Joyce Howard (28 February 1922 in London – 23 November 2010 in Santa Monica, California) was an English actress, writer, and film executive. After studying at

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Se ...

, she was spotted by film director

Anthony Asquith Anthony William Landon Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among oth ...

in a play at London's Embassy Theatre. He cast the 19-year-old in ''

Freedom Radio ''Freedom Radio'' (a.k.a. ''A Voice in the Night'') is a 1941 British propaganda film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard, Raymond Huntley and Derek Farr. It is set in Nazi Germany during the Second World Wa ...

'' (1941), and starring roles in films followed, including opposite James Mason in '' The Night Has Eyes'' and ''

They Met in the Dark ''They Met in the Dark'' is a 1943 British comedy thriller film directed by Karel Lamač and starring James Mason, Joyce Howard and Edward Rigby. The screenplay concerns a cashiered Royal Naval officer and a young woman who join forces to solv ...

'', the former winning her rave reviews. She was also active in theatre, including '' Romeo and Juliet'' at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

and in ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...

''. She performed in London throughout World War II, even as Nazis were bombing the city. In 1950, after 13 films, she more or less retired from acting to raise her three children by actor

Basil Sydney Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Career Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in t ...

. 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 Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

's widow, Howard collated, edited and wrote the introduction to ''Letters by Henry Miller to Hoki Tokuda Miller'' (1986).

Filmography

References

External links

*
Obituary in ''The Telegraph''

Obituary in ''The Guardian''
1922 births 2010 deaths English film actresses English television actresses English stage actresses Actresses from London British expatriates in the United States Alumni of RADA {{england-film-actor-stub