Joan Henley

Joan Henley (2 September 1904 – 10 February 1986) was an Irish actress and radio presenter whose stage career began no later than 1927, when she was performing ingenue roles in London. She remained active on the London stage throughout the 1930s and brought that experience to Broadway in 1938, appearing in Time and the Conways.

Henley's screen career began with a supporting part in the 1933 film Purse Strings, in which she played Ida Bentley. That same year she appeared on television in Charley's Aunt, playing Donna Lucia. Although her career in film and television spanned more than fifty years, her screen appearances were infrequent and generally in smaller roles, as she directed her focus toward stage work and her private life. Her television credits included recurring and guest roles across several decades, among them Miss Grenville in The Common Room (1959), Lady Stilton in Peridot Flight (1960), Mrs. Wycherly in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971), Enid Broughton in Hadleigh (1973), Lady Wimborne in the miniseries Days of Hope (1975), and Lady Nettleship in the 1978 film The Thirty Nine Steps. She also appeared in the 1974 television production of Dial M for Murder as a Dowager and in the 1978 television series Armchair Thriller as a Lady at Garden Party.

Among her film roles, Henley played Mrs. Reynolds in The Reckoning (1970) and appeared uncredited as a Dinner Guest in Follow Me! (1972). Her final completed screen appearances were as Miss Teresa Alan in the Oscar-winning film A Room with a View (1985), released less than a year before her death, and as Mrs. Morrell in The Good Doctor Bodkin-Adams (1986). A posthumously released production, Shades of Love: Sincerely, Violet (1987), in which she played Maggie, stands as her final film credit.

In her personal life, Henley married broadcaster Bruce Belfrage in 1930. The couple had a son, Julian Belfrage, who later became an actors' agent. Following her divorce from Belfrage, she married author Laurence Meynell in 1956, and the two remained together until her death on 10 February 1986.