Biography

Joan Rhodes was born on April 13, 1921 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Elephant Man (1980), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and Dick Turpin (1979). She died on May 30, 2010 in London, England, UK.

She once dropped Bob Hope onto his head while performing with him during his 1955 USO show in Iceland.

Auditioned for Federico Fellini for his film Fellini's Casanova (1976), where she was to overpower Donald Sutherland in a wrestling match, which Joan found easy to do. However, the director and star both thought it would be embarrassing if such a normal sized woman was to defeat the burly Sutherland, so the role instead went to Sandra Elaine Allen, who at that time was the world's tallest woman at 7'7".

She was a professional strongwoman who could tear telephone books in half, bend iron bars etc.

She appeared in two films directed by Vernon Sewell: Johnny You're Wanted (1956) and Burke & Hare (1972).

In 2007 she wrote her autobiography, Coming on Strong, which had an introduction by her friend, the comedian Roy Hudd.

I plan on growing old disgracefully.