• Article |
• Discussion |
• Edit |
• History

A studio publicity shot of Derby-born Joan Rice

Joan Rice with Dirk Bogarde in Blackmailed (1950). This photo has a double Derbyshire connection

Joan Rice as Maid Marian on a poster for the 1952 Walt Disney film which proved the Derby-born film star's big break

JOAN RICE was a popular cinema starlet of the 1950s who appeared in many well-known film successes. She is particularly remembered for the role that launched her career, playing Maid Marian opposite Richard Todd's Robin Hood in the 1952 Walt Disney production The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. She was born in Derby and lived in Abbey Street during her early childhood.

Dorothy Joan Rice was born on 3 February 1930 at the City Hospital in Derby, one of four daughters of Hilda and Harold Rice of 314 Abbey Street, Derby. Her early life was fraught with troubles, for her labourer father was imprisoned for child abuse, and as a consequence Joan spent several years being cared for in a convent orphanage in Nottingham.

When still only in her teens, in the late 1940s, she moved to London and found work as a waitress (a celebrated 'nippy') in a Lyon's Corner House. Blessed with good looks, dark hair and green eyes, she entered a beauty contest, and in 1949 won the 'Miss Lyons' contest. This led to her being introduced to a theatrical agent who arranged for Joan to undertake a screen test from which she secured a contract with the Rank Corporation.

Her first significant role was with Dirk Bogarde (see the article on him for another Derbyshire link) in Blackmailed (1950) but her big break came as Maid Marian in 1952. Although her portrayal of Maid Marian has sometimes been criticised in 'film buff' circles, it earned her the admiration of the general film-going public and led quickly to a number of further roles.

Among her next films were A Day to Remember (1953) with Stanley Holloway and Donald Sinden, and a smaller role in Curtain Up with two legendary character actors - Robert Morley and Margaret Rurtherford. In 1954 Rice appeared as Iris in the popular Norman Wisdom film One Good Turn, then in the same year in His Majesty O'Keefe she used her dark good looks to portray a Polynesian girl opposite Burt Lancaster.

However, a real big break eluded her - the fashion for blondes did not help - and she was unable to land a true leading role. Instead she was cast in a number of supporting roles before her film career gradually declined as the 1950s drew to a close.

She made a number of appearances in the 'new medium' of television, notably alongside a young Roger Moore in Ivanhoe and in the New Adventures of Charlie Chan. Her final comeback to the big screen was in a small role in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) but she had by then contented herself with building a steady career in repertory theatre.

Her private life was not without its troubles. After her ten year marriage to the film director and prolific television writer David Green ended in divorce in 1964, she moved to Cookham in Berkshire and in the 1970s set up the Joan Rice Bureau in Maidenhead, a property letting and estate agency business. In 1984 when in her mid-fifties she married Ken McKenzie, a salesman and former journalist with the Daily Sketch.

But like many former stars who are required to live a more humdrum later existence, Joan Rice found life difficult at times, and her friends subsequently related that she had become frail and suffered from depression and 'problems with alcohol'.

Joan Rice died in Maidenhead, Berkshire, on 1 January 1997, aged 66.

She may not have been a mega-star in cinematic terms, but she was certainly a successful 'film star' who had achieved what many could only dream of. Not a bad record for a girl who suffered such a troubled start in Abbey Street, Derby.

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

County:  Derbyshire

Return to Bogarde,_Dirk_-_Matlock_Links_of_Cinema_Icon