Yootha Joyce Yootha Joyce Yootha Joyce Needham (20 August 1927 – 24 August 1980), credited as Yootha Joyce, was a British actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom "Man About the House" and its spin-off "George and Mildred". Needham was born in Wandsworth, London, the only child of musical parents Hurst Needham, a well-known singer, and Jessica Revitt, a concert pianist. She was named "Yootha", an Australian Aboriginal name, after a New Zealand dancer in her father's touring company. She was evacuated to Hampshire during the Second World War. She left school (Lady Edridge Grammar school
Brian Murphy (actor) RAF Northwood, where he met future "The Good Life" actor Richard Briers. On leaving the RAF the two aspiring actors both performed in productions by the Dramatic Society at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, now London South Bank University. Murphy was a member of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (alongside Yootha Joyce), and a jobbing actor in the 1960s and early 1970s, combining his theatre work with appearances in television shows such as "The Avengers", "Z-Cars", "Callan" and "Dixon of Dock Green", before being cast in the role which would make him a household name. In "Man About the House", Murphy played