Joan Holloway
Encyclopedia
Joan P. Harris is a fictional character
on AMC's television series Mad Men
. She is portrayed by Christina Hendricks
.
From Season One through Season Three, Joan is the office manager of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Her primary responsibilities are to manage the secretarial and steno pool and attend to the needs of the executives. She is also seen during meetings with the heads of departments, taking notes and reminding the male staff of their duties to their clients (such as keeping in touch with clients and keeping track of expenses).
Joan had an affair with her boss Roger Sterling
(John Slattery
), but it ends after Sterling suffers a heart attack. After Marilyn Monroe
's death, Roger walks into his office to find Joan lying on his couch and dabbing her eyes. Realizing that Joan is upset over the similarities she sees between her life and Marilyn Monroe's, Roger comforts Joan by telling her that she will not end up alone and in despair like Monroe.
Joan also had an intimate relationship with Sterling Cooper copywriter Paul Kinsey before the series began. Her roommate, Carol, whom Joan knows from college, has expressed romantic interest in Joan, too, although Joan ignored her romantic overtures.
In the second season, Joan gets engaged to Greg Harris (played by actor Samuel Page
), a doctor
at St. Luke's Hospital. As the season goes on, Joan is clearly torn between wanting to be a well-off, married woman (which has been implied to be the pinnacle of Joan's ambitions) and fearing that she will become a bored, lonely housewife. Her feelings are exacerbated when she is briefly given additional responsibilities at Sterling Cooper. Joan discovers that she likes reading soap-opera scripts to determine ad placement, and that she has a knack with charming the clients. After a few days, Harry Crane hires a young, somewhat clueless man to take over the ad placement job from Joan. Joan is clearly very disappointed (especially when all but asked by Harry to train the new man), but quietly gives in.
Towards the end of the season, problems between Joan and her fiance, Greg, are revealed. In the episode "The Mountain King," Greg picks Joan up at Sterling Cooper for a dinner date. Greg meets Roger Sterling for the first time and immediately becomes suspicious that Roger seems to know Joan's likes and dislikes. Joan has not told Greg that she'd had an affair with Roger, and instead, she just tells Greg that she has worked there for nine years (implying that she has been with the agency since 1953). He then follows Joan as she goes into Don Draper's office to lock up and forces himself on her. Joan tells him several times to stop and struggles, but Greg overpowers her and rapes her on the floor. Later in the episode, Joan is seen telling Peggy that Greg "really is a wonderful man," as though she is trying to convince herself of that.
In the interim between Seasons Two and Three, Joan and Greg have married; a highlight of the third season's third episode is a furious Joan's coolly-accomplished rendition, in American-accented French, of "C'est Magnifique
", accompanying herself on the accordion for her dinner guests, at Greg's insistence.
Joan leaves Sterling Cooper to become a housewife in Season Three, but is later seen by Pete Campbell
working at Bonwit Teller
due to Greg's failure to receive a promotion at the hospital where he works. Joan mentions to Pete that Greg is considering going into psychiatry.
When Greg fails to land a job as a psychiatrist, in spite of Joan helping her husband practice for the interview, the couple have a heated argument, with Joan smashing a vase over Greg's head. Joan later places a call to Roger Sterling's office after hours, asking him to help her find another office manager job. Greg ultimately decides to obtain an officer's commission in the Army (where he will serve as a military surgeon), and informs Joan that he can now provide for her, and she will no longer have to work. Despite this, in the final episode, when Don, Roger, Bert, and Lane need help with the clandestine transition to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Roger calls Joan to help them find accounting materials and client records. When the new company sets up shop at the Pierre Hotel, Joan takes the position of office manager.
In the fourth season, Joan and Greg are shown trying to conceive, however their marriage is strained by Greg having to attend basic training and subsequently being sent to Vietnam. In his absence, Joan and Roger briefly rekindle their affair after being mugged one night while walking home from a friendly dinner. Their night of passion leaves Joan pregnant, and she and Roger furtively discuss the matter over a hasty lunch. Initially she states she will "take care of it," and is later shown sitting in the waiting room of an abortion clinic and riding the bus home later that same night. Some months later however, in the season finale, she is seen speaking with Greg over the phone about her pregnancy, having informed him that the child is his, and promising to send him a new picture of herself. In the same episode, she receives a title-only promotion to Director of Agency Operations in recognition of her role in keeping SCDP afloat amid its recent financial troubles.
, Holloway is a "bold" and "sassy" character. Creating the character, Mad Mens creator Matthew Weiner
tried not to make the character appear as a television stereotype, but unpredictable and complicated. The Boston Globe
has said that Holloway occupies "a sort of middle ground between the show's main female characters, who represent opposing paths for women of their day"; as Betty Draper
(January Jones
) gave up a modeling career to become a housewife and Peggy Olson
(Elisabeth Moss
) tries to become a copywriter in "a world where men routinely call women 'girls', and sometimes literally chase them through the office". Holloway is considered the queen bee
of the office secretarial pool. As shown in the third season finale, her role at Sterling Cooper (and later Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce) is made clear. The office is essentially unable to operate without her, as no one else knows how the office is organized.
