Joan Rice with baby Michael

Joan Rice sadly passed away on January 1st 1997. This blog is dedicated to her memory. In Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood, Joan graced the silver screen as Maid Marian and over the last five years I have tried to piece together the life of this beautiful actress.

On February 3rd this year she would have been 82 and no doubt still proud to say how she was handpicked by Walt Disney himself to play the leading lady alongside Richard Todd as Robin Hood. Many of my blog readers and film critics believe she was the best and most influential Maid Marian of all time.

But although her life reads rather like a fairytale, like many it also had its fair share of tragedy. This week Neil has very kindly sent me a press photograph of her dated 7th February 1955. On the reverse side it reads:

“London: Film star Joan Rice is pictured leaving London Airport with her 13-month old son Michael en route to Dublin. She will appear in the play ‘Welcome Stranger’ at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. Her husband, film actor Richard Greene saw her off.”

Pasted on the back of the photograph is probably the cutting that later appeared:

“Film actress Joan Rice and her 13-month-old son leave London airport for Dublin, where Miss Rice – Mrs David Green in private life – is appearing in a play.”

Interesting that she is wrongly linked with Richard Greene, the famous television Robin Hood of the 1950’s. Sadly Rank Organisation had dropped her contract by this time and her glamorous film career was declining as quickly as it had begun. Her latest movie ‘One Good Turn’ had been released in cinemas a month before she flew out to Dublin and in this she played Iris, alongside the rising comedy star Norman Wisdom.

I have been informed that her son Michael was born on Christmas Day 1953 which just about fits with the press article. Her family have also told me that he tragically committed suicide in the 1990’s.

To read more about the life of Joan Rice and how she went from being a Lyons ‘Nippy’ to a movie star please click on the 46 relevant links in the side bar and below. If you have any more information about her life, please get in touch at disneysrobin@googlemail.com.

Merrie Christmas & Happy New Year !

Another year of blogging has gone by and once again I would like to thank my regular contributors who have helped me in this fifth year. There have been so many highlights for me; Laurence has undoubtedly enhanced our appreciation of the movie with that amazing picture strip and various memorabilia (including the souvenir programme). Neil managed to locate Alex Bryce’s daughter, and has continued tirelessly to uncover interesting articles about the life of the stars. Albie has sent in some wonderful photographs and helped us learn more about the history of Sherwood Forest, including Edwin’s Chapel. His intense research into the ancient roads and ‘The King’s Great Way’ through the forest helped me achieve a lifelong ambition.

Mike sent in stunning Japanese and Spanish posters from the movie and continued to enthral us with his paintings, including his interpretation of Herne the Hunter. Meanwhile Geoff Waite gave us more details about the career of the musician and singer Elton Hayes.

We discovered the winner of the poll for the favourite Robin Hood of all-time and a gangster who nearly became him. We also saw more pictures from the film premiere and had new information on the lives of Joan Rice and Catherine Grant-Bogle. There has been a great deal more and I have now reached 568 posts.

So it has been another tremendous year! Thank you so much for your wonderful support and hope to here from all of you very soon. I would like to wish you and your families a Merrie Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Disney Robin Hood Hat 1951

There are many promotional items that can be seen on this blog produced during the release of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). But the hat above is a bit of a mystery to me and I would appreciate any feed-back. It is a magazine/newspaper advertisement for what is described as a ‘Disney Hat-Robin Hood’ from 1951 which was the year the film was actually in production at Denham Studios. So was the hat made by Walt Disney Productions to advertise the forthcoming film? Any information would be much appreciated.



Picture Strip 42 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

These are the final pages of Laurence’s fantastic picture strip of Walt Disney’s movie the Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). I am sure you will agree that he has not only given us a chance to re-live the magic moments again, but also to see and appreciate each scene in all its Technicolor glory.

His wonderful work has gone a long way to keeping the memory of the film alive and hopefully shown to my new readers why it is loved by so many. So, a very special thank you to Laurence for regularly sending the picture strip in to me.

To view all the previous pages, please click here.

Information on Catherine Grant-Bogle

Richard Todd and Catherine-Grant-Bogle in 1954

It is always very rewarding for me to get some feedback from readers of my blog. So I was thrilled to receive an email from Pam this week about the mysterious later years of Catherine Grant-Bogle. Up until now, very little was known about her life after she was divorced from movie legend Richard Todd (1919-2009). So I am sure my readers will be very interested in what Pam has to say:

“I was looking up info on Richard Todd when I saw this article on Catherine Grant-Bogle. She was my landlady in 1970/71 in London, in a flat near the Tate Gallery.

I am Canadian and was backpacking through Europe with my girlfriend. She took me, my girlfriend and a girl from Hawaii in for room and board. The rooms were as the children left them and she didn't want us to touch or move anything. She also didn't want us using the kitchen and when she found the three of us making dinner, she was very upset.

She was very bitter about the divorce and told us stories. Her son Peter also came by a few times to check on her. I also have a picture of her with her cat in my photo album.

I went back to London with my first husband in 1978 and went to show him the flat. And there she was walking down the street coming out of the liquor store, looking a little worse for wear.

