<Archive obituary> Joan Greenwood (1921-87), actress
Michael Rhodes
<The Times, March 3, 1987>
Miss Joan Greenwood: The voice that intrigued generations
Miss Joan Greenwood, the actress, died on February 27. She was 65.
A strikingly attractive woman - diminutive and with blinding blond
hair -her portrayals were both bewitching and provocative.
Her voice, likened to the sound of someone gargling with champagne,
was intoxicating, although it led, to her occasional chagrin, to her
being typecast in the role of dotty duchess.
Miss Greenwood was born in Chelsea on March 4, 1921, an artist's
daughter. She was educated at St Catherine's, Bramley, Surrey, and
studied for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
She made her first appearance on the stage - in November, 1938, at the
age of 17 - at the Apollo as Louisa in "The Robust Invalid". Next year
she was at the Strand in "Little Ladyship" and, two months later, at
the Lyric as Little Mary in "The Women", taking the same part when it
was revived at the Strand in 1940.
She played Wendy in "Peter Pan" at the Adelphi in December 1941, and
toured in the same part during 1942. A decade later she played the
title role at the Scala - one of the smallest Peters at just over 5
feet tall. "I got my pilot's licence before we started rehearsals,"
she explained.
Earlier, in 1941, she braved the Blitz to go to the now defunct Q
Theatre to appear in the revue "Rise Above It", with Hermione Baddeley
and Henry Kendall. When it went to the West End, however, she was
dropped from the cast.
Hurt though she was, she persevered and, two years later, succeeded
Deborah Kerr as Ellie Dunn in "Heartbreak House", followed by a spell
of touring with ENSA. She also toured with Donald Wolfit's Company,
playing Ophelia in "Hamlet" and Celia in "Volpone".
Joan Greenwood made her first appearance on the New York stage at the
Morosco in 1954 as Lucasta Angel in T.S. Eliot's "The Confidential
Clerk", which was later televised. Back in this country she took the
title part, in 1957, in "Lysistrata" at the Royal Court, transferring
with the production to the Duke of York's the next year. And in 1959,
her magnetism undiminished, she attracted pack houses to St Martin's
as Hattie in the comedy "The Grass is Greener". At the Oxford
Playhouse in 1960, in the title part in "Hedda Gabler", she played
alongside Andre Morell, with whom she had previously worked. That
summer they secretly took themselves off to Jamaica where, to
everyone's surprise (except their own), they married.
Four years later she was at the Lyric in another comedy - "Oblomov".
She left the cast, however, after seven months, announcing that
"enough is enough". In "The Chalk Garden" at the Haymarket in 1971 she
excelled as a tight-lipped governess, tiny and ruthless; and, in 1982
she took over Celia Johnson's role in "The Understanding" at the
Strand following Dame Celia's death.
Joan Greenwood made her film debut in the early years of the Second
World War, and was at her peak in this medium from 1948 to 1955. She
attracted a discriminating following with her witty and intelligent
performances in such films as "Girl in a Million" (1946) and "Whisky
Galore" (1949). That same year, in "Kind Hearts and Coronets", with
Alec Guinness, she played a thoroughly unpleasant young woman. This
remained her favourite film. She enjoyed travel and went to New York
several times to do work.
In 1955 she made her first visit to Hollywood to play in "Moonfleet",
and spent four months on a part that lasted about five minutes on the
screen. But she had no time for the Hollywood lifestyle or for
American men. "I couldn't put up with the endless make-up sessions",
she later reflected. "All that palaver of keeping out of the sun,
dyeing one's hair and worrying about the size of one's bossom."
She found the sanity of Ealing much more to her taste. There "we used
to wash our hair in buckets, and we survived on toasted sandwiches,
chocolate and soup." Later films included "The Importance of Being
Earnest" (1952), in which she played Gwendoline, "Tom Jones" (1963),
and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1978).
Her most recent television appearances were in a comedy series called
"Girls on Top", as a romantic novelist just this side of certifiable;
and in a BBC "Miss Marple" adventure, as an endearing, all-knowing
society lady. "Now I'm an old hag I get to may much more interesting
characters." Her husband died in 1978. She is survived by their son.
END.