| Joan Sanderson | |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Birth Date: | 1912 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Bristol, England |
| Death Place: | Norwich, England |
| Years Active: | 1939–1992 |
Joan Sanderson (24 November 1912 – 24 May 1992) was a British actress. During a long career on stage and screen, her tall and commanding disposition led to her playing mostly dowagers, spinsters and matrons, as well as intense Shakespearean roles. Her television work included the sitcoms Please Sir! (1968–72), Fawlty Towers and Ripping Yarns (1979) and Me and My Girl (1984–88).[1]
Born and educated in Bristol, Sanderson trained at RADA, having harboured an interest in the performing arts from a young age.[2] [3] She had teaching diplomas in elocution, where she lost her Bristolian accent. [4] She appeared in repertory theatres, on the West End stage and at the Stratford Memorial Theatre, where she made her début in 1939[5] playing Emilia in The Comedy of Errors, a phase in her career that culminated in 1953 when she played both Goneril to Michael Redgrave's King Lear, and Queen Margaret in Richard III. During the Second World War, she gained experience in repertory and toured North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. [6] In 1948, she married fellow actor Gregory Moseley.[5]
She achieved her apotheosis as Delia, Lady Rumpers, in Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett (Lyric Theatre, 1973). She starred in numerous West End productions, including See How They Run and Anyone for Denis?[7] [8]
She played Doris Ewell in the television comedy series Please Sir! (1968–72) and Mrs Pugh-Critchley, in the series All Gas and Gaiters (1970–71), as well as a role in the short-lived sitcom Wild, Wild Women (1969).[9] In 1979, she played Mrs Richards in the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems".[10] She also appeared in After Henry, which was broadcast on the radio (1985–88) and television (1988–92), in which she played Eleanor.[11]
Film roles were rare, but she appeared in the Hylda Baker film She Knows Y'Know (1962), Who Killed the Cat? (1966), the film version of Please Sir! (1971), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), playing John Cleese's wife, and Prick Up Your Ears (1987), the film based on the life of playwright Joe Orton.[1]
Sanderson listed as her “recreations” as “loving to drive and getting out of London on weekends - particularly to the Cotswolds”. [12]
She died of natural causes in Norwich on 24 May 1992, aged 79.[13] A memorial service was held for her at St Paul's, Covent Garden.[14] Her husband, also an actor, died just some five months later.[15]
The final series of After Henry was broadcast July-August 1992, following her death; the last episode paid tribute to Sanderson.
Following Sanderson’s death - a month before the premiere of her final series, Land of Hope and Gloria - the creators, despite originally intending to make a second season, opted not to go ahead with it. [16]
| Year | Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Young Wives' Tale | Nurse | |
| 1954 | Sunday Night Theatre | Mrs. Dangerfield | |
| 1955 | St. Ives | Miss Gilchrist | |
| 1961 | The Pocket Lancer | Countess of Clarencourt | |
| 1962 | She Knows Y'Know | Euphemia Smallhope | |
| 1962 | Dial RIX | Mrs. Hathaway | |
| 1963 | Maigret | Juliette Boynet | |
| 1964 | Detective | Mrs. Blayne | |
| 1965 | The Wednesday Play
| Angela Walker | |
| 1965 | Night Train To Surbiton | Manageress | |
| 1966 | Seven Deadly Sins | Hotel Receptionist | |
| 1966 | Who Killed the Cat? | Mrs. Sandford | |
| 1967 | Boy Meets Girl | Germaine | |
| 1967 | The Wednesday Play
| Isobel | |
| 1969 | Wild, Wild Women | Mrs. Harcourt | |
| 1970 | The Human Element | Lady Brancaster | |
| 1970–1971 | All Gas and Gaiters | Mrs. Grace Pugh-Critchley | |
| 1971 | Please Sir! | Miss Doris Ewell | |
| 1975 | The Les Dawson Show | various | |
| 1975 | Crown Court | Susan Halls | |
| 1975 | Upstairs, Downstairs | Mrs. Waddilove | |
| 1976 | Yus, My Dear | Mrs. Hartington | |
| 1976 | Well Anyway | The Countess | |
| 1976 | Wodehouse Playhouse | Lady Bassett | |
| 1977 | Jubilee: Silver Lining | Unknown | |
| 1978 | The Ghosts of Motley Hall | Alexandra | |
| 1978 | Rising Damp "Pink Carnations" | Mother | |
| 1978 | Mixed Blessings | Aunt Dorothy | |
| 1978 | Doris and Doreen | Dorothy Binns | |
| 1979 | Fawlty Towers
| Mrs. Richards | |
| 1979 | Ripping Yarns "Roger of the Raj" | Lady Bartlesham | |
| 1980 | How's Your Father? | Unknown | |
| 1981 | The Great Muppet Caper | Dorcas | |
| 1981 | Barriers | Miss Morton | |
| 1981 | Janet and Company | Unknown | |
| 1982 | Play for Today
| Miss Tunstall | |
| 1982 | Anyone for Denis? | Rear Admiral | |
| 1983 | All for Love | Mrs. Davidson | |
| 1983 | Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime The House of Lurking Death | Rachel Logan | |
| 1984 | The Fainthearted Feminist | Mother | |
| 1984–1988 | Me and My Girl | Nell Cresset | |
| 1985 | Alice in Wonderland | The Queen of Hearts (voice) | |
| 1986 | Full House | Mrs. Hatfield | |
| 1987 | Prick Up Your Ears | John Lahr's mother-in-law | |
| 1987 | East of Ipswich | Miss Wilbraham | |
| 1988 | Thompson | Unknown | |
| 1988–1992 | After Henry | Eleanor Prescott | |
| 1989 | Alexei Sayle's Stuff "Tinkering With Teeth" | Wilma Gatling | |
| 1992 | Land of Hope and Gloria | Nancy Princeton |
| Year | Title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Personal Call | Mrs. Lamb | |
| 1962–1977 | The Men from the Ministry | Various | |
| 1971–1972 | All Gas and Gaiters | Mrs. Grace Pugh-Critchley | |
| 1973–1981 | What Ho! Jeeves | Aunt Agatha | |
| 1976–1979 | Jim the Great | Queen Esmeralda | |
| 1985–1989 | After Henry | Eleanor Prescott |