John Le Mesurier had his fair share of heartache when he was filming Dad’s Army. The Channel 5 documentary Dad’s Army: Secret Lives and Scandal reflected on how his second and third wife were both unfaithful to him. John’s third wife Joan Le Mesurier admitted she was called a “tart” when her affair with comedy legend Tony Hancock was exposed. However, she told viewers she was “proud” of John for standing by her side.
As John was starting out in Dad’s Army, he was going through one of the most “painful” periods of his extraordinarily turbulent life.
His wife Joan had embarked on an affair with Tony, who was John’s close friend as well as one of the biggest television stars at the time.
Joan, a former actress, admitted in the documentary: “[John] never got angry when I had an affair with Tony Hancock.
“He understood totally as he was a friend of Tony’s and he loved him.
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“I can’t ever remember him being cross except once in a pub when somebody called me a tart because I had been with Tony Hancock.
“John, for the first time in his life, stood up and gave this man a real rousting and said, ‘How dare you talk to my wife like that.’ I was very proud of him.”
Incredibly, it was not the first time John had to take a backseat in his marriage.
The actor’s second wife, Hattie Jacques who was famous for appearing in the Carry On films, was having a “passionate” affair with a car salesman during their marriage.
John found love again with one of Hattie’s best friends, Joan, and he was willing to be seen as the adulterer to protect Hattie’s image.
Joan, who was labelled by the public as a homewrecker at the time, said: “I took the blame of Hattie’s marriage [ending] but it was not true.
“I was very good friends with her but I did not take him away from her, it was the other way around.”
Joan married John in 1966 and their relationship lasted on and off until Tony’s suicide in 1968, but they remained married until