Editing Joseph Cotten (section)

== Personal life ==
Cotten's first wife Lenore Kipp died of [[leukemia]] in early 1960.<ref name="NYT Obit"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Joseph Cotten and Patricia Medina to Wed|author=Hopper, Hedda|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 8, 1960|page=4}}</ref> He adopted Kipp's daughter, Judith Lenore LaMonte, from her previous marriage who later went on to marry James Pande Young, a television director.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1960-01-08 |title=Lenore Kipp Lamont Cotton, Daughter of Ed Kipp (nephew of HAWK) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-lenore-kipp-lamont-c/38974595/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |pages=23 |archive-date=April 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417122046/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-lenore-kipp-lamont-c/38974595/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He married British actress [[Patricia Medina]] on October 20, 1960, in Beverly Hills at the home of [[David O. Selznick]] and [[Jennifer Jones]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.classicimages.com/1998/may98/patriciacinterview.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041214155707/http://www.classicimages.com/1998/may98/patriciacinterview.html|url-status=dead|title=Patricia Medina Cotton: The Interview|archive-date=December 14, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nndb.com/people/680/000043551/|title=Joseph Cotten|website=www.nndb.com|access-date=June 6, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802194929/https://www.nndb.com/people/680/000043551/|url-status=live}}</ref> He bought a historic 1935 home in the Mesa neighborhood of [[Palm Springs, California#Neighborhoods|Palm Springs, California]], where he and his wife lived from 1985 to 1992.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meeks|first1=Eric G.|title=The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes|date=2014|orig-year=2012|publisher=Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe|isbn=978-1479328598|pages=279–280, 294}}</ref> The marriage produced no children.

In 1961 Cotten was admitted to the [[Society of the Cincinnati]] in North Carolina based on his descent from Captain Hudson Whitaker, Seventh Regiment, North Carolina Continental Line. He held Captain Whitaker's hereditary seat until his death in 1994.<ref>Roster of the Society of the Cincinnati, 1989, pg. 131.</ref>

===Illness and death===
On June 8, 1981, Cotten experienced a [[heart attack]] followed by a [[stroke]] that affected his [[Language processing in the brain|brain's speech center]]. He began years of therapy that eventually restored his ability to speak. As he began to recover, he and Orson Welles talked on the phone each week for several hours. Cotten wrote, "He was strong and supportive, and whenever I used the wrong word (which was frequently) he would say, 'That's a much better word, Joe, I'm going to use it.'" He and Welles would meet for lunch and reminisce. When Cotten announced he had written a book, Welles asked for the manuscript and read it that night.<ref name="Vanity"/>{{Rp|215–217|date=March 2014}}

In 1990, Cotten's [[larynx]] was removed because of [[cancer]].<ref name="LA Times">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-07-mn-20181-story.html | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | title=Debonair Actor Joseph Cotten Dies at 88 | first=Myrna | last=Oliver | date=February 7, 1994 | access-date=March 9, 2014 | archive-date=March 9, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309221039/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-07/news/mn-20181_1_joseph-cotten | url-status=live }}</ref> He died on February 6, 1994, of [[pneumonia]] at the age of 88.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402E1DA1638F934A35751C0A962958260 | work= [[The New York Times]] | title=Joseph Cotten, 88, Is Dead; Actor on Stage and in Films | first=Peter B. | last=Flint | date=February 7, 1994 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref> He was buried at [[Blandford Cemetery]] in Petersburg, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMAT42_Joseph_Cotten_Petersburg_Virginia | title= Joseph Cotten – Petersburg, Virginia | website= waymarking.com | access-date= March 9, 2014 | archive-date= March 11, 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140311220233/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMAT42_Joseph_Cotten_Petersburg_Virginia | url-status= live }}</ref>