Joan Sanderson

Infobox actor
name = Joan Sanderson


imagesize = 150px
caption = Sanderson as Mrs. Richards in "Fawlty Towers"
birthdate = birth date|1912|11|24|df=yes
location = Bristol, England
height =
deathdate = death date and age|1992|05|14|1912|11|24|df=yes
deathplace = Norfolk, England
birthname =
othername =
homepage =
notable role =

Joan Sanderson (24 November 1912 – 24 May 1992) was an English television and stage actress.

Born and educated at Northumberland House in Bristol, Joan Sanderson trained at RADA. She then appeared in repertory theatres, on the West End stage and at Stratford. She made her début with the Royal Shakespeare Company 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" [ [http://www.dswebhosting.info/Shakespeare/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Site11&dsqDb=Roles&dsqCmd=xdetail.tcl&dsqSearch=((Name='sanderson,')AND(Name='joan')) Joan Sanderson at Royal Shakespeare Company database] ] , she also starred in numerous West End plays including "See How They Run" and "Anyone for Denis".

During the Second World War she gained experience in repertory and toured North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. She married, in 1948, Gregory Moseley - a fellow actor.

She played Doris Ewell in the long-running television series "Please Sir!" (1969) and the Dean's wife, Mrs Pugh Critchley, in the later series of "All Gas and Gaiters". She also played the role of Eleanor in the radio and television versions of "After Henry" with Prunella Scales and appeared in the sitcom "Wild, Wild Women".

In the theatre, Sanderson achieved her apotheosis as Delia, Lady Rumpers, in Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett (Lyric Theatre 1973). It was written that from the moment she made her entrance on stage, she commanded the performance. Her lines were delivered with relish. At one point during the play, Lady Rumpus recalls how her husband has gone into the Army only "to put his moustache to good purpose".

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", an episode which some sayFact|date=September 2008 led to "Fawlty Towers" being voted the best British TV show of the 20th century in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. Her complaint that the view of Torquay from her room was "not good enough" was countered by Basil Fawlty's sarcastic outburst "What do you expect to see from a hotel window in Torquay? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plains...?"

Joan also achieved success in the radio (1985-88), and later television (1988-1992), series of the gently comic, After Henry, playing the domineering Eleanor, mother of Sarah (Prunella Scales), who lives above her daughter in a basement flat in Sarah's large house.

She also featured in "The Great Muppet Caper" - coincidentally playing John Cleese's wife - and had a cameo in "Prick Up Your Ears", the film based on the life of playwright Joe Orton.

During a long career she invariably played an unrivalled line in dragonish dowagers, stuck-up spinsters and suburban matrons. Sanderson's formidable presence on screen and stage ensured that the maximum benefit would be derived from every line (she had teaching diplomas in elocution) and gesture.

She was married to actor Gregory Scott. 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.

elected TV and Film Roles

* Miss Ewell in "Please Sir!" (1968-1971)
* Mrs Richards in "Fawlty Towers" (1979)
* Lady Bartlesham in "Ripping Yarns" episode, Roger of the Raj (1979)
* Dorcas in "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981)
* John Lahr's mother-in-law in "Prick Up Your Ears" (1987)

References

External links

*imdb|id=0761796
* [http://www.dswebhosting.info/Shakespeare/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Site11&dsqDb=Roles&dsqCmd=xdetail.tcl&dsqSearch=((Name='sanderson,')AND(Name='joan')) Joan Sanderson at Royal Shakespeare Company database]

Persondata
NAME = Sanderson, Joan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Actress
DATE OF BIRTH = 1912-11-24
PLACE OF BIRTH = Bristol
DATE OF DEATH = 1992-05-14
PLACE OF DEATH = Norfolk