Joyce Howard

{{For|the Tudor peer, married name Joyce Howard|Joyce Culpepper}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}

{{Short description|British actress (1922–2010)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Joyce Howard

| image = Actress_Joyce_Howard.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = As Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947)

| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|2|28|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{dda|2010|11|23|1922|2|28|df=y}}

| death_place = Santa Monica, California

| occupation = Actress, writer, story analyst

| spouse = Basil Sydney
({{abbr|m.|married}} 1946; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 1958)
Joel Shor
({{abbr|m.|married}} 1961; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 19??)

| children = 3; Rowena and two others from her first marriage

}}

Joyce Howard (28 February 1922 – 23 November 2010) was an English actress, writer, and film executive.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f5ca42f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722040335/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f5ca42f|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-22|title=Joyce Howard|work=BFI}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/actress-par-story-editor-howard-dies-1118028289|title=Advertisement|work=Variety|date=2 December 2010 }}

Acting career

After studying at RADA, she was spotted by film director Anthony Asquith in a play at London's Embassy Theatre. He cast the 19-year-old in Freedom Radio (1941), and starring roles in films followed, including opposite James Mason in The Night Has Eyes and They Met in the Dark, the former winning her rave reviews.

She was also active in theatre, including Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic and in A Streetcar Named Desire. She performed in London throughout World War II, even as Nazis were bombing the city.

Writing career and personal life

In 1950, after 13 films, she more or less retired from acting to raise her three children by actor Basil Sydney. Howard also began a second career as a writer. She wrote three well-received novels, Two Persons Singular (1960), A Private View (1961) and Going On (2000). She also wrote plays, including Broken Silence, which was produced by the BBC. After her divorce from Sydney, Howard married American psychoanalyst Joel Shor, and moved to California in 1964.

Although the couple eventually separated, Howard remained in California. To support her family as a single mother, she embarked on a third career as a story analyst for network television. She was promoted to executive and story editor at Paramount Pictures and Paramount TV, eventually becoming responsible for property acquisition and development.

She also continued to write for television and wrote original treatments for the miniseries The Whiteoaks and Picasso's Painted Ladies. At the request of Henry Miller's widow, Howard collated, edited and wrote the introduction to Letters by Henry Miller to Hoki Tokuda Miller (1986).{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/29/joyce-howard-obituary |title=Joyce Howard obituary |first=Ronald |last=Bergan |work=The Guardian |date=2010-12-29 |access-date=2019-11-12}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/8197814/Joyce-Howard.html |title=Film Obituaries: Joyce Howard |author=Staff writers |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2010-12-12 |access-date=2019-11-12}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-passings-20101203-story.html |title=PASSINGS: Sebastian Adler, Joyce Howard, Stephen J. Solarz, Peter Hofmann, Jean Cione |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2010-12-03}}{{cite news |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article2832195.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210122938/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article2832195.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 December 2014 |title=Joyce Howard |author=Staff writers |work=The Times |date=2010-12-04}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8DaUdI6WKW8C&dq=joyce+howard+actress&pg=PA323 |title=The Devil at Large|isbn=9780802133915|last1=Jong|first1=Erica|year=1994}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1941Freedom RadioElly
1941Love on the DoleHelen Hawkins
1941The Common TouchMary
1942Back-Room BoyBetty
1942The Night Has EyesMarian Ives
1942Talk About JacquelineJune Marlow
1943The Gentle SexAnne Lawrence
1943They Met in the DarkLaura Verity
1946They Knew Mr. KnightFreda Blake
1946Appointment with CrimeCarol Dane
1947Woman to WomanNicolette Bonnet
1947Mrs. FitzherbertMaria Fitzherbert
1950Shadow of the PastLady in Black

References