in the Park," and "Star Spangled Girl." She starred in her first movie "The Devil Times Five," performed in "Act of Vengeance" and "Project: Kill," and starred in the runaway blockbuster "Grizzly."

As a screenwriter, she wrote a screenplay about race car driver Shirley Muldowney called "Shirley" which was produced as "Heart Like a Wheel." She has written over 250 scripts for film and television under the name Joan Pommer as well as Joan McCall. She was staff writer of "The Days of Our Lives" (NBC), "Santa Barbara" produced by Bridgit and Jerome Dobson, for New World Television. She became an associate writer for "Capitol," produced by Charlotte Savage for John Conboy Productions, and wrote a six-month story projection for "Search for Tomorrow" for Proctor & Gamble. As associate writer for NBC's "Another World," she wrote two scripts a week for a year and over 20 episodes of "Divorce Court."

She co-authored with David Sheldon the sequel to "Grizzly", which was filmed in Europe with George Clooney, Laura Dern, Deborah Raffin, Louise Fletcher, John Rhys Davies, Steve Inwood, Deborah Foreman, and Charlie Sheen. The production was not completed and the existing footage was pieced together crudely and released in 2020.

Born in rural Carter County, Kentucky, Joan graduated from Berea College with a B.A. in art and theater. She trained for the theater in New York, acting in summer stock at Gateway Theatre in Bellport, Long Island, where she met her future husband, producer-director David Sheldon. She studied acting with Lee Strasberg in New York, and in Los Angeles with Charles Conrad.

On radio, she performed as a regular on Sears Radio Theater for CBS along with many top stars, produced and directed by Fletcher Markle and Elliott Lewis.

As a novelist, Joan co-authored the bestseller "When I Knew Al: The Untold Story of Al Pacino" published by Harbor House.
- IMDb mini biography by: Williiam Merringoff