In an interview with USA Today
portrayer Christina Hendricks
explained that people think her character is "hot" because "She's got fire to her. She snaps back. And men love her because she's in touch with her sexuality and femininity. The men in the office can play with her a little bit. They can tease her, and she's not going to be in the bathroom crying later." In the season two episode "Maidenform" each secretary is categorized as either a Marilyn Monroe
or a Jackie Kennedy as a campaign for Playtex
, when asked what kind of woman Holloway is, Kinsey answers "Well, Marilyn's really a Joan, not the other way around".
when he wrote the part of Joan. He originally envisioned Holloway as a "smaller", "mousier" and more "sharp-tongued" character, but he changed his mind when Hendricks was cast. Initially, Holloway was set to be a guest role only. However, the role was extended to regular status because of Hendricks' "on-screen magnetism".
Hendricks first read for the part of Midge Daniels, a recurring character in the first season, and was asked to return and audition for the role of Holloway. She had only received a small part of the script and when she read the scene from the pilot in which Peggy Olson
visits a gynecologist, Hendricks thought it was "messed up" because she did not yet know the show took place during the 1960s.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on AMC's television series Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
. She is portrayed by Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...
.
Fictional character biography
Joan was born on February 24, 1931.From Season One through Season Three, Joan is the office manager of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Her primary responsibilities are to manage the secretarial and steno pool and attend to the needs of the executives. She is also seen during meetings with the heads of departments, taking notes and reminding the male staff of their duties to their clients (such as keeping in touch with clients and keeping track of expenses).
Joan had an affair with her boss Roger Sterling
Roger Sterling
Roger Sterling, Jr., played by John Slattery, is a fictional character on the AMC TV series Mad Men. He formerly worked for Sterling Cooper, an advertising agency his father co-founded in 1923, before he became a founding partner at the new firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in late...
(John Slattery
John Slattery
John M. Slattery, Jr. is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Roger Sterling on AMC's series Mad Men. He has been nominated for many awards, and has won two SAG Awards with the Mad Men ensemble....
), but it ends after Sterling suffers a heart attack. After Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's death, Roger walks into his office to find Joan lying on his couch and dabbing her eyes. Realizing that Joan is upset over the similarities she sees between her life and Marilyn Monroe's, Roger comforts Joan by telling her that she will not end up alone and in despair like Monroe.
Joan also had an intimate relationship with Sterling Cooper copywriter Paul Kinsey before the series began. Her roommate, Carol, whom Joan knows from college, has expressed romantic interest in Joan, too, although Joan ignored her romantic overtures.
In the second season, Joan gets engaged to Greg Harris (played by actor Samuel Page
Samuel Page
Samuel Page is an American actor. He is credited under the name Sam Page.-Early life:...
), a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
at St. Luke's Hospital. As the season goes on, Joan is clearly torn between wanting to be a well-off, married woman (which has been implied to be the pinnacle of Joan's ambitions) and fearing that she will become a bored, lonely housewife. Her feelings are exacerbated when she is briefly given additional responsibilities at Sterling Cooper. Joan discovers that she likes reading soap-opera scripts to determine ad placement, and that she has a knack with charming the clients. After a few days, Harry Crane hires a young, somewhat clueless man to take over the ad placement job from Joan. Joan is clearly very disappointed (especially when all but asked by Harry to train the new man), but quietly gives in.
Towards the end of the season, problems between Joan and her fiance, Greg, are revealed. In the episode "The Mountain King," Greg picks Joan up at Sterling Cooper for a dinner date. Greg meets Roger Sterling for the first time and immediately becomes suspicious that Roger seems to know Joan's likes and dislikes. Joan has not told Greg that she'd had an affair with Roger, and instead, she just tells Greg that she has worked there for nine years (implying that she has been with the agency since 1953). He then follows Joan as she goes into Don Draper's office to lock up and forces himself on her. Joan tells him several times to stop and struggles, but Greg overpowers her and rapes her on the floor. Later in the episode, Joan is seen telling Peggy that Greg "really is a wonderful man," as though she is trying to convince herself of that.
In the interim between Seasons Two and Three, Joan and Greg have married; a highlight of the third season's third episode is a furious Joan's coolly-accomplished rendition, in American-accented French, of "C'est Magnifique
C'est Magnifique
"C'est Magnifique" is a 1953 popular song written by Cole Porter for his 1953 musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Lilo and Peter Cookson The song has become a standard, despite weak performance in the 1953 charts...
", accompanying herself on the accordion for her dinner guests, at Greg's insistence.
Joan leaves Sterling Cooper to become a housewife in Season Three, but is later seen by Pete Campbell
Pete Campbell
Peter "Pete" Campbell is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by Vincent Kartheiser.-Biography:...
working at Bonwit Teller
Bonwit Teller
Bonwit Teller was a department store in New York City founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street. In 1897 Edmund D. Teller was admitted to the partnership and the store moved to 23rd Street, East of Sixth Avenue...
due to Greg's failure to receive a promotion at the hospital where he works. Joan mentions to Pete that Greg is considering going into psychiatry.
When Greg fails to land a job as a psychiatrist, in spite of Joan helping her husband practice for the interview, the couple have a heated argument, with Joan smashing a vase over Greg's head. Joan later places a call to Roger Sterling's office after hours, asking him to help her find another office manager job. Greg ultimately decides to obtain an officer's commission in the Army (where he will serve as a military surgeon), and informs Joan that he can now provide for her, and she will no longer have to work. Despite this, in the final episode, when Don, Roger, Bert, and Lane need help with the clandestine transition to Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Roger calls Joan to help them find accounting materials and client records. When the new company sets up shop at the Pierre Hotel, Joan takes the position of office manager.
In the fourth season, Joan and Greg are shown trying to conceive, however their marriage is strained by Greg having to attend basic training and subsequently being sent to Vietnam. In his absence, Joan and Roger briefly rekindle their affair after being mugged one night while walking home from a friendly dinner. Their night of passion leaves Joan pregnant, and she and Roger furtively discuss the matter over a hasty lunch. Initially she states she will "take care of it," and is later shown sitting in the waiting room of an abortion clinic and riding the bus home later that same night. Some months later however, in the season finale, she is seen speaking with Greg over the phone about her pregnancy, having informed him that the child is his, and promising to send him a new picture of herself. In the same episode, she receives a title-only promotion to Director of Agency Operations in recognition of her role in keeping SCDP afloat amid its recent financial troubles.
Personality
Embodying the role of femme fataleFemme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
, Holloway is a "bold" and "sassy" character. Creating the character, Mad Mens creator Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is an American writer, director and producer of television drama. He is the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the AMC television series Mad Men. He is also noted for his work on the HBO series The Sopranos, on which he served as a writer and producer...
tried not to make the character appear as a television stereotype, but unpredictable and complicated. The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
has said that Holloway occupies "a sort of middle ground between the show's main female characters, who represent opposing paths for women of their day"; as Betty Draper
Betty Draper
Elizabeth "Betty" Francis is a fictional character on AMC's television series Mad Men, portrayed by January Jones...
(January Jones
January Jones
January Kristen Jones is an American actress. She is best known for playing Betty Draper on Mad Men.-Early life:...
) gave up a modeling career to become a housewife and Peggy Olson
Peggy Olson
Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character in the AMC television series Mad Men, and is portrayed by actress Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper , creative director of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Later, she is promoted to copywriter, the first female writer...
(Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Singleton Moss is an American actor. Her notable roles include that of Zoey Bartlet, the third and youngest daughter of President Jed Bartlet, on the NBC television series The West Wing , and secretary turned copywriter Peggy Olson on the AMC original series Mad Men .-Early life and...
) tries to become a copywriter in "a world where men routinely call women 'girls', and sometimes literally chase them through the office". Holloway is considered the queen bee
Queen bee (subculture)
A queen bee is the leader of a female group, a clique's leader, usually a popular young lady. Characteristics often associated to her are a pleasant appearance, charisma, skill in manipulation, and monetary power. She is sometimes portrayed as the Head Cheerleader, Prom Queen, Homecoming Queen,...
of the office secretarial pool. As shown in the third season finale, her role at Sterling Cooper (and later Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce) is made clear. The office is essentially unable to operate without her, as no one else knows how the office is organized.
In an interview with USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
portrayer Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...
explained that people think her character is "hot" because "She's got fire to her. She snaps back. And men love her because she's in touch with her sexuality and femininity. The men in the office can play with her a little bit. They can tease her, and she's not going to be in the bathroom crying later." In the season two episode "Maidenform" each secretary is categorized as either a Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
or a Jackie Kennedy as a campaign for Playtex
Playtex
Playtex and PlayTex are a brand and trademark. It used to be associated with bras and women's undergarments. Currently there are two separate companies with the Playtex name....
, when asked what kind of woman Holloway is, Kinsey answers "Well, Marilyn's really a Joan, not the other way around".
Creation and development
Weiner was influenced by books of Helen Gurley BrownHelen Gurley Brown
Helen Gurley Brown , is an author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.-Personal life and career:...
when he wrote the part of Joan. He originally envisioned Holloway as a "smaller", "mousier" and more "sharp-tongued" character, but he changed his mind when Hendricks was cast. Initially, Holloway was set to be a guest role only. However, the role was extended to regular status because of Hendricks' "on-screen magnetism".
Hendricks first read for the part of Midge Daniels, a recurring character in the first season, and was asked to return and audition for the role of Holloway. She had only received a small part of the script and when she read the scene from the pilot in which Peggy Olson
Peggy Olson
Margaret "Peggy" Olson is a fictional character in the AMC television series Mad Men, and is portrayed by actress Elisabeth Moss. Initially, Peggy is secretary to Don Draper , creative director of the advertising agency Sterling Cooper. Later, she is promoted to copywriter, the first female writer...
visits a gynecologist, Hendricks thought it was "messed up" because she did not yet know the show took place during the 1960s.
External links
- Joan Holloway official AMC biography