Joan Sanderson

Joan Sanderson
Born	24 November 1912(1912-11-24) Bristol, England
Died	24 May 1992(1992-05-24) (aged 79) Norfolk, England

Joan Sanderson (24 November 1912 – 24 May 1992) was an English television and stage actress. During a long career she invariably played dragonish dowagers, stuck-up spinsters and suburban matrons.

Theatre

Born and educated at Northumberland House in Bristol, Joan Sanderson trained at RADA. Sanderson had teaching diplomas in elocution. She appeared in repertory theatres, on the West End stage and at the Stratford Memorial Theatre, where she made her début in 1939 playing Amelia 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. In 1948 she married fellow actor Gregory Moseley.

Sanderson achieved her apotheosis as Delia, Lady Rumpers, in Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett (Lyric Theatre 1973). At one point during the play, Lady Rumpers recalls how her husband has gone into the Army only "to put his moustache to good purpose". She starred in numerous West End productions including See How They Run and Anyone for Denis.

Television, radio and film

She played Doris Ewell in the long-running television series Please Sir! (1968-72) and the Dean's wife, Mrs Pugh Critchley, in the later series of All Gas and Gaiters (1970-71), as well as a role in the short-lived sitcom Wild, Wild Women (1969). However, she is probably best known to many for a single guest role: that of the abrasive and selectively deaf Mrs. Richards, one of the most memorable guest characters in the classic British sitcom Fawlty Towers, in the episode Communication Problems. Sanderson was in both the After Henry radio (1985-88), and later television (1988–92), a gently comic series in which she played the domineering Eleanor, mother of Sarah (Prunella Scales), who lives above her daughter in a flat in Sarah's large house. Her film roles were rare, but she featured in The Great Muppet Caper, playing John Cleese's wife, and had a cameo in Prick Up Your Ears, the film based on the life of playwright Joe Orton.

Personal life

A memorial service was held for her at St Paul's, Covent Garden (commonly known as "The Actors' Church") and many distinguished actors attended to pay tribute to her.

Credits

TV & film

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	Unknown
1964	Detective	Mrs. Blayne
1965	The Wednesday Play: The Confidence Course	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: Fall of the Goat	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: "Noblesse Oblige"	Mrs. Waddilove
1976	Yus, My Dear	Mrs. Hartington
1976	Well Anyway	The Countess
1976	Wodehouse Playhouse: Strychnine in the Soup	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: "Communication Problems"	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: Intensive Care	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 (1985 film)	The Queen of Hearts (voice)
1986	Full House (UK TV series)	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
1992	Land of Hope and Gloria	Nancy Princeton

Radio

Year	Title	Role
1954	Personal Call	Mrs. Lamb
1962–1977	The Men from the Ministry	Unknown
1971–1972	All Gas and Gaiters	Mrs. Grace Pugh-Critchley
1985–1989	After Henry	Eleanor Prescott

External links

• Joan Sanderson at the Internet Movie Database
• Joan Sanderson at Royal Shakespeare Company database