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Spencer Karter’s sketch of Joel Crothers as Joe Haskell on Dark Shadows

Joel Crothers (January 28, 1941 – November 6, 1985) was an American actor.

He was born Joel Anthony Crothers in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was raised in New York where he graduated from Birch Wathen School in 1958. He was an exceptionally successful and popular soap-opera actor who, in 1981, was noted by popular columnist Liz Smith to so strongly resemble Tom Selleck that they could be twin brothers.

His passion for performing emerged at the early age of nine. Joel auditioned and won a role on the religious television show Lamp Unto My Feet. At the time, Joel's father was a production supervisor on the show. Unbeknownst to him, his son auditioned for the show under a different name, apparently done as a practical joke. Nevertheless, by the age of twelve, he was taking Broadway bows alongside Burgess Meredith for his stage debut in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Joel made guest appearances on numerous primetime shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Defenders, Have Gun Will Travel, Death Valley Days, Rescue 8, The Investigators, Zane Grey Theater, Studio One, Playhouse 90, Kraft Theater and Goodyear Playhouse. His later daytime television credits included First Ladies Diaries: Martha Washington.

He graduated Harvard University a Phi Beta Kappa in 1962. In 1966, Joel returned to Broadway in a starring role opposite Joan Van Ark in Barefoot in the Park, which he worked on simultaneously with his stint on Dark Shadows. From 1966-1969, he played Joe Haskell (boyfriend of Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett), later boyfriend of Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott; and during the 1795 storyline, he played Lt. Nathan Forbes.

From 1969-1971, he played twice-married Ken Stevens #2 on the CBS serial The Secret Storm. UCLA and other TV archives have some videotapes and kinescopes of these episodes preserved, but, unfortunately, not available to the public for viewing. From 1972-1976, he played concert pianist turned newpaper editor Julian Cannell on Somerset. From 1977-1984, he made it big with another soap opera role: Dr. Miles Cavanaugh on ABC'sThe Edge of Night, for which he was twice nominated as Best Actor for the Daytime Emmy Awards in 1982 and 1983. He played that role until it went off the air on December 28, 1984.

In 1985, his final role was on Santa Barbara as Jack Lee #1/Jerry Cooper.

Joel's soap opera fame helped draw attention to the ground-breaking Off Broadway play Torch Song Trilogy. The play made major stars of its writer (and lead performer) Harvey Fierstein and castmates Estelle Getty and Matthew Broderick -- but when it premiered, Joel was better known than any of them, so he received star billing on posters, playbills, and even the tickets. Harvey played Arnold, a world-weary, homosexual drag queen; Joel played Arnold's bisexual lover, Ed.

Though Joel was bisexual, a fact he chose to share with his friends and coworkers, he remained in the closet publicly. Joel left the cast when Torch Song transferred to Broadway. He was engaged to marry actress Veleka Gray at the time of his death.

Crothers died from cancer (some sources say he died from AIDS-related complications). His remains were cremated and scattered in Lake George, New York.