Joan Heal

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seated young white woman with long blonde hair, gesticulating at the seated young white man sitting next to her
In Grab Me a Gondola, with Denis Quilley, 1956

Joan Heal (17 October 1922 – 12 April 1998) was an English actress and singer, known for her appearances in revue in the 1940s and 1950s.

Life and career

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Heal was born in Vobster, Somerset, and educated at Bath High School and later the Old Vic School.[1] She made her first professional appearance as Mrs Terence in Emlyn Williams' psycho-thriller Night Must Fall in 1940 at the Garden Theatre, Bideford, after which she was in the chorus of a revue at the Saville Theatre, London.[2] Her first prominent role in revue was at the Cambridge Theatre in Sauce Tartare in 1949.[2] This was followed by Sauce Piquante at the same theatre in 1950.[1] In 1951, she was in the Lyric Revue with Ian Carmichael, Dora Bryan and Graham Payn at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.[3] The show transferred to the Globe Theatre in the West End, and was followed by a sequel in 1952.[4] After further revue work, Heal was cast in the leading role of Virginia Jones in a new British musical Grab Me a Gondola, which became, in the words of The Times "a huge and completely unexpected success".[2] After pre-West-End performances in Windsor and Hammersmith it transferred to the West End, and ran for a total of 673 performances, until mid-1958.[5]

Heal played at the Bristol Old Vic in 1959 as Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.[1] In the 1960s she joined the repertory company of the Nottingham Playhouse for two seasons.[1] She returned to West End musicals as Madam K in Sandy Wilson 's Divorce Me, Darling!.[2] In 1966 she appeared in her last revue, The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen through the Eyes of Cole Porter at the Criterion Theatre.[2] The last stage of her career was at the Young Vic, where she became a mother-figure to the predominantly youthful company.[2]

In her later years, Heal suffered from multiple sclerosis. She died on 12 April 1998 at the age of 75.[2] She was twice married, both times to actors: first Jeremy Hawk and secondly David Conyers. Both marriages ended in divorce.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Gaye, p. 720
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Joan Heal", The Times, 23 April 1998, p. 25
  3. ^ Mander and Mitchenson, p. 573
  4. ^ Mander and Mitchenson, p. 574
  5. ^ Gaye, p. 1532; and Cookman, Anthony. "Premium blondes in a love lottery", The Tatler, 12 December 1956, p. 646
  6. ^ Hayward, Anthony. "Jeremy Hawk", The Independent, 5 February 2002

Sources

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  • Gaye, Freda, ed. (1967). Who's Who in the Theatre (fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 5997224.
  • Mander, Raymond; Joe Mitchenson (2000) [1957]. Barry Day; Sheridan Morley (eds.). Theatrical Companion to Coward (second ed.). London: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-84002-054-0.