Joy Nichols

Joy Eileen Nichols (17 February 1925 – 23 June 1992) was an Australian-British comedian, actress and singer who also worked in the United States. She was best known as one of the stars of Take It From Here on BBC Radio.

Biography Nichols, born in Sydney, Australia, was originally part of a song-and-dance double act with her brother George. She made her first radio broadcast aged seven, when she appeared in a production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. As well as working on stage, she appeared on shows for the Australian Broadcasting Commission and commercial radio: for the latter, she compered Lever Colgate's The Youth Show. Her weekly four-minute slot had her performing both drama and comedy. She also had her own series, Joy Nichols Presents. In 1946, Nichols acted in the Australian adventure film Smithy. She married Harry Jerome Dickel in 1944 in Sydney.

Nichols moved to Britain in 1946 to further her career. Radio producer Charles Maxwell gave her a major role in the last series of Navy Mixture, broadcast for the BBC General Forces Programme in 1947, in which she starred with Jimmy Edwards. Guest appearances by fellow Australian Dick Bentley led to the pairing of Bentley's writer Denis Norden with Edwards and Nichols' writer Frank Muir on Take It From Here (1948–1960), starring Edwards, Bentley and Nichols, who both sang and played comedy.

In 1949, Nichols married Wally Peterson, an American musical comedy performer who was then touring in the London production of Oklahoma!. November that year saw Nichols appearing in the Royal Command Variety Performance. In 1950 and 1951, she took part in Take It From Us, a stage production in London and Blackpool. In 1952, she topped bills at Moss Empire theatres, and appeared in her second Royal Command Variety Performance. The following spring, she represented Australia in the BBC Television show Dominion's Salute, as part of their Coronation tribute. She then left England for commitments in Australia, where broadcasts of Take it From Here had increased her fame. and Darling of the Day, though they remained on good terms towards the end of her life. She died in New York on 23 June 1992, aged 67.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1942 A Yank in Australia 1946 Smithy Kay Sutton 1956 Not So Dusty Lobelia 1957 A King in New York Singer

Radio Dead Timber (1946)