Celebrity Biographies
Joanna Dunham
The British Joanna Dunham was lavished on television series in her country. She will be remembered in the cinema as María Magdalena, in “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. The actress herself passed away at the age of 78 on November 25, 2014.
Daughter of the architect Peter Dunham and his wife, Constance, Joanna Dunham was born on May 6, 1936 in Luton (Bedfordshire), in central England. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, she began in the theater. During a tour with the prestigious Old Vic company she hit it off in New York with Marilyn Monroe .
The blonde temptation recommended the young actress to play Mary Magdalene in The Greatest Story Ever Told , from 1965, alongside Max Von Sydow , who played Jesus Christ, and Charlton Heston , who was Pontius Pilate. To accept the role she abandoned Franco Zefirelli , who had chosen her to play the protagonist of “Romeo and Juliet” in the theater, so she finally turned to Judi Dench .
Tremendous production problems were triggered during filming, such as the death of the original cinematographer, William C. Mellor , coupled with the fact that the actress was visibly pregnant, so filmmaker George Stevens and the stand-in for the deceased operator, Loyal Griggs , had to wear blueprints that concealed her status, while she wore baggy dresses. Although he had had the help of David Lean himself , who shot part of the film, it was very poorly received, and he was criticized for his cold treatment of the figure of Jesus, thus ending the wave of Hollywood biblical blockbusters from that time.
For this reason, Joanna Dunham ‘s fledgling career in Hollywood was cut short, and she had to take refuge on the small screen. She had some other prominent role, as she was secondary in A Day at the Beach , which had a script by Roman Polanski , and appeared in one of the segments of the Hammer production Mansion of Murders , where Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were present. , the two heavyweights of the company specializing in terror.
Active until the late 1990s, her last job was playing a royal character, Raine, Countess of Chambrun, in Diana , a TV movie about the Princess of Wales. She has been survived by her husband, fellow actor Reggie Oliver, who specializes in British series.