Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Joan Sanderson
English actress (1912–1992) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Joan Sanderson (24 November 1912 – 24 May 1992) was an English 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 appearances in the comedy series Please Sir! (1968–72), Rising Damp (1978), Fawlty Towers, Ripping Yarns (both 1979), and Me and My Girl (1984–88).[1]
Remove ads
Early life
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]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Theatre
Sanderson 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.[citation needed]
During the Second World War, Sanderson gained experience in repertory and toured North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. [6] In 1948, she married fellow actor Gregory Moseley.[5]
Sanderson 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]
TV and film
Sanderson 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 1978 she appeared in an episode of Rising Damp, and the following year 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]
Sanderson's 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]
Remove ads
Personal life and death
Sanderson listed as her "recreations" as "loving to drive and getting out of London on weekends – particularly to the Cotswolds."[citation needed]
Sanderson died of natural causes in Norwich on 24 May 1992, aged 79.[12] A memorial service was held for her at St Paul's, Covent Garden.[13] Her husband, also an actor, died just some five months later.[14]
The final series of After Henry was broadcast July–August 1992, following her death; the last episode paid tribute to Sanderson.[citation needed]
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.[15]
Credits
 |
TV and film
Radio
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads