Joan Washington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 21, 1946
Joan Washington | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joan Geddie December 21, 1946 Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Died | September 2, 2021 (aged 74) Avening, England |
| Alma mater | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Dialect coach |
| Spouse(s) |
Keith Washington
(m. 1969, divorced) |
Joan Washington (née Geddie; 21 December 1946 – 2 September 2021)[1] was a British dialect coach, who trained many high-profile actors across film, television, and theatre.[2][3]
Joan Geddie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 21 December 1946, to John Geddie and Maggie Cook, a doctor and nurse respectively.[1] At 18, she moved to London, where she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama.[1] On graduation, she taught speech, initially at a reform school for girls and subsequently at the Royal College of Nursing.[1]
Geddie married Keith Washington in 1969, with whom she had a son, Tom.[1] They later divorced.[1] She married actor Richard E. Grant, who she met while working at London's Actors Centre, in 1986.[1] The couple had a daughter, Olivia Grant.[1]
Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020, Joan Washington died at home in Avening on 2 September 2021, aged 74.[1] At the time of her death, she and Grant had been together for 38 years.[4]
In 2023, Grant published a memoir titled A Pocketful of Happiness, based on his diaries and named after the instruction to find a "pocketful of happiness in each day", which Washington had given him during her illness.[5][6] He described her attitude following diagnosis eight months before her death as "accepting, clear sighted, sanguine and totally without self pity".[7]