Obituary: Joyce Jacobs

Joyce Jacobs, best known as gossipy Esme Watson in A Country Practice, has died in Sydney at the age of 91.

Born in England, she came to Australia in the 1960s and got involved in amateur theatre.

In the 1970s she had a minor part in Number 96 as Mrs Carson, a customer of Aldo Godolfus’ (Johnny Lockwood) delicatessen. She later appeared in The Young Doctors.

Her big break came in 1981 when she starred as town gossip Esme Watson in Seven‘s A Country Practice.  She went on to play Esme for over a decade, and was one of only a few cast members to follow the series when it made the brief transition from Seven to Network Ten in 1994.

She later made a guest appearance in GP in 1996.

In 1998 and 2000 she appeared in All Saints as Mavis Davis, reuniting her with former ACP colleagues Georgie Parker and Judith McGrath.

For more than a decade Jacobs had suffered from Parkinson’s disease and since the death of her husband, Ian, had lived in a Sydney nursing home.

Source: The Age, IMDB