Joan Le Mesurier is an English actress, best known as the widow and biographer of the actor John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...

. The story of her relationships with Le Mesurier and his friend Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock

Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...

 has been a theme of two television dramas, Hancock and Joan

Hancock and Joan

Hancock and Joan was a 2008 BBC Four biopic television film based on the affair between Joan Le Mesurier and the comedian Tony Hancock. It was first transmitted on 26 March 2008 as part of the Curse of Comedy season. Hancock was portrayed by Ken Stott, Joan by Maxine Peake and John by Alex...

(2008) and Hattie

Hattie (television film)

Hattie is a television film on the life of the British comic actress Hattie Jacques, played by Ruth Jones, her marriage to John Le Mesurier and her affair with their lodger John Schofield...

(2011).

Joan, who had also worked as a barmaid and secretary, was first married to actor Mark Eden

Mark Eden

Mark Eden is a British actor.-Career:Born in London, Eden has appeared in repertory theatre in England and Wales and at the Royal Court Theatre. His many television and film roles include the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo in which he played Marco Polo...

 (1953–1959), by whom she had one son, David. She was working at The Establishment, Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

's comedy club, when she was introduced to the actor by his second wife Hattie Jacques

Hattie Jacques

Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...

. When Jacques began a relationship with another man, John Le Mesurier agreed to cover up her guilt by allowing the media to believe that his romance with Joan was the reason for the couple's divorce. She became Le Mesurier's third wife in 1966.

Only a few months after Joan's marriage, her husband introduced her to the comedian Tony Hancock, with whom she began an affair. Their relationship lasted on and off until Hancock's suicide in 1968, but Joan remained married to John Le Mesurier until his death.

In Hancock and Joan, Joan was portrayed by Maxine Peake

Maxine Peake

Maxine Peake is an English stage, film and television actress known for playing Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies, and, most recently, barrister Martha Costello in BBC legal drama Silk.-Early life:Peake is the second of...

. In Hattie, Joan was portrayed by Jeany Spark

Jeany Spark

Jeany Spark is a British actress, known for portraying Linda Wallander in the British television series Wallander...

.

Works

• Lady Don't Fall Backwards. A Memoir. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988. ISBN 0283996641
• Dear John. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 2001. ISBN 0283063726