Jo Kendall
Born
Josephine Mary Robinson

(1940-02-17)17 February 1940
Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England
Died29 January 2022(2022-01-29) (aged 81)
Northwood, London, England
EducationRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupations
  • Actress
  • writer
Years active1962–1999

Josephine Mary Kendall (née Robinson, 17 February 1940 – 29 January 2022) was a British actress and writer. She was known for her work on the BBC radio comedy show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which debuted in 1964, and for her role as Peggy Skilbeck on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale (then Emmerdale Farm) from 1972 to 1973, in which she also spoke the programme's first line of dialogue in the inaugural episode.

Early life

Kendall was born Josephine Mary Robinson in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on 17 February 1940.[1] After leaving Leicester she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and gained her Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM).[2]

Career

While teaching English and drama at a state secondary school for girls at Cambridge, she acted with the university's dramatic society's productions with roles ranging from Desdemona in Othello at the ADC Theatre in 1962[3] to Maisie King in Expresso Bongo. She also trained as a studio manager with the BBC.

In August 1963, she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch and Chris Stuart-Clark. She was already known to the cast from her experience with the Footlights' productions and had even been on a date with Chapman – "Should I bring a book with me this time?", she quipped when he asked her for another.[4] Her audition included an impromptu rendition of "My Funny Valentine". She could not remember the lyrics but Barclay accepted her readily, "... a witty and clever performer. There was no competition, we all very gladly and warmly welcomed her into the cast."[4]

In radio comedy, she was a regular performer in the BBC's I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (with John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and David Hatch). She then appeared in the first episode of the spinoff panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in 1972, teamed with Garden against Brooke-Taylor and Oddie.[5] From 1976, she was in the radio comedy series The Burkiss Way and played Lady Cynthia Fitzmelton in the opening episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1978. The character never appeared again after the first episode and was omitted completely from subsequent remakes.

In 1978, she appeared in the comedy drama The Unvarnished Truth at London's Phoenix Theatre with Royce Ryton, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden.[6] In 1993 and 1994 she played Aunt Maud opposite Kate Copstick in the BBC children's series Marlene Marlowe Investigates.[7]

Kendall appeared in straight drama. She appeared as Adelaide Palliser in The Pallisers (1974), as the matron Miss Biggs in the film version of Scum (1979), as Annie in the film adaptation of Howards End (1992), directed by James Ivory, and as a publican's wife in another Merchant Ivory film The Remains of the Day in 1993.[8] She played Peggy Skilbeck in the ITV series Emmerdale Farm and spoke the first ever line of the programme. Among her television roles, she played Mrs Bardell in The Pickwick Papers (1985), Anne Stanhope in The Six Wives of Henry VIII and had a semi-regular part in Grange Hill in the 1980s as the mother of regular character Roland Browning. In addition, she played the abrasive Miss Elizabeth Wait in the BBC's adaptation of the Vivien Alcock book The Cuckoo Sister (1986).

Personal life

Kendall never married. She retired in 1999, though she made occasional appearances as late as 2017, when she took part in a stage tour of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again.[9] As of 2007, she lived in a cottage near Bury St Edmunds, but towards the end of her life, she resided at Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors in London, where she died on 29 January 2022 at the age of 81.[1][9][10]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1972–1973 Emmerdale Farm Peggy Skilbeck 46 episodes
1979 Scum Matron[11]
1992 Howards End Annie[12]
1993 The Remains of the Day Publican's Wife[12]
1999 Bridge of Dragons Lily[11] (The Maid) (final film role)

Further reading

Further information about Kendall can be found in:

References

  1. ^ a b "Jo Kendall, actress who made her name on the anarchic radio sketch show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  2. ^ Leicester Mercury, 30 October 1965.
  3. ^ The Times, 9 May 1962.
  4. ^ a b Roberts, Jem (2010), The Fully Authorised History of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue: The Clue Bible from Footlights to Mornington Crescent, Penguin Random House, pp. 26–27, ISBN 978-1-84809-132-0
  5. ^ David Wade (22 April 1972), "Radio", The Times, no. 58459
  6. ^ The Cambridge Theatre Company (1978). The Unvarnished Truth Event Programme. London: Phoenix Theatre. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022.
  7. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (2003). "Marlene Marlowe Investigates". BBC Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 22 January 2005.
  8. ^ "Jo Kendall". BFI.
  9. ^ a b Hayward, Anthony (3 February 2022). "Jo Kendall obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Jo Kendall dead - I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again star dies as John Cleese pays tribute". Daily Mirror. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Jo Kendall". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Jo Kendall". BFI. Retrieved 31 January 2022.

External links

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
Authority control databases
Categories