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Joyce Windsor

Published Tuesday 28 October 2008 at 10:40 by Jane Windsor-Smith

The name Joyce Windsor may not be instantly recognisable to the general public, but many were aware of a certain familiarity when they met her. A glance at the huge list of parts she had during her long and varied career, means it comes as no surprise that there was such subliminal recognition.

Windsor was born on January 21, 1932. She trained at RADA and worked in rep for a short time, not getting back into performing until her children had grown up, in the late sixties. Her love of acting, all aspects of the theatre and, unknown to many, a lifetime commitment to working with children in theatre workshops, were an all-consuming passion.

Best remembered for her brilliant portrayal of Ruby in Butterflies, her classic one-liners, from the pen of Carla Lane, guaranteed a laugh in every show in which she appeared, between 1978 and 1983. She had fond memories of these days working with the great team of this all-enduring comedy.

At that time, Windsor was not a novice on the comedy front, having regularly appeared on The Two Ronnies, when, despite the fact she looked relatively dissimilar to Ronnie Barker, she played his double on numerous occasions, as well as appearing in many sketches, including the Short and Fat Minstrel Show. Windsor enjoyed being involved in several shows in the seventies heyday of situation comedies - Steptoe and Son, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Good Life, To the Manor Born, followed, in the eighties, by Bread, Terry and June, Sorry, Last of the Summer Wine and Sharon and Elsie, to name but a few.

In more recent years, Windsor played the Cook in Five Children and It and Connie Davis in Doctors, as well as having a short time in Emmerdale as a senile pensioner.

On the stage, she enjoyed several summer seasons at Gawsworth Hall notably one year, as Miss Marple in Murder at the Vicarage. Her stage credits are many, including Emma Hornet in a national tour of Sailor Beware, Muriel Wicksteed in Habeas Corpus at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Mrs Kay in Our Day Out at the Key Theatre, Peterborough and Norma in Not with a Bang at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff.

Windsor’s greatest joy was to encourage new talent amongst youngsters, running a theatre workshop for many years in north London, and over the past decade as part of the team at Tolethorpe Youth Drama at Tolethorpe Hall near Stamford. Many of today’s young actors have fond memories of Windsor and gratitude for the part she played in their lives.

Windsor died on October 15, aged 76, after a hard battle with cancer, but she will be remembered for her vitality, commitment, enthusiasm and care for all and, of course, her great talent.

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