Joan Le Mesurier
Joan Dorothy Le Mesurier (née Malin; born 3 July 1931) is an English actress, best known as the widow and biographer of the actor John Le Mesurier. The story of her relationship with Le Mesurier was a theme of the television drama Hattie (2011), and her subsequent affair with his friend, comedian Tony Hancock, was dramatised in Hancock and Joan (2008)
Malin was born in Broadstairs, Kent, and had worked as a barmaid and secretary before meeting Le Mesurier. She was first married to actor Mark Eden (1953–1959),[1] by whom she had one son, David. She was working at The Establishment, Peter Cook's comedy club,[2] when she was introduced to Le Mesurier by his second wife, Hattie Jacques.[3] When Jacques was in a relationship with another man, Le Mesurier agreed to protect her career by allowing the media to believe that his affair with Malin was the reason for the couple's divorce. Malin became Le Mesurier's third wife in 1966.
A few months later Le Mesurier introduced her to Hancock, with whom she began an affair.[4] Their relationship lasted on and off until Hancock's suicide in 1968, but Malin remained married to Le Mesurier until his death.
In Hancock and Joan, Malin was portrayed by Maxine Peake; in Hattie, by Jeany Spark.
Works
- Lady Don't Fall Backwards. A Memoir. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988. ISBN 0-283-99664-1
- Dear John. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 2001. ISBN 0-283-06372-6