Joan Hooley

Joan Hooley
Born 13 November 1936
Jamaica
Status Widowed
Occupation Character actor
Notable credit(s) EastEnders
Off Their Rockers (2015)
Spouse(s) Geoff Harris (m. 2002-04; his death)

Joan Hooley (born 13 November 1936) is an actress and screenwriter. Born in Jamaica, Hooley moved to the United Kingdom as a young girl, and her career has been based there.[1] She is best known for playing the role of Josie McFarlane in BBC's EastEnders, but she has also appeared in a variety of other television programmes, since the 1950s. In 2015, she appeared in ITV's Off Their Rockers.

Career

Hooley began acting on television in the 1950s. She rose to prominence in the 1960s when she was cast in the ITV hospital drama Emergency Ward 10. She played Dr Louise Mahler, but was embroiled in an off-screen race controversy in 1964 after her character embarked on an interracial relationship with a Caucasian doctor, Giles Farmer (played by John White), which included the first interracial on-screen kiss.[2] A love scene between the two characters was cut because it was considered "a little too suggestive".[3] She has commented, "I suddenly found myself in the papers under the headline: 'Black and White TV Kiss Banned'. It was very upsetting and it hit my self-esteem. My part suddenly evaporated and Dr Mahler was sent back to Africa on a holiday where she was bitten by a snake and died. What an exit!"[1]

Other credits include roles in No Hiding Place (1961); Danger Man (1965); Special Branch (1969); as Umma in C.A.B. (1988); The Bill (1988; 1993); Bugs (1995) and Kavanagh QC (1997). In 1998 she was cast as Josie McFarlane, the mother of Mick McFarlane (Sylvester Williams), in the successful BBC soap opera EastEnders. The character was introduced by executive producer Matthew Robinson, but in November 1999 it was announced that Hooley's character was being axed.[4] Hooley made her last appearance on-screen in episodes that aired in February 2000. Since leaving the serial, Hooley has publicly accused EastEnders and the BBC of racism and tokenism, for giving her character no significant storylines, and using her like a prop. In 2000 she commented, "It was very demeaning and a form of insidious racism. That is a very strong phrase to use against the BBC and EastEnders but I feel very badly about how they handled my character. They were just fulfilling a duty to have a black face in the show."[1]

Hooley went on to have roles in Urban Gothic (2000); Doctors (2004), and Respectable (2006), among others. As well as acting, Hooley is also a writer, and has written scripts for Channel 4's successful sitcom Desmond's.[1]

In 2015, Hooley joined the cast of ITV's Off Their Rockers as one of the pranksters.

Personal life

In 2002, at the age of 67, Hooley married actor Geoff Harris,[5] known for his portrayal of Charles Dickens in his one-man Dickens show. They met and became a couple in 1993, and remained together until Harris' death of cancer in 2004.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Danny Buckland (2000-07-23). "Racist BBC only want black actors to be whores, gangsters, pimps and freaks; EASTENDERS STAR JOAN SLAMS SOAP OVER STEREOTYPES". The People. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  2. ↑ "Emergency - Ward 10". Television Heaven. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  3. ↑ Anthony Clark. "Emergency - Ward 10 (1957-67)". Screenonline. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  4. ↑ Matthew Wright (1999-11-02). "HOOLEY GONER". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  5. ↑ Geoffrey Harris obituary, The Stage, 10 January 2005.
  6. ↑ Sally Farmiloe-Neville. "Obituary: Geoffrey Harvard Harris". Hot Gossip. Retrieved 2008-02-18.

External links