Joyce Blair
Encyclopedia
Joyce Blair was an English actress and dancer. She was the sister of Lionel Blair
, with whom she often performed. She was the mother of actress Deborah Sheridan-Taylor, who played Saskia Duncan in EastEnders
, and of a son, Adam, who is a photographer.
Blair was born in London
, as the daughter of Myer Ogus and Deborah (Della) Greenbaum. Her father was a Russia
n barber; he changed the family name to Blair in her youth, and died when Joyce was 12 years old. Blair was educated at Cone's School in London, and started her show-business career by singing and tap-dancing in front of captive audiences in London air raid shelters during the Second World War. She and her brother took up show-business as professionals to support their mother after their father's death in 1944. She made her first professional stage appearance in the J.M. Barrie play Quality Street
at the Embassy Theatre
in 1945, aged 13.
She appeared in minor roles in the original London productions of South Pacific
in 1951 and Guys and Dolls
in 1953, and also appeared in off-Broadway
musical
s and pantomimes. She appeared in several films, but she became well known for her appearances on television in the 1950s and 1960s, in shows such as Morecambe and Wise Show, The Benny Hill Show
, The Adventures of Robin Hood
, New Look, The Saint
and Z-Cars
. In 1978, she returned to the West End stage in Bar Mitzvah Boy
and in 1984 she appeared in The Last Days of Pompeii
. She often appeared in dance routines with her brother Lionel
until an estrangement in 1977. They did not reconcile their differences until many years later, when their mutual friend Sammy Davis, Jr.
was dying of cancer.
She died from cancer
in Santa Monica, California
aged 73. She married three times, to Edward Lever in 1956; to Henry Sheridan-Taylor; and to an American. She was survived by her two children, both of whom came from her second marriage, and by her brother Lionel.
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
, with whom she often performed. She was the mother of actress Deborah Sheridan-Taylor, who played Saskia Duncan in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, and of a son, Adam, who is a photographer.
Blair was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, as the daughter of Myer Ogus and Deborah (Della) Greenbaum. Her father was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n barber; he changed the family name to Blair in her youth, and died when Joyce was 12 years old. Blair was educated at Cone's School in London, and started her show-business career by singing and tap-dancing in front of captive audiences in London air raid shelters during the Second World War. She and her brother took up show-business as professionals to support their mother after their father's death in 1944. She made her first professional stage appearance in the J.M. Barrie play Quality Street
Quality Street (play)
Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children"....
at the Embassy Theatre
Embassy Theatre (London)
The Embassy Theatre is a theatre at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.- Early years :The Embassy Theatre was opened as a repertory company in September 1928 on the initiative of Sybil Arundale and Herbert Jay., when the premises of Hampstead Conservatoire of Music were adapted by architect...
in 1945, aged 13.
She appeared in minor roles in the original London productions of South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
in 1951 and Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
in 1953, and also appeared in off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
s and pantomimes. She appeared in several films, but she became well known for her appearances on television in the 1950s and 1960s, in shows such as Morecambe and Wise Show, The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
, The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV in London in the...
, New Look, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
and Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
. In 1978, she returned to the West End stage in Bar Mitzvah Boy
Bar Mitzvah Boy (musical)
Bar Mitzvah Boy is a musical with a book by Jack Rosenthal, lyrics by Don Black, and music by Jule Styne.Based on Rosenthal's award-winning 1976 BBC1 teleplay of the same name, it focuses on young Eliot Green who, filled with apprehension, escapes from the synagogue where he is about to make his...
and in 1984 she appeared in The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. Once a very widely read book and now relatively neglected, it culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.The novel uses its characters to contrast...
. She often appeared in dance routines with her brother Lionel
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair is a British actor, choreographer, tap dancer and television presenter. He is the son of Myer Ogus and Deborah Greenbaum...
until an estrangement in 1977. They did not reconcile their differences until many years later, when their mutual friend Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
was dying of cancer.
She died from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
aged 73. She married three times, to Edward Lever in 1956; to Henry Sheridan-Taylor; and to an American. She was survived by her two children, both of whom came from her second marriage, and by her brother Lionel.