This celebrated Irish stage actress has made appearances in only a few film and TV roles, but she has been particularly memorable. Joyce Redman earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in "Tom Jones" (1963), in which she played the title character's possible mother and participated in one of the most famous food scenes in screen history, orgiastically eating with Albert Finney before bedding him. She garnered a second Best Supporting Actress nomination for recreating her stage role as Emilia, the devoted servant to Maggie Smith's Desdemona in Laurence Olivier's production of "Othello" (1965). She also appeared on screen as Grace Hardcastle, the woman who becomes pregnant after her niece switches her birth control pills with aspirin in "Prudence and the Pill" (1968).Redman was primarily a stage actress, although many of her productions were in the provinces, not on the London stage. She appeared on occasion with the Old Vic Company. In 1949, she co-starred as Anne Boleyn to Rex Harrison's Henry VIII in Maxwell Anderson's "Anne of the Thousand Days" and later in her career played Mrs. Higgins to Peter O'Toole's Henry Higgins in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion". More recently, she was in support of Judi Dench in David Hare's acclaimed "Amy's View" (1997).
On TV, Redman made an early appearance on the BBC in the ninety minute drama "Men of Darkness" (1948) and the following year first appeared on American TV in "NBC Repertory Theatre". Redman was Sophie Dupin in the 1975 BBC production of "Notorious Woman" (aired on the USA on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre") and played Magliorie in the 1978 CBS version of "Les Miserables". She was among the suspects in Agatha Christie's "The Seven Dials Mystery" (syndicated, 1981), and, more recently, co-starred in "The Rector's Wife" (PBS, 1994) and was the mother of a suspected murderer in "Prime Suspect: The Scent of Darkness" (PBS, 1996).
Profession(s):
Actor
Sometimes Credited As:
1997 Featured in the London stage production "Amy's View" by David Hare
1994 Co-starred in "The Rector's Wife" (aired in USA on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre")
1978 Had featured role in CBS TV-movie adaptation of "Les Miserables"
1975 Co-starred in "Notorious Woman" (aired in USA on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre")
1965 Reprised Emilia to Laurence Olivier's "Othello"; garnered second Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1964 Played Emilia onstage in the National Theatre Production of "Othello"
1963 Played Mrs. Waters/Jenny Jones in "Tom Jones"; won first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
1949 Appeared on "NBC Repertory Theatre"
1949 Played Anne Boleyn opposite Rex Harrison on Broadway in "Anne of A Thousand Days"
1948 Early British TV appearance, the ninety minute drama "Men of Darkness" (BBC)
1935 Stage debut in "Alice Through the Looking Glass"
Was frequent player on "The Old Vic Stage"