I am surprised to see that she lived another 20 years after I last saw her. She didn't look well and the difference in her from 1971 to 1978 was astounding!”

Pam continued:

“She did seem so sad, not only when I was rooming at her flat, but especially when I saw her walking down the street a few years later. She was a sweet lady.

Anyway, just thought I would share this with you.”

I would like to thank Pam very much for this glimpse into the later years of Richard Todd’s first wife. If anyone can add some more to this information, or would like to comment on anything concerning the movie or its actors please get in touch at disneysrobin@googlemail.com.

Walt Disney’s First Maid Marian

Above is a press photograph of Joan Rice at the Dorchester Hotel in London on 28th February 1951, where it was officially announced that she had been chosen to play Maid Marian alongside Richard Todd as Robin Hood in Disney’s up and coming Technicolor motion picture.

Joan Rice was always proud of the fact that she was Walt Disney’s ‘first Maid Marian,’ and for nearly five years I have tried to piece together her life story. It reads like a fairytale how, as a child from a broken home, she was sent to an orphanage near Sherwood Forest and eventually became chosen by Walt Disney himself to play in his live action movie The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). Of course it wasn’t all to be glitz and glamour, but through all her troubles, friends and family have described her as such a warm and friendly person. This blog is dedicated to her memory and there are now over 45 posts about this beautiful actress, including stills, magazine articles and details of her life.

Meeting the Outlaws

This is one of many stills from Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). From left to right we see Anthony Forwood as Will Scarlet, Richard Todd as Robin Hood, James Robertson Justice as Little John, Hal Osmond as Midge the Miller and Elton Hayes as the minstrel Allan a Dale. To see our large collection of images from the movie please click on the Picture Gallery.

Picture Strip 41 : Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood

This is part 41 and we are sadly comming to the end of Laurence’s excellent picture strip of Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952).

If you want to learn more about the making of this wonderful film or the legend that inspired it, please click on the relevant subjects in the sidebar.

Please click here to see previous pages of Laurence's picture strip.

Robin Hood's Colourful Chair Part 2

‘Men of Sherwood Forest’ (1954)

I would like to thank fellow blogger ‘Robin Hood’ for making me aware of yet another production that included the now infamous ‘Robin Hood Chair.’ Or should I say chairs?

It was originally designed and first used in 1951 at Denham Studios for Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. I then noticed it in the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-1958) and also Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986). After my post last week about its appearance in the episode ‘Trial by Battle,’ he has kindly sent me stills of the chairs also being used in Men of Sherwood Forest (1954).

Some of the chairs used in 'Men of Sherwood Forest' (1954)

This was the first of a trilogy of Robin Hood features made by Hammer Film productions and also their first colour movie. Recently some critics have described it as the possibly the worst sound film about the outlaw ever made, although American actor Don Taylor gives a good performance as Robin Hood and Reginald Beckwith is an excellent Friar Tuck in this low budget romp.

No doubt ‘Robin Hood’s Chair’ was shipped out of Denham Studios with all the other thousands of props after Rank Organisation stopped film production there when Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood was completed. After that it was obviously hired out for various projects for the small and silver screen.

The chair in Disney's Story of Robin Hood (1952)

The chair in Robin of Sherwood (1984 -1986)

Below are some comments I received on the Britmovie forum in 2007:

Christoph404 said:

'I think it’s quite normal for props and costumes and even whole sets to be used in other films over the years, studios normally had their own prop stores and there are also several large independent prop hire companies around London that have been on the go for years, I remember visiting one in Acton many years ago while helping a friend find some props for a theatre production, it was like an Aladdin’s cave with the proprietor cheerfully pointing out what other famous plays some of the props had been used for in the past. Didn't the Carry On team use costumes and sets from other big productions that had filmed at Pinewood? I read that the costumes from Carry on Henry were originally used in Becket with Richard Burton, or was it A Man for All Seasons and that some of the costumes and props from Carry on up the Khyber were used in Zulu and so on. I guess it makes economical sense to recycle props,costumes etc. a point not lost on low budget film makers such as Roger Corman who was famous for doing deals with studios and using sets that had been used in other films, I’m pretty sure he came to Britain and purloined an existing set for one of his films.'

Silverwhistle said:

'Another one that a friend pointed out to me was that some helmets worn by a bunch of Knights Templar in an episode of Robin of Sherwood were those worn by the infamous 'Knights Who Say 'Ni!'' in Monty Python and the Holy Grail…'

d.dock54 said:

'I guess most of the props these days are located in private rental firms. In the old days before studios went four walls they contained huge prop departments on site. I know Pinewood had a massive prop dept so it’s not unusual for the same prop to pop up in many films. Of course some props were spirited away when a production wraps and are now privately owned. I know when MGM Borehamwood closed they flogged a lot off in a huge auction and many went down the road to Elstree. Stanley Kubrick was of the opinion that none off his props should turn up in future productions so burnt a lot of his on the lot.'

So it would be interesting to know if it the chair is still stored away somewhere and what other films and TV series it has appeared in. Please get in touch if you have seen it at: disneysrobin@googlemail.com