Today is the anniversary of the birth of the estimable Joan Sanderson - an actress who hardly aged in all the time I remember her on telly! Generally cast in the role of dowager, spinster or matron, she was the bossy headmistress in Please, Sir! way back when I was a child, and remained the "not-to-be-messed-with" character in myriad shows such as Upstairs, Downstairs, The Les Dawson Show, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, Me and My Girl and After Henry and, memorably, the mother-in-law who was roped in to translate Joe Orton's shorthand diaries in the film Prick Up Your Ears.
But her most famous role was, of course, the fearsome "Mrs Richards" in Fawlty Towers...
We loved her!
Joan Sanderson (24th November 1912 – 24th May 1992)
I remember even a episode of Keeping Up Appearances she did. She was good in everything....so matter how big or small.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure she did Keeping Up Appearances? She's not credited on IMDB as ever having been in it. Anyhow, I do agree - Having Joan Sanderson in the cast made any show that little bit more special... Jx
DeleteShe was great. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteShe was a role model for us all. Jx
DeleteLots of bonking in "After Henry" comes easily to mind.
ReplyDeleteI certainly do not remember Joan Sanderson being involved in any "bonking" in anything she was in. Perish the thought! Jx
DeleteIt was a clever play on words: French pronunciation of "banking"
DeleteShe had a few scenes involving double-entendre, such as this classic exchange from Prick Up Your Ears:
DeleteMother: [reading Joe's diary] "Then went into mum's bedroom and arranged the dressing table mirrors and had a lovely, long, slow... wink."
Anthea Lahr: "Wink? Are you sure that's an 'I'?"
Mother: "No, dear, I'm not sure at all."
Jx