Biography

April 16, 1933 · Stockport, Cheshire, England, UK

Joan Dawson Rowlands

In the early 1960s had an extra-marital affair with writer Harold Pinter. Later Pinter went on to write what became the movie Betrayal (1983) which told the story of their affair.

British Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, appointed her as the new Chair of the British Film Institute in 1999. She has been a BFI Governor since 1994, and served as Deputy Chair to Alan Parker, now Chairman of the newly formed industry organisation, the Film Council.

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) before being awarded the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honors List for her services to journalism and the arts.

I think the fact that people are phased out, people like Moira Stuart and Selina (Selina Scott) - out of the public eye - when they become a certain age is a real disadvantage to serious broadcasting. There's a whole segment of the British population that does not see its equivalent in serious broadcasting and that is women over 55. Now, that is not healthy for a broadcasting organisation's relationship with its audience. The public should be represented on the screen in various colours, forms, sexualities, whatever. There's no reason why the women should depart while the men stay in office. That's a straightforward matter of legitimate equality. Older women tell me they feel invisible and they literally are invisible on television. We need to do something about that because television represents such a picture of who we are as a community.

The liberal mood back in the 60s was that sex was pleasurable and wholesome and shouldn't be seen as dirty and wicked. The Pill allowed women to make choices for themselves. Of course, that meant the risk of making the wrong choice. But we all hoped girls would grow to handle the new freedoms wisely. Then everything came to be about money: so now sex is about money, too. Why else sexualise the clothes of little girls, run TV channels of naked wives, have sex magazines edging out the serious stuff on newsagents' shelves? It's money that's corrupted us and women are being used and are even collaborating.