Yootha Joyce
Encyclopedia
Yootha Joyce was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress, best known for playing Mildred Roper in Man About the House
Man About the House
Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of...

and George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...

.

Early life

Yootha Joyce Needham was born in Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the only child of musical parents Hurst Needham, a well-known singer, and Jessica Revitt, a concert pianist. Joyce was evacuated to Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She left school at 15, then trained at RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....

 where Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

 was a fellow student and toured with Entertainments National Service Association
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...

 (ENSA).

In 1958, she married the actor Glynn Edwards
Glynn Edwards
Glynn Edwards is a British actor.Edwards was born in Malaya and trained as an actor at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. He is probably best known for his role as Dave 'the barman' Harris, owner of the Winchester Club in the TV show Minder...

, best known for playing Dave, landlord of the Winchester Club in Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...

. It was through Edwards that she first came to prominence in the renowned Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...

 Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...

, appearing at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be
Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be is a play with music, rather than a musical. The play, by Frank Norman, himself a Cockney, has music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, who also grew up in London's East End.-Production background:...

and going on to make her film debut in 1962 in Sparrers Can't Sing. Joyce and Edwards divorced in 1968.

Career

In the 1960s and 1970s, she became a familiar face in many one-off sitcom roles and supporting parts in films, with her first main recurring role being Miss Argyll, frustrated girlfriend of the title star Milo O'Shea
Milo O'Shea
-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...

 in three series of Me Mammy
Me Mammy
Me Mammy is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1968 to 1971. Starring Milo O'Shea, it was written by Hugh Leonard.-Background:Me Mammy first aired as pilot within the seventh series of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. The pilot and first series were made in black-and-white...

(1968–71). Prior to that, she played a cameo role in The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater is a 1964 British drama film starring Anne Bancroft as an unusually fertile woman and Peter Finch as her philandering husband....

as a psychotic young woman opposite Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....

, delivering a performance that has been called one of the "best screen acting miniatures one could hope to see."

Her talent for comedy was also used to good effect in programmes such as Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...

and On the Buses
On The Buses
On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...

. She made appearances in the movies Catch Us If You Can
Catch Us If You Can (film)
Catch Us If You Can was the feature-film debut of director John Boorman...

, A Man for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)
A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 film based on Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons about Sir Thomas More. It was released on December 12, 1966. Paul Scofield, who had played More in the West End stage premiere, also took the role in the film. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who had...

and Charlie Bubbles
Charlie Bubbles
Charlie Bubbles is a British film of 1967 starring Billie Whitelaw and Albert Finney, and also featuring a young Liza Minnelli. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.The film made great play of its...

, as well as TV spin-off films Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width
Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width (film)
Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Ronnie Baxter and starring John Bluthal, Joe Lynch and Bernard Stone...

, Nearest and Dearest
Nearest and Dearest
Nearest and Dearest is a British television sitcom that ran from 1968 to 1973. A total of 46 episodes were made, 18 in monochrome and 28 in colour...

and Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Steptoe and Son Ride Again is the 1973 sequel to the 1972 film Steptoe and Son. Again the film starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett.-Plot:...

. She also appeared as a customer in the pilot episode of Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

and in a 'dark' 1967 movie about a family of young children, entitled Our Mother's House
Our Mother's House
Our Mother's House is a 1967 British drama film starring Dirk Bogarde. The screenplay was by Jeremy Brooks, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Julian Gloag.-Plot:...

, which starred Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...

.

Mildred Roper

But it was not until 1973 that she acquired a starring role, when she was cast as man-hungry Mildred Roper, wife of landlord George, in the innovative sitcom Man About the House
Man About the House
Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of...

. This series, which starred Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox
Paula Wilcox
Paula Wilcox is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Chrissy in the British comedy Man About the House .-Early sitcom fame:...

 and Sally Thomsett
Sally Thomsett
Sally Thomsett is a British actress.She is mainly remembered for starring in the 1970 film The Railway Children, and for playing Jo in the TV sitcom, Man About the House...

, as well as Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy (actor)
Brian Murphy is a British actor.Murphy was born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Although a prolific actor in many films and theatre productions for almost half a century, Murphy's most famous role was as the henpecked husband George Roper in the sitcom Man About the House and spin-off George and...

