Joan Prather

Prather's hometown is Dallas.^[2] Her father worked in real estate, and she said that her grandfather was the builder of the first shopping center in the world. Her parents divorced when she was 3 years old, and by 1979 he had had four wives and her mother had had three husbands. She lived with her mother until she entered high school, when she began living with her father and his wife.^[3]

Prather debuted in a Dallas production of Under Milkwood and made commercials for products, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Folgers, and Ivory Soap She rejected the role of the title character's wife on Welcome Back, Kotter because she considered it too dull and turned down portraying Allison MacKenzie on Return to Peyton Place because she "would go crazy" in that part.^[2] Overall, she felt that television had "no creative license" and an actor "can get stuck into one cliched role".^[2]

Her film credits include The Single Girls (1974), Big Bad Mama (1974), The Devil's Rain (1975), Smile (1975), Rabbit Test (1978) and Take This Job and Shove It (1981).

She appeared in TV series such as Executive Suite, Eight Is Enough, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, and the 1980 edition of Battle of the Network Stars.

During her teen years, Joan was a featured "go-go" dancer on a local Dallas teen dance TV show Sump'n Else. The show ran from 1965 to 1968 and it was roughly modeled after "American Bandstand" and often featured national and local bands.^{[citation needed]}

While on the set of The Devil's Rain, Prather told an "extremely unhappy" John Travolta that Scientology had helped her, inspiring him to get involved with the religion upon his later return to Los Angeles.^[4][5]

Prather married James Fiducia, a Scientology minister.^[3]