Joyce Windsor (21 January 1932 – 15 October 2008) was an English actress perhaps best remembered for her portrayal of the cleaner Ruby in the BBC1 Comedy ''

Butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

'' by

Carla Lane Romana Barrack (5 August 1928 – 31 May 2016), known professionally as Carla Lane, was an English television writer responsible for several successful British sitcoms, including ''The Liver Birds'' (co-creator, 1969–1979), ''Butterflies'' (19 ...

. She trained 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 Senat ...

before working in

Rep Rep, REP, or a variant may refer to: As a word * Rep (fabric), a ribbed woven fabric made from various materials * ''Rep'' (TV series), a 1982 British comedy series * '' The Rep'', an entertainment guide published by the ''Arizona Republic'' 1997 ...

, then taking time away from the stage to have her children. She returned to acting in the late sixties with small parts in

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

and guesting in

The Two Ronnies ''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, seria ...

, playing Ronnie Barker's double and appearing in sketches including the Short and Fat Minstrel Show.

Roles – 1970s

In the seventies Windsor appeared in

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black and ...

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...

, The Good Life as Madame Chairwoman in the episode ''I talk to the Trees'', and ''

To the Manor Born ''To the Manor Born'' is a BBC television sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special one-off episode was produced in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by ...

'' as Dorothy Plunkett.

Roles – 1980s

In the eighties, she continued with

Bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

Terry and June ''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Te ...

, Sorry!,

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

and Sharon and Elsie. In later years, Windsor played the Cook in

Five Children and It ''Five Children and It'' is a children's novel by English author E. Nesbit. It was originally published in 1902 in the '' Strand Magazine'' under the general title ''The Psammead, or the Gifts'', with a segment appearing each month from April ...

and Connie Davis in

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

, as well as having a stint in

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

as a senile pensioner. Her last TV role was that of Lady Philpotts in the children's TV show

ChuckleVision ''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Brian ...

Theatre

On the stage, she enjoyed several summer seasons at Gawsworth Hall with one year, as Miss Marple in ''Murder at the Vicarage''. Other stage credits including Emma Hornet in a national tour of ''Sailor Beware'', Muriel Wicksteed in ''

Habeas Corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'', Mrs Kay in ''

Our Day Out ''Our Day Out'' is a television play about poor children from Liverpool, England. It was written by Willy Russell and first aired on 28 December 1977, at 9:00 p.m. on BBC2. It was later converted into a full length stage musical. Plot Th ...

'' at the Key Theatre, Peterborough and Norma in ''Not with a Bang'' at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff. Windsor ran a theatre workshop for many years in Stamford, Lincolnshire as part of the team at Tolethorpe Youth Drama at

Tolethorpe Hall Tolethope Hall in the parish of Little Casterton, Rutland, England, PE9 4BH is a country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2 ...

Death

Windsor died on 15 October 2008, aged 76, from cancer.Joyce Windsors' Obituary in The Stage
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Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor, Joyce 1932 births 2008 deaths 20th-century English actresses Actresses from London Alumni of RADA English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Deaths from cancer in England