Joan Sydney

English-born Australian actress (1936–2022)

Joan Sydney

Born|

Joan Sydney King

(1936-09-05)5 September 1936

Kensington, Central London, England

Died| 28 December 2022(2022-12-28) (aged 86)

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Education| Oldham Coliseum Theatre
Occupation| Actress
Years active| 1957–2013[1]
Known for|

* A Country Practice
* E Street
* Neighbours

Children| 3
Family| Maggie King (sister)[2]

Joan Sydney King (5 September 1936[3][4] – 28 December 2022) was an English-born Australian actress, primarily known for her television roles in soap operas and serials but who also appeared in theatre.

Sydney started her career in local theatre before appearing on television where her best-known roles were in the soap operas A Country Practice as Maggie Sloane, E Street as publican Mary Patchett and Neighbours as Valda Sheergold.

## Biography[edit]

### Early life[edit]

Joan Sydney King was born in Kensington, Central London, England, on 5 September 1936, to Sam and Rose who met whilst working at hotels. The family relocated to Wales during the Second World War, first to Rhyl and then to Rhuddlan. She was educated at Abergele Grammar School and trained at the Oldham Repertory Theatre. She emigrated to Australia with her family as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1965, first living in Perth, Western Australia,[1] then moving to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1974.

### Career[edit]

After appearing on stage and film in her native England, Sydney featured in radio at the BBC and made her screen debut aged 21 in the 1957 film version of English play When We Are Married.

#### A Country Practice[edit]

Sydney was known for playing Margaret "Maggie" Sloan, the no-nonsense but compassionate matron of the fictional Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital in the Seven Network rural series A Country Practice from 1983 to 1990 and over 400 episodes. She won the Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress for her performance in 1989.[5] She also starred alongside her sister Maggie King in a movie-length pilot for a subsequently unmade series in 1987 called Sisterly Love.[6]

Sydney was the second actress to play the matron of the fictional Wandin Valley Hospital after original actress Helen Scott. Her successor, Anne Brennen (played by Mary Regan), used the more modern title "Director of Nursing". After Brennen left, the title was changed back to Matron during the tenure of Rosemary Prior (Maureen Edwards).[7]

In 1993, after 12 seasons on air, A Country Practice was abruptly cancelled, but rival network Ten picked it up soon afterwards. Production was relocated from Pitt Town, New South Wales, to Emerald, Victoria, and, after having spent time in England, Sydney reprised her role as matron, one of five actors including Joyce Jacobs and Andrew Blackman to return to the new ACP series.[8]

#### Neighbours[edit]

In 2002, she joined the long-running serial Neighbours as Valda Sheergold, initially on a semi-regular recurring basis before becoming a permanent member of the cast for the 2007–2008 season.[9]

#### Other roles[edit]

In 1990, Sydney briefly joined the new soap opera E Street in the role of publican Mary Patchett. She also had guest roles in many other programs including the sitcom Mother and Son and the dramas All Saints, Something in the Air and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

In 2013, she featured in the television film Cliffy, based on the life of Australian athlete Cliff Young.

## Personal life[edit]

Sydney married her husband, Gerald, in 1960. They had two children, a daughter named Ananda and a son named Matthew. The couple later separated. Another son from an earlier relationship, Tony Braxton-Smith, is the former CEO of Journey Beyond (known then as Great Southern Rail).[10] She was the elder sister of actress Maggie King.[2]

## Death[edit]

Sydney died, aged 86, at her home in Sydney, New South Wales, on 28 December 2022 after a long illness with Alzheimer's disease which had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.[11]

## Filmography[edit]

### Film[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Type

|
|
|

1986 | Departure |  | Feature film
2005 | Martie's Party | Joan | Short film
2008 | Your Turn | Joan | Short film

### Television[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Type

|
|
|

1957  | When We Are Married | Ruby Birtle  | TV film, UK
1978  | The Scalp Merchant | Annie Brice  | TV film
1981  | Falcon Island | Guest role: Mrs. Yates  | TV series, 1 episode
1983-1993; 1994  | A Country Practice | Regular role: Matron Margaret 'Maggie' Sloan  | TV series, 457 episodes
1985  | Flight Into Hell |  | TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1985  | One Summer Again |  | TV miniseries
1986  | Hector's Bunyip | Maude Tremball  | TV film
1987  | Have a Go | Judge  | TV series, 5 episodes
1988  | Sisterly Love | Jean  | TV film
1989  | 1989 TV Week Logie Awards | Herself  | TV special
1989  | The Bert Newton Show | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1989  | Who's True Blue? | Herself  | Short film
1990  | In Melbourne Today | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1991  | Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune | Contestant  | TV series, 1 episode
1991-1992  | E Street | Regular role: Mary Patchett  | TV series, 54 episodes
1992  | The Morning Show | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1992  | Mother and Son | Guest role: Merle MacDonald  | TV series, 1 episode
1992  | Tracks of Glory | Mrs. Walker  | TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1994  | A Country Practice | Regular role: Sister Maggie 'Sloan' Morrison  | TV series, 30 episodes
1994; 1996  | Good Morning Australia | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1995  | Ernie and Denise | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1996; 1998  | Good Morning Australia | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1996  | Monday to Friday | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
1998  | Good Morning Australia | Guest (with sister Maggie King)  | TV series, 1 episode
2000  | The Morning Shift | Guest  | TV series, 1 episode
2000  | Something In The Air | Recurring role: Ruth Dooley  | TV series, 3 episodes
2001  | All Saints | Guest role: Mrs. Price  | TV series, 2 episodes
2002-2008  | Neighbours | Regular role: Valda Sheergold  | TV series, 117 episodes
2006  | Where Are They Now? | Guest (with A Country Practice cast)  | TV series, 1 episode
2006  | TV Turns 50: The Events That Stopped A Nation | Guest (with A Country Practice cast: Lorrae Desmond, Brian Wenzel, Shane Porteous, Anne Tenney, Joyce Jacobs, Josephine Mitchell & Emily Nichol)  | TV Special
2009  | Thank God You're Here | Contestant  | TV series, 1 episode
2012  | Lowdown | Guest role: Concierge  | TV series, 1 episode
2012  | Conspiracy 365 | Guest role: Mrs. Fitzgerald  | TV series, 1 episode
2013  | Cliffy | Mum  | TV film
2013  | Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Guest role: Mother Aloysius  | TV series, 1 episode

