Joan Heal

Heal was born in Vobster, Somerset, and educated at Bath High School and later the Old Vic School.[1] She made her first professional appearance as Mrs Terence in Emlyn Williams's psycho-thriller Night Must Fall in 1940 at the Garden Theatre, Bideford, after which she was in the chorus of a revue at the Saville Theatre, London.[2] Her first prominent role in revue was at the Cambridge Theatre in Sauce Tartare in 1949.[2] This was followed by Sauce Piquante at the same theatre in 1950.[1] In 1951 she was in the Lyric Revue with Ian Carmichael, Dora Bryan and Graham Payn at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.[3] The show transferred to the Globe Theatre in the West End, and was followed by a sequel in 1952.[4] After further revue work, Heal was cast in the leading role of Virginia Jones in a new British musical Grab Me a Gondola, which became, in the words of The Times "a huge and completely unexpected success".[2] After pre-West-End performances in Windsor and Hammersmith it transferred to the West End, and ran for a total of 673 performances, until mid-1958.[5]

Heal played at the Bristol Old Vic in 1959 as Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.[1] In the 1960s she joined the repertory company of the Nottingham Playhouse for two seasons.[1] She returned to West End musicals as Madam K in Sandy Wilson 's Divorce Me, Darling!.[2] In 1966 she appeared in her last revue, The Decline and Fall of the Entire World as Seen through the Eyes of Cole Porter at the Criterion Theatre.[2] The last stage of her career was at the Young Vic, where she became a mother-figure to the predominantly youthful company.[2]

In her later years Heal suffered from multiple sclerosis. She died on 12 April 1998 at the age of 75.[2] She was twice married, both times to actors: first Jeremy Hawk and secondly David Conyers. Both marriages ended in divorce. She was survived by the daughter of her first marriage and the son of her second.[2]