Elaine Joyce was the lead in the Broadway musical “Sugar” from 1972 to closing with Tony Roberts and Robert Morse. A mainstay on TV game shows in the early 1970s, often appearing with her first husband, Bobby Van.
The marriage of Bobby and Elaine ran a difficult course – an announcement was made On October 30, 1967 (Daily News, Oct. 30, 1967) that they had wed, but they had not. Then in November, a blurb in a Hollywood column (The El Dorado Times, Nov 29, 1967) stated that Bobby said he and Joyce planned to marry on December 2, 1967, but her brother, Frank Pinchot had chosen that date to marry his wife, so they would choose another date). In February of 1968, it was announced they would marry in Los Angeles on March 21. Bobby and Elaine were married in Las Vegas on May 1, 1968 (Clark County marriage license and New Castle News, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1968).
One week later, Van filed for an annulment (Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1968 and Independent Long Beach, May 7, 1968) stating “fraud, non-consummation and that the “24 year old actress told him she wanted to have children but this was only to induce him into marriage”. An article states that Bobby said that Elaine felt “so unhappy and insecure (about marrying), that it’s the only way.” (New Castle News, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1968) (She would later state on Tattletales that she “tried to run away”). There is a preliminary divorce filed in 1968 for Elaine Joyce and Bobby Van in the CA Divorce index. Elaine is listed as Elaine J Pinchot, year of birth 1943. It appears that it was never finalized, and they went on to have a 12 year marriage.
Married John Levoff in 1985. They divorced in 1992.
In 1999, she married playwright Neil Simon and now goes by the name of Elaine Joyce-Simon.
Has two children: Taylor Joyce Van (with Bobby Van, 1967) and Michael Francis Levoff (with John Levoff) in 1986.
