Joan Bruce

{{Short description|British-born Australian actress (1928–2014)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Joan Bruce | birth_name = Joan Olive Thompson<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/actress-was-rarely-out-of-work-on-stage-and-screen-20140623-zsgs0.html|title=Actress was rarely out of work on stage and screen|date=June 24, 2014|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald|author=Sue Baden-Powell}}</ref> | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|02|29|df=y}}<ref name=obit /> | birth_place = Surrey, England<ref name=obit /> | death_date = {{death date and age|2014|04|26|1928|02|29|df=y}}<ref name=obit /> | death_place = Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia<ref name=obit /> | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1948–1988 | spouse = {{Unbulleted list |Frank Baden-Powell (1954–?) |Kenneth Williams (1978–2014; his death)}}<ref name=obit /> | children = Two<ref name=obit /> | alma_mater = London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art<ref name=obit /> }}

'''Joan Olive Bruce''' (born '''Joan Thompson''') (29 February 1928 – 26 April 2014) was an English-Australian actress who appeared in theatre, radio, television and film.

Bruce was best known for her role in the television series ''Certain Women'' (1974-1977) and for voicing the Kangaroo in the children's animation live action film ''Dot and the Kangaroo'' (1977)

==Biography == Bruce was born as Joan Thompson in Surrey, England to George and Olive Thompson and took her stage name after her maternal grandmother.

She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, before launching her performance career in repertory theatre in northern England from 1948, after marrying first husband actor, director, stage manager and theatre entrepreneur Frank Baden-Powell.<ref name="ausstage">{{cite web|url=https://ausstage.gov.edu.au/pages/contributor/227665|title=Frank Baden-Powell|author=AusStage}}</ref> They immigrated the following year to Australia and toured Oceania with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in plays ''Separate Tables'' and ''Sleeping Prince'', with her husband taking on the role of stage manager and Bruce acting.<ref name="AS">{{cite web|url=http://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/3928|title=Joan Bruce}}</ref> After returning to Perth to give birth to her daughters, she appeared in plays ''The Anniversary'', ''Entertaining Mr. Sloane'' and ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''. Lauded for her performances, she was considered one of Perth's finest actors. In Adelaide she featured in the production of Patrick White's ''The Ham Funeral'', and was awarded as actress of the year. Before taking the show to Sydney, she also was in the cast of ''Night on Bald Mountain'', another play by Patrick White, before moving with her daughters to Sydney in 1968, and spending the next ten years working numerously including roles in ''The Entertainer'', ''Travelling North'', ''Heartbreak House'', ''The Life and Times of Nicholas Appelby'' and ''Something Afoot''.

Bruce was best known for her role in the television series ''Certain Women'' and for voicing the Kangaroo in the children's animation/live film ''Dot and the Kangaroo''

She married her second husband Kenneth William in 1978, and subsequently appeared on television in guesting roles in series ''Chopper Squad'' and ''A Country Practice''.

She retired in 1988 and died several weeks after her husband on the New South Wales Central Coast in April 2014, aged 86.

==Filmography==

'''Films''' {|class="wikitable |- !Year !Title !Role !Type |- | 1962 | ''The Good Oil'' | Role unknown | TV film |- | 1974 | ''Lindsay's Boy'' | Role unknown | TV film |- | 1976 | ''Is There Anybody There?'' | Jamie | TV film |- | 1977 | ''Dot and the Kangaroo'' | The Kangaroo / Mother (Voice) | Feature animated film |- | 1978 | ''The Newman Shame'' | Betty Newman | TV film |- | 1981 | ''Film Continuity'' | Herself - Performer | Short documentary film |- | 1982 | ''Sarah and the Squirrel'' | Voice | Animated TV film |- | 1982 | ''Brothers'' | Mrs. Williams | Feature film, NZ |- | 1987 | ''The Facts of Life Down Under'' | Mrs. Winters | TV film (US/Australia) |}

'''TV series''' {|class="wikitable |- !Year !Title !Role !Type |- | 1967-1968 | ''In Perth Tonight'' | Presenter | TV series |- | 1971;1972 | ''Homicide'' | Marge Hayes / June Hutchinson | TV series, 2 episodes |- | 1972 | ''Division 4'' | Mrs. Davies | TV series, 1 episode |- | 1972;1973 | ''Matlock Police'' | Gladys Turner / Betty | TV series, 2 episodes |- | 1973-1976 | ''Certain Women'' | Jane Stone | TV series, 166 episodes |- | 1976 | ''The Emigrants'' | Peggy Nicholls | TV series (UK/Australia), 1 episode |- | 1978 | ''Glenview High'' | Guest role | TV series, 1 episode |- | 1978 | ''Chopper Squad'' | Mrs. Hayle | TV series, 1 episode: "A Dream Before Dying" |- | 1979 | ''Doctors Down Under'' | Sister Cummings | TV series, 8 episodes |- | 1980 | ''Cop Shop'' | Mrs. Keen | TV series, 1 episode |- | 1980 | ''The Mike Walsh Show'' | Guest - Herself | TV series, 1 episode |- | 1983 | ''A Country Practice'' | Daisy Hatfield | TV series, 2 episodes |- | 1987 | ''Melba'' | Mrs. Doyle | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |- | 1988 | ''The True Believers'' | Pattie Menzies | TV miniseries, 7 episodes |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0115511|Joan Bruce}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Joan}} Category:1928 births Category:2014 deaths Category:British television actresses Category:British stage actresses Category:British soap opera actresses Category:British voice actresses Category:Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Category:Actresses from Surrey Category:20th-century Australian actresses Category:20th-century English actresses