Joyce Redman
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Biography
This celebrated Irish stage actress has made appearances in only a few film and TV roles, but she has been particularly memorable. Joyce Redman earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in "Tom Jones" (1963), in which she played the title character's possible mother and participated in one of the most famous food scenes in screen history, orgiastically eating with Albert Finney before bedding him. She garnered a second Best Supporting Actress nomination for recreating her stage role as Emilia, the devoted servant to Maggie Smith's Desdemona in Laurence Olivier's production of "Othello" (1965). She also appeared on screen as Grace Hardcastle, the woman who becomes pregnant after her niece switches her birth control pills with aspirin in "Prudence and the Pill" (1968).
Redman was primarily a stage actress, although many of her productions were in the provinces, not on the London stage. She appeared on occasion with the Old Vic Company. In 1949, she co-starred as Anne Boleyn to Rex Harrison's Henry VIII in Maxwell Anderson's "Anne of the Thousand Days" and later in her career played Mrs. Higgins to Peter O'Toole's Henry Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion." More recently, she was in support of Judi Dench in David Hare's acclaimed "Amy's View" (1997).
On TV, Redman made an early appearance on the BBC in the ninety minute drama "Men of Darkness" (1948) and the following year first appeared on American TV in "NBC Repertory Theatre." Redman was Sophie Dupin in the 1975 BBC production of "Notorious Woman" (aired on the USA on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre") and played Magliorie in the 1978 CBS version of "Les Miserables." She was among the suspects in Agatha Christie's "The Seven Dials Mystery" (syndicated, 1981), and, more recently, co-starred in "The Rector's Wife" (PBS, 1994) and was the mother of a suspected murderer in "Prime Suspect: The Scent of Darkness" (PBS, 1996).
Filmography
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Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1935
Made stage debut in "Alice Through the Looking Glass"
1946
Acted on Broadway in "King Henry IV, Part II," "Uncle Vanya," and "The Critic"
1948
Early British TV appearance, the BBC drama "Men of Darkness"
1949
Played the title role in "The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse" (NBC) presentation of "Macbeth"
1949
Cast as Anne Boleyn opposite Rex Harrison in original Broadway production of "Anne of A Thousand Days"
1963
Played Mrs. Waters/Jenny Jones in "Tom Jones"; won first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1964
Played Emilia onstage in the National Theatre Production of "Othello"
1965
Reprised Emilia to Laurence Olivier's "Othello"; garnered second Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1975
Co-starred in BBC miniseries "Notorious Woman" (aired in U.S. on PBS "Masterpiece Theatre")
1978
Landed featured role as Magliore in CBS TV-movie adaptation of "Les Miserables"
1987
Cast as Mrs. Higgins in Broadway Revival of "Pygmalion"
1994
Cast in BBC series "The Rector's Wife" (aired in U.S. on PBS "Masterpiece Theatre")
1997
Featured in the London stage production "Amy's View" by David Hare
2001
Final TV-movie appearance, playing the old Queen Victoria in biographical drama "Victoria & Albert" (A&E)
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