Yootha Joyce

Yootha Joyce

Born: August 20, 1927
Died: August 24, 1980
in Wandsworth, London, England, UK
British actress best known for her role as Mildred Roper in the '70s sitcom Man About the House and its spin-off George and Mildred. Born to musical parents Hurst Needham and Jessica Rivett in 1927, Joyce was trained at RADA, toured with ENSA and came to prominence via the Joan Littlewood Theatre Workshop, securing roles in TV shows such as The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, Te Saint, Jason King and Steptoe and Son, and the films The Pumpkin Eater, A Man For All Seasons, Charlie Bubbles, All the Right Noises and Burke and Hare. She was married to fellow actor Glynn Edwards from 1956 to 1968, and they remained friends all her life. An alcoholic, Joyce died from liver failure in 198o, just four days after her 53rd birthday. Her sitcom co-star Brian Murphy was by her side. In 1986 the Smiths used an image of Joyce on the sleeve of their UK single release "Ask" and the German release of "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" securing her place as a British cultural icon.

Movies for Yootha Joyce...

Man About the House: 50 Years of Laughs
Title: Man About the House: 50 Years of Laughs
Character: Archive Footage
Released: October 14, 2023
Type: Movie
An affectionate look at the 1970s sitcom, with interviews and a look behind the scenes.
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George & Mildred
Title: George & Mildred
Character: Mildred Roper
Released: October 10, 1980
Type: Movie
Big screen spin-off of the Seventies sitcom. Mildred Roper is determined to make husband George celebrate their wedding anniversary in style, at a posh hotel in London. However, upon arrival George is mistaken by a gangland criminal for a rival hitman, and soon the Ropers find themselves up to their necks in trouble on the wrong side of the law!
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Title: George and Mildred
Character: Mildred Roper
Released: September 6, 1976
Type: TV
A middle-aged housewife feels frustrated with her mean and miserable husband, the married couple adapting to life in an up-market housing estate.
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Man About the House
Title: Man About the House
Character: Mildred
Released: December 22, 1974
Type: Movie
An unscrupulous property developer wants to flatten the street to make way for new buildings. Householder George Roper is happy to take the offered money and run but his wife Mildred and their lodgers join with other residents to take a stand and keep things as they are.
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Frankenstein: The True Story
Title: Frankenstein: The True Story
Character: Hospital Matron
Released: September 19, 1974
Type: Movie
Victor Frankenstein witnesses his creation turn uncontrollable after he's duped by his associate, Dr. Polidori.
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Title: Frankenstein: The True Story
Character: Hospital Matron
Released: November 30, 1973
Type: TV
Victor Frankenstein witnesses his creation turn uncontrollable after he's duped by his associate, Dr. Polidori.
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Title: Man About the House
Released: August 15, 1973
Type: TV
Sitcom exploring the trials and tribulations created by one man and two women flat-sharing in the 70s.
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Steptoe & Son Ride Again
Title: Steptoe & Son Ride Again
Character: Freda
Released: May 1, 1973
Type: Movie
Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live amicably together at the junk yard. Always on the lookout for ways to improve his lot, Harold invests his father's life savings in a greyhound who is almost blind and can't see the hare. When the dog loses a race and Harold has to pay off the debt, he comes up with another bright idea. Collect his father's life insurance. To do this his father must pretend to be dead.
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Title: Seven of One
Released: March 25, 1973
Type: TV
Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half Dozen of the Other. This was a BBC version of a similar showcase for LWT called Six Dates with Barker created in 1971.
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Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
Title: Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
Character: Mrs. Finch
Released: January 3, 1973
Type: Movie
Two London tailors horse around, wind up robbed, go to Rome and disrupt the Vatican.
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Burke & Hare
Title: Burke & Hare
Character: Mrs. Hare
Released: February 3, 1972
Type: Movie
Two men go into business supplying medical colleges with cadavers by robbing graves.
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Nearest and Dearest
Title: Nearest and Dearest
Released: January 1, 1972
Type: Movie
Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker star in this big screen spin-off of one of ITV's most popular comedy series of all time. When the father of Eli and Nellie Pledge dies, they are left in charge of his pickle empire. The two siblings are completely different and Eli wants out of the business, but he can't leave until Nellie is married. So Eli sets about finding a husband for his old-fashioned sister.
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Title: Jason King
Released: September 15, 1971
Type: TV
Jason King - a suavely sophisticated former secret agent turned novelist - travels the world searching for material to fill his books, encountering an endless parade of glamorous women, exotic locales, menacing villains and daring intrigue! Before Austin Powers swung into action, Jason King set the standard for the hip crime-fighting international playboy!
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The Road Builder
Title: The Road Builder
Character: Mrs. Palafox
Released: February 25, 1971
Type: Movie
The dreary existence of middle-aged spinster Maura Prince takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of young handyman Billy Jarvis, but there is more to Billy than meets the eye.
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All the Right Noises
Title: All the Right Noises
Character: Mrs. Bird
Released: October 16, 1970
Type: Movie
A married man with two small children begins an affair with a beautiful young actress which quickly blossoms into a full blown romance, until she tells him that she is only 15 years old…
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Fragment of Fear
Title: Fragment of Fear
Character: Miss Ward-Cadbury
Released: September 3, 1970
Type: Movie
A reformed drug addict travels to Italy to find out who murdered his aunt.
