Paddy Joyce

Birthday: 1923-05-31
Deathday: 2000-07-27
Birthplace: Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

Born Patrizio Schaurek in Trieste, Italy to a Czech father, Frantisek Schaurek, and an Irish mother Eileen (sister of James) Joyce, Paddy Joyce was an Irish actor of British stage, film and television.

Returning to Dublin at the age of five following his father's death, Joyce studied at Belvedere College, the alma mater of his famous uncle. After school, Paddy turned his attention to singing. Initially, he formed a close harmony quartet with three other gentlemen named Four Dots and a Dash, subsequently renamed The Four Ramblers. In 1949, he was part of a trio with two ladies named The Humoresques, which toured Canada with the popular English comedian and actor George Formby.

Turning to actor, Joyce took his mother's maiden name because Schaurek limited him to Eastern European roles. He made his cinematic debut in The Cruel Sea and performed in Lionel Bart and Joan Littlewood's Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be in the early 60s, before later working regularly with Ken Loach, appearing in The Big Flame, written by Jim Allen, and Poor Cow. He also starred in Allen's play The Lump.

Joyce was a regular in two of the UK's biggest soaps. Between 1968 and 1974, he had a recurring role as the rag and bone man Tommy Deakin in Coronation Street, and between 1990 and 1993 he played John Royle, the father of Queen Vic owner Eddie Royle (Michael Melia) in EastEnders.

Joyce lived in Muswell Hill, London, with his Canadian wife, Dorothy, and two children. He died of a stroke in London in the year 2000, aged 77.

Credits

Year Title Character
1999-02-28 Alice in Wonderland Bill The Gardener
1992-01-19 The Grass Arena
1989-09-01 Erik the Viking Prisoner
1987-12-23 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Drunk in Pub
1985-01-27 Knockback: 1 Dobbs
1984-03-23 Charlie 2nd Man at Hangar
1984-01-01 The Chain Carpet Layer
1983-06-16 Red Monarch Akhmet
1983-04-26 The Falklands Factor Press Gang
1982-05-27 Britannia Hospital Feeney: The Workers
1980-02-29 S.O.S. Titanic Irish Priest (uncredited)
1976-12-10 Queen Kong Man in Aeroplane (uncredited)
1973-01-03 Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width Riley
1972-11-22 Lady Caroline Lamb Irish housekeeper
1972-10-01 Made Engineer
1971-08-24 The Grass Widows Car Driver
1971-08-03 Ireland, Mother Ireland Hercules
1969-10-13 The Patriot Game Kimmage
1969-03-10 Oh! What a Lovely War Irish Soldier
1969-02-19 The Big Flame Docker
1968-10-10 Last Bus Bus Conductor
1967-12-05 Poor Cow Photo Studio Guvnor
1967-04-05 The Voices in the Park Heckler
1967-02-01 The Lump Rooney
1963-03-26 Sparrows Can't Sing Barman
1959-09-26 Cover Girl Killer Stagehand
1959-01-04 The Cat Gang Banks
1959-01-01 Captured
1958-10-01 Dublin Nightmare Customer
1958-03-24 Rooney Michael
1958-02-01 The Steel Bayonet Cpl. Ames R.A.
1957-01-01 The Girl in the Picture Jack Bates
1955-01-01 Tim Driscoll's Donkey Bill
1953-02-24 The Cruel Sea Sonar Operator (uncredited)