## Theatre[edit]

Production  | Year  | No. of Performances

|
|

A Lilly in Little India | 1968  | Single
Old Time Music Hole | 1968  | Single
Paying the Piper | 1972  | Single
Small Craft Warnings | 1972  | Single
The Threepenny Opera | 1973  | Single
Butley | 1973  | Single
Note on a Love Affair | 1973  | Single
Village Wooing | 1973  | Single
The Typists | 1973  | Single
After Magritte | 1973  | Single
Old King Cole | 1973  | Single
Antony and Cleopatra | 1974  | Single
Equus | 1975  | Single
Time and Time Again | 1975  | Single
A Hard Time | 1975  | Single
The School for Scandal | 1975  | Single
Hello Dolly! | 1975  | Single
Kennedy's Children | 1975  | Single
The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day | 1976  | 3 performances
Savages | 1976  | Single
The Magistrate | 1976  | Single
Everyone's a General | 1976  | Single
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 1976  | Single
Mixed Doubles | 1976  | Single
The Edward of Edward the Second | 1977  | Single
Going Bananas | 1977  | Single
Cole | 1977  | Single
Chinchilla | 1978  | Single
The Seagull | 1978  | Single
Waiting for Godot | 1978  | Single
A Happy and Holly Occasion | 1978  | Single
The Hostage | 1978  | Single
No, No Nanette | 1978  | Single
A Plum Job | 1979  | Single
The Painting | 1979  | Single
Bossom | 1979  | Single
The Night of the Badger | 1979  | Single
No W.A.Y | 1979  | Single
The Way of the World | 1979  | Single
Something's Aloof | 1979  | Single
The Three Sisters | 1979  | Single
Garden Party | 1980  | Single
Roses in Due Season | 1980  | Single
Joseph Conrad Goes Ashore | 1980  | Single
Piaf | 1980  | Single
Backyard | 1980  | Single
Oliver! | 1980  | Single
Tomfoolery | 1981  | Single
The Importance of Being Ernest | 1981  | Single
Cowardy Custard | 1981  | Single
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | 1981  | Single
Court Napping | 1981  | Single
The Fields of Heaven | 1982  | Single
Steaming | 1983  | Single
Hedda Gebbler | 1983  | Single
Song from Sideshow Alley | 1985  | 2 Performances
Nunsense |  | 2 Performances
Mrs. Klein | 1990  | Single
Prin | 1992  |
I Hate Hamlet | 1992  | 2 Performances
Barmaids | 1993  | 2 Performances
My Fair Lady | 1996  | Single
Secret Bridemaids Business | 1999  | 2 Performances
Trelawny of the Wells | 2000  | 2 Performances
Are You Being Served? | 2001  | Single
Talking Heads (national tour)  | 2002  | 38 Performances
Deckchairs | 2005  | 13 Performances
Dirty Dusters | 2010 (reprise)  | Single
Be Watching by Gary Files – prelimenary readings 1.  | 2011  | Single

## Awards and nominations[edit]

Year  | Association  | Category  | Work  | Result  | Ref

|
|
|
|
|

1988  | AFI Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Telefeature  | Sisterly Love | Nominated  | [12]
1989  | Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Actress | A Country Practice | Won  | [5]
2014  | Equity Ensemble Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Mini-series or Telemovie  | Cliffy | Nominated  | [13]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Joan Sydney". AusStage. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
2. ^ a b "A date with Joan Sydney and Maggie King". QUT. 19 September 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
3. ^ Helen Pitt (5 January 2023). "A Country Practice star Joan Sydney dies aged 86". Sydney Morning Herald.
4. ^ Tony Braxton-Smith (6 January 2023). "My Mum Maggie Sloan: A Country Practice stars 50 year career". Sydney Morning Herald.
5. ^ a b Browne, Sheila (20 February 1992). "A 'champion of excellence'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ Hooks, Barbara (27 December 1989). "A sisterly alchemy of golden wisdom and humor". The Age. Retrieved 5 January 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Australian Showbiz".
8. ^ Sadlier, Kevin (12 December 1993). "Deja vu for Joan Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2023 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ Kalina, Paul (28 March 2008). "Neighbours". The Age. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
10. ^ "Acting keeps Tony Braxton-Smith going off the rails". News Limited. 8 September 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
11. ^ Knox, David (5 January 2023). "Vale: Joan Sydney". TV Tonight. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
12. ^ "Winners & Nominees – 1988". Australian Film Institute. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
13. ^ "Redfern Now, Top of the Lake, Upper Middle Bogan casts win 2014 Equity Ensemble Awards!". Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2023.

## External links[edit]

* Joan Sydney at IMDb

Authority control databases: Artists |

* MusicBrainz

|

*[Ref]: References