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Title: Manhunt
Character: Denise
Released: January 2, 1970
Type: TV
Manhunt is a World War II drama series consisting of 26 episodes, produced by London Weekend Television in 1969 and broadcast nationwide.
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Title: On the Buses
Released: February 28, 1969
Type: TV
On the Buses is a British comedy series created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential in a bus depot as a setting. The comedy partnership turned to a friend, Frank Muir, Head of Entertainment at London Weekend Television, who loved the idea; the show was accepted and despite a poor critical reception became a hit with viewers.
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Twenty-Nine
Title: Twenty-Nine
Character: The prostitute
Released: January 1, 1969
Type: Movie
Graham Baird wakes up in strange clothes in a strange apartment, both he and his wife want to know where he had been the previous night.
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Your Name's Not God, It's Edgar
Title: Your Name's Not God, It's Edgar
Released: December 9, 1968
Type: Movie
Edgar Lunt lives his life by scientific principles, that is, for every action there is a reaction. He believes that any pleasure he might have, will mean, somebody will suffer somewhere else. The result is he is not very happy at all, until Trevor, a young student,tries to show him a fresh outlook on life.
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Charlie Bubbles
Title: Charlie Bubbles
Character: Woman in Cafe
Released: February 11, 1968
Type: Movie
Charlie Bubbles, a writer, up from the working class of Manchester, England, who, in the course of becoming prematurely rich and famous, has mislaid a writer's basic tool – the capacity to feel and to respond. Now he must visit his estranged wife and son, whom he has set up on a farm outside his native city. His journey accidentally becomes an attempt to reestablish his connections with life, people, and his own history.
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Luther
Title: Luther
Character: Katharine Luther
Released: January 29, 1968
Type: Movie
An epic drama of the 16th Century Catholic monk Martin Luther who started the Reformation.
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Our Mother's House
Title: Our Mother's House
Character: Mrs. Quayle
Released: September 14, 1967
Type: Movie
Seven British children bury their mother and hide her death, until their long-lost father returns.
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Cop-Out
Title: Cop-Out
Character: Shooting Range Girl
Released: May 23, 1967
Type: Movie
John Sawyer, once an eminent barrister, has slid into a life of cynicism and drunkenness since his wife left him. When his daughter's boyfriend is accused of murder, Sawyer decides to try to pull himself together and defend him in court.
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A Man for All Seasons
Title: A Man for All Seasons
Character: Averil Machin
Released: December 13, 1966
Type: Movie
A depiction of the conflict between King Henry VIII of England and his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, who refuses to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England.
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Kaleidoscope
Title: Kaleidoscope
Character: Museum Receptionist
Released: July 1, 1966
Type: Movie
Barney Lincoln is a rambling gambling man who scores sensational wins at poker and chemin de fer because he has succeeded in marking the original plates for the backs of all the playing cards manufactured in a plant in Geneva and used in all the gambling joints in Europe. In his gambling depredation, Barney is spotted by Angel McGinnis, the daughter of a Scotland Yard Inspector 'Manny' McGinnis on the lookout for a man to do a job. The inspector enlists Barney's help in playing poker with a shady London character whom Scotland Yard wants to force to financial ruin.
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Catch Us If You Can
Title: Catch Us If You Can
Character: Nan
Released: July 15, 1965
Type: Movie
Dinah is a famous model and actress who is getting tired of life in the limelight and wants to take a break. While shooting a commercial spot for meat, she meets Steve, a stuntman. Dinah and Steve hit it off and decide to head to an island to get away from it all, bringing along four of Steve's friends. Before long, Dinah is reported missing and everyone is looking for her, making their getaway anything but tranquil.
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Fanatic
Title: Fanatic
Character: Anna
Released: March 21, 1965
Type: Movie
A young woman is terrorized by her fiance's demented mother who blames her for her son's death.
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The Pumpkin Eater
Title: The Pumpkin Eater
Character: Woman at Hairdresser's
Released: July 16, 1964
Type: Movie
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
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A Place to Go
Title: A Place to Go
Character: Bit Role (uncredited)
Released: July 1, 1963
Type: Movie
Set in contemporary Bethnal Green in east London, A Place to Go charts the dramatic changes that were happening in the lives of the British working-class at the time.
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Sparrows Can't Sing
Title: Sparrows Can't Sing
Character: Barmaid
Released: March 26, 1963
Type: Movie
Charlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.
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Title: The Saint
Character: Milanov
Released: October 4, 1962
Type: TV
Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.
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The Fishing Match
Title: The Fishing Match
Character: Cissy
Released: August 19, 1962
Type: Movie
Peter drives his uncle and his friends to the countryside to take part in a fishing match. Meeting Kath he tells her stories of his father's travels but discovers a picture of him taken in Skegness and knows he's living a lie.
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Title: Corrigan Blake
Released: February 2, 1962
Type: TV
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Title: The Avengers
Character: Miss Lister
Released: January 7, 1961
Type: TV
The Avengers is a British television series created in the 1960s. It initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed. Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King. Later episodes increasingly incorporated elements of science fiction and fantasy, parody and British eccentricity.
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Title: No Hiding Place
Released: September 16, 1959
Type: TV
No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.