Joan Croydon

Joan Croydon (May 15, 1908 – April 23, 1985) was an American stage actress born Vivienne Giesen in Tarrytown, New York, to a French mother and a father of German and French descent. She received her early training as a dancer at an Isadora Duncan dance school and made an early professional appearance as a substitute lead nun in Max Reinhardt's The Miracle. She accumulated Broadway credits in the 1930s under her birth name before adopting the stage name Joan Croydon.

Croydon's Broadway career spanned more than four decades, from 1938 to 1980, encompassing dramas, plays, and classical productions including Coriolanus, The Bad Seed, The Potting Shed, Compulsion, and Major Barbara. She originated the role of Miss Fern, a schoolteacher described in the play's stage notes as "dowdy," "a spinster," and "middle aged," in The Bad Seed, which ran from December 8, 1954 through September 27, 1955. She later reprised the role in the film adaptation, though New York Times critic Bosley Crowther gave her performance, along with those of the broader cast, a poor or mixed review. Her earlier Broadway appearances included The First Crocus, in which she played Miss Engebretsen during its brief run in January 1942.

Her performance as Miss Connolly, the housekeeper, in The Potting Shed — which ran from January 29, 1957 through June 1, 1957 — earned her a Clarence Derwent Award in 1957. Later that same year she appeared in Compulsion as Mrs. Straus, a role she held from October 24, 1957 through February 22, 1958. Her final Broadway credit was Major Barbara, in which she played Mrs. Baines during its run from February 26 to March 30, 1980.

Beyond Broadway, Croydon received strong critical praise for her portrayal of the Mother in William Ball's production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. That association with Ball led her to become one of the founding members of The American Conservatory Theater, an institution that began in Pittsburgh and is now based in San Francisco.

Croydon was married to Guy Spaull (1904–1980), an American actor known for both stage and television work. The couple had one son, Malcolm Spaull, who as of March 2009 served as Chair of the Graduate School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.