Joan Heal

Joan Audrey Conyers (17 October 1922 – 12 April 1998) professionally known as Joan Heal, was an English actress and singer, known for her appearances in revue in the 1940s and 1950s.

Life and career Heal was born Joan Audrey Heal, in Vobster, Somerset, and educated at Bath High School and later the Old Vic School. She made her first professional appearance as Mrs Terence in Emlyn Williams' 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. Her first prominent role in revue was at the Cambridge Theatre in Sauce Tartare in 1949. The show transferred to the Globe Theatre in the West End, and was followed by a sequel in 1952. 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".

Heal played at the Bristol Old Vic in 1959 as Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.