, as George Roper, ran until 1976 and told the story of two young women and a young man sharing the Ropers' upstairs flat, and the sexual tension and misunderstandings such living arrangements provide.

When the series reached a natural end, a spin-off was written for the Ropers, and George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...

was first broadcast in 1976. The couple were seen moving from the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 house in Middleton Terrace which they had owned in the previous programme and into a newer suburban property in Peacock Crescent, Hampton Wick
Hampton Wick
Hampton Wick is a Thames-side area, formerly a village, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in London, England.Famous for its market gardens until well into the twentieth century, it is now commuter-belt territory, housing developments having been built on these areas...

. Much of the new series centred on Mildred's desire to better herself in her new surroundings, but always being thwarted, usually unwittingly, by her lifeskills-lacking husband's desire for a quiet life.

Final years

The way Yootha Joyce portrayed the character of Mildred Roper, with such strong, resilient and dragon-like qualities, concealed the actress's real-life alcohol problem.

A feature film
George and Mildred (film)
George and Mildred is a 1980 British comedy film directed by Peter Frazer Jones. It was an adaptation of the television series of the same name. Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy reprised their television roles as the two title characters. It was written by Dick Sharples...

 was made of George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...

in 1980, but this was to be Joyce's last work. Amidst growing concern over her health she was admitted to hospital in the summer of 1980. Yootha Joyce died, in hospital, of liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...

 four days after her 53rd birthday on 24 August 1980. Her good friend, the actor Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy (actor)
Brian Murphy is a British actor.Murphy was born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Although a prolific actor in many films and theatre productions for almost half a century, Murphy's most famous role was as the henpecked husband George Roper in the sitcom Man About the House and spin-off George and...

, who played her screen husband, George Roper, was at her bedside. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....

.

At the inquest
Inquest
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden and unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove"...

 into her death, it was revealed that she had been drinking upwards of half a bottle of brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

 a day for ten years, and that she had, in the words of her lawyer, Mario Uziell-Hamilton, become a victim of her own success and the thought of being typecast as Mildred Roper.

She made her last television appearance, shown after her death, on Max, Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...

' variety show, on 14 January 1981. She sang The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...

 song, "For All We Know
For All We Know (1970 song)
"For All We Know" is a popular song written for the 1970 film, Lovers and Other Strangers, by Fred Karlin, Robb Wilson and Arthur James . It was originally performed by Larry Meredith....

". At the end of this performance, she told Bygraves, "Thanks, I enjoyed that." The actor/comedian Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...

 recorded in his diary that ...she looked as though she was crying... He also went on to mention her in a later entry in his diary (9 April 1988) that she was "a lady who made so many people happy and a lady who never complained".

In 1986, the British band The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

 released a single "Ask
Ask (song)
Later re-releases of the "Ask" single would include the album version, which runs for 3:15, instead of the single version included on the original pressings.-Etchings on vinyl:UK 7" and 12":ARE YOU LOATHESOME TONIGHT? / TOMB IT MAY CONCERNGerman 12":...

" which was adorned with a photograph (both on the cover and reverse) in memory of Yootha Joyce.

In 2001, a tribute documentary entitled The Unforgettable Yootha Joyce was broadcast by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

, which featured many of her co-stars and friends, including Sally Thomsett
Sally Thomsett
Sally Thomsett is a British actress.She is mainly remembered for starring in the 1970 film The Railway Children, and for playing Jo in the TV sitcom, Man About the House...

, Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy (actor)
Brian Murphy is a British actor.Murphy was born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight. Although a prolific actor in many films and theatre productions for almost half a century, Murphy's most famous role was as the henpecked husband George Roper in the sitcom Man About the House and spin-off George and...

 and Norman Eshley
Norman Eshley
Norman Eshley is an English actor best known for his roles on television.He is possibly best known for his role in the sitcom George and Mildred as the snobbish, right-wing real estate agent Jeffrey Fourmile, the foil to George...

, talking about memories and their relationships with Yootha Joyce.

Television roles

Year Title Role
1963 Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...

- The Bath
Delia
1965 Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...

- A Box in Town
Avis
1967 The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

- Something Nasty In The Nursery
Miss Lister
1968 to 1971 Me Mammy
Me Mammy
Me Mammy is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1968 to 1971. Starring Milo O'Shea, it was written by Hugh Leonard.-Background:Me Mammy first aired as pilot within the seventh series of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. The pilot and first series were made in black-and-white...

Miss Argyll
1973 Seven of One
Seven of One
Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half...

Mrs Scully
1973 On the Buses
On The Buses
On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...

Jessie
1973 to 1976
1976 to 1980
Man About the House
Man About the House
Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of...


George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...

Mildred Roper
1966 The Saint
The Saint
- Fiction :* Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations:** The Saint , starring Louis Hayward , George Sanders and Hugh Sinclair...

- The Russian Prisoner
Jovanka Milanova

Filmography

  • Sparrers Can't Sing (1962)
  • The Pumpkin Eater
    The Pumpkin Eater
    The Pumpkin Eater is a 1964 British drama film starring Anne Bancroft as an unusually fertile woman and Peter Finch as her philandering husband....

    (1964)
  • Fanatic
    Fanatic (1965 film)
    Fanatic is a 1965 British thriller directed by Silvio Narizzano for Hammer Films. It stars Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan, Yootha Joyce, Maurice Kaufmann and Donald Sutherland....

    (1965)
  • Catch Us If You Can
    Catch Us If You Can (film)
    Catch Us If You Can was the feature-film debut of director John Boorman...

    (1965)
  • Kaleidoscope
    Kaleidoscope (film)
    Kaleidoscope is a 1966 British crime film starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York. Though not credited as such, the film is an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale, albeit with the James Bond character removed.-Plot:...

    (1966)
  • A Man for All Seasons
    A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)
    A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 film based on Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons about Sir Thomas More. It was released on December 12, 1966. Paul Scofield, who had played More in the West End stage premiere, also took the role in the film. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who had...

    (1966)
  • Stranger in the House
    Stranger in the House (1967 film)
    Stranger In The House is a 1967 crime drama directed and written by Pierre Rouve , produced by Anatole de Grunwald, and starring James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin, and Bobby Darin. The movie is also known as Cop-Out and is a remake of the 1942 French film Strangers in the House...

    (1967)
  • Charlie Bubbles
    Charlie Bubbles
    Charlie Bubbles is a British film of 1967 starring Billie Whitelaw and Albert Finney, and also featuring a young Liza Minnelli. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.The film made great play of its...

    (1967)
  • Our Mother's House
    Our Mother's House
    Our Mother's House is a 1967 British drama film starring Dirk Bogarde. The screenplay was by Jeremy Brooks, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Julian Gloag.-Plot:...

    (1967)
  • Fragment of Fear
    Fragment of Fear
    Fragment of Fear is a 1970 British thriller film starring David Hemmings, Gayle Hunnicutt, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Roland Culver, Flora Robson and Arthur Lowe. -Plot:...

    (1970)
  • All the Right Noises
    All the Right Noises
    All the Right Noises is a 1971 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Tom Bell, Olivia Hussey, Judy Carne and John Standing.-Cast:* Tom Bell - Len Lewin* Olivia Hussey - Val* Judy Carne - Joy Lewin* John Standing - Bernie...

    (1971)
  • The Night Digger
    The Night Digger
    The Night Digger is a 1971 British thriller film that was based on the novel Nest in a Fallen Tree by Joy Cowley. It was adapted by Roald Dahl and starred his wife Patricia Neal. The Night Digger was the American title; it was originally released in the United Kingdom as The Road Builder.-Cast:*...

    (1971)
  • Burke & Hare
    Burke & Hare (film)
    Burk & Hare, sometimes called Burke and Hare or The Horrors of Burke and Hare, is a 1971 horror film, directed by Vernon Sewell, and starring Derren Nesbitt, Harry Andrews, and Glynn Edwards. It is based on the Burke and Hare murders, and was the last film to be directed by Vernon Sewell...

    (1971)
  • Steptoe and Son Ride Again
    Steptoe and Son Ride Again
    Steptoe and Son Ride Again is the 1973 sequel to the 1972 film Steptoe and Son. Again the film starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett.-Plot:...

    (1973)
  • George and Mildred
    George and Mildred (film)
    George and Mildred is a 1980 British comedy film directed by Peter Frazer Jones. It was an adaptation of the television series of the same name. Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy reprised their television roles as the two title characters. It was written by Dick Sharples...

    (1980)

External links

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