Joanna Elizabeth Dunham (6 May 1936 – 25 November 2014) was an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She also appeared in several major films.
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Career
Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, the daughter of Peter Browning Dunham (1911–1997), an architect and artist, and Constance Amy Margareta (1911-1992; née Young). Her father's aunt was the Impressionist painter Amy Katherine Browning, who married the artist Thomas Cantrell Dugdale.
Dunham was educated at Bedales School, then the Slade School of Art, and in 1956 she attended RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the same year as Susannah York and Brian Epstein, who later became the manager of the Beatles.
Dunham first came to prominence in 1958 when she appeared as Louka in the "Arms and the Man" episode of BBC Sunday Night Theatre. Her acting career in Britain led her to be voted Britain's most promising actress by readers of the Daily Mirror in 1961.
She came to prominence in the United States while playing Juliet in the 1962 Old Vic production of Romeo and Juliet, under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli, during a five-month, 13-city U.S. tour. She was spotted by Marilyn Monroe, who recommended her to director George Stevens for the role of Mary Magdalen in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
