Yootha Joyce dies

Press, 26 August 1980, Page 15

Yootha Joyce dies

NZPA London Yootha Joyce, the actress who played the domineering wife of the television comedy series, “George and Mildred,” has died at a Harley Street clinic. She had been suffering from hepatitis. Production of the latest series of eight, which Thames Television had said would be the last of “George and Mildred,” had been postponed because she was ill. She was 53 on Wednesday. Her television partnership with Brian Murphy, who played the hen-peck-ed George, began in 1974 in “Man About the House,” with Richard O’Sullivan, in which they were the landlords. They were so popular, they were given their own show in 1977. The comedy was never out of the top five in Britain. Yootha Joyce met Brian Murphy 30 years ago in Joan Littlewood’s Stratford, London, Theatre Workshop. ■ They were a perfect foil for each other —• Yootha Joyce with her determined, toothy glamour, and Murphy with his smiling hesitancy. Married for more than 20 years with two grownup sons, Murphy enjoyed their working partnership. They toured seaside resorts with a stage show, and received rave notices in Australia and New Zealand last year. But Brian Murphy recently said he did not

want to do any more shows, and was fed up with jokes about George Roper. Contacted by Independent Television News, Murphy said: “I don’t think any of us really knew how seriously ill she was until these last few week's.” He added that filming for a new George and Mildred series was scheduled to begin on Monday. “I think it’s probably the first show that Yootha’s ever missed,” he said.

One of Yootha Joyce’s first loves was animals, and three years ago she became a life member and supporter of the Jersey

Wildlife Preservation Trust, which was founded by the writer, Gerald Durrell. Jeremy Mallinson, the Trust’s zoological director, paid tribute to the actress. He said: “I was most impressed by her very sincere and keen interest in the animal kingdom. “It was not a question of a person showing mild interest,, she was obviously emotionally attached to the trust. She was a genuine and nice person.” Yootha Joyce was granted a divorce in 1969 from her actor husband, John Glynn Edwards. They married in December, 1956, and there were no children.