Joan Rice and Ken McKenzie

Above is one in a series of pictures of Joan Rice with her second husband Ken McKenzie in 1983. They were sent to me by her former close friend Maria Steyn and are strictly under copyright. Maria has been invaluable in my quest to find out about the life of the actress who most critics now agree played the best Maid Marian of all time.

Joan’s film career was sadly quite short after a meteoric rise to fame and she passed away in 1997. Information on her life has been hard to find, but gradually over the last few years I have managed to piece together pieces of the puzzle.

It was in Maidenhead in 1978 that Joan and Maria Steyn became friends after Maria had arranged to rent an apartment through Joan’s real estate and property bureau. In 1984 Joan married Ken McKenzie a Salesman from Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis and afterwards they both moved to Cookham near Maidenhead. Ken was in advertising sales and had previously been a journalist with The Daily Sketch.

The photograph above was taken by Maria of Joan Rice and Ken McKenzie during one of her regular visits in May 1983 and she describes the scene as:

“ .....on Cookham High Street kerb, just having passed through the portico from "Quinneys", standing next to The Kings Arms for dinner, opposite The Bel & Dragon.”

Maria would dearly love to know what happened to Ken McKenzie or any other members of the family of Joan Rice, so if you would like to get in touch with her please contact her at: maria.steyn@orange.nl.

Or: disneysrobin@googlemail.com




To read more about the life of Joan Rice please click on the label below.