Joyce Redman

Joyce Redman
Born
Joyce Olivia Redman

(1915-12-07)7 December 1915
Gosforth, Northumberland, England
Died9 May 2012(2012-05-09) (aged 96)
Pembury, Kent, England
Resting placeFaversham Cemetery, Faversham, Kent, England
EducationRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Years active1938–2001
Spouse
Charles Ivor Wynne-Roberts
​
​
(m. 1949; died 1992)​
Children3

Joyce Olivia Redman (7 December 1915[1] – 9 May 2012) was an Anglo-Irish actress.[2][3][4] She received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in the 1963 film Tom Jones and the 1965 film Othello.

Early life

Joyce Redman was born in Northumberland[5] and grew up in County Mayo, Ireland.[4][6] She was born into an Anglo-Irish family, and educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 1936.[7]

Career

Her acting roles were primarily in the theatre and in television films. Her most successful appearances on the stage were during the 1940s, in Shadow and Substance, Claudia, and Lady Precious Stream, and she appeared at the Comédie-Française as well as The Old Vic. She made a big success in New York in 1949 playing Anne Boleyn opposite Rex Harrison as Henry VIII in Maxwell Anderson's play Anne of the Thousand Days, and, in 1955, she joined Stratford-upon-Avon's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre to play Helena in All's Well That Ends Well and Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In 1974, Redman played Sophie Dupin, the mother of George Sand, in the BBC serial Notorious Woman.

Redman also appeared in a few films. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Tom Jones (1963); and again for Othello (1965), in which she appeared as Emilia to the Desdemona of Maggie Smith and the Othello of Laurence Olivier. Her work on Othello also earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Personal life

Redman married Charles Wynne Roberts in New York City in 1949; he predeceased her. She is survived by their three children and five grandchildren.[6] Her son Crispin Redman is an actor. Her son-in-law is the investment manager and media personality Justin Urquhart-Stewart.[4]

Redman died in Pembury, Kent, England, on 9 May 2012 at age 96 from pneumonia.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1941 Spellbound The Maid
1942 One of Our Aircraft Is Missing Jet van Dieren
1963 Tom Jones Jenny Jones / Mrs. Waters Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1965 Othello Emilia Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

1968 Prudence and the Pill Grace Hardcastle
1978 Les Misérables Magliore TV movie
1980 The Party Mrs. Linda Knox/ wife Tales of the Unexpected; Series 3, Ep. 9/ TV series
1985 A Different Kind of Love Mrs. Prior

Reviews / biographical pieces

  • "Anne". The New Yorker. Vol. 24, no. 45. 1 January 1949. pp. 12–13.

References

  1. ^ a b Jonathan Croall, "Redman, Joyce Olivia (1915–2012)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2016 available online. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  2. ^ Joyce Redman The Telegraph (13 May 2012).
  3. ^ .Vitello, Paul (11 May 2012)."Joyce Redman, Actress Who Feasted on Many Roles, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "BBC News - Joyce Redman, Oscar-nominated actress, dies aged 96". BBC News. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Joyce Redman obituary". The Guardian. 11 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Student and Graduate Profiles: Joyce Redman". rada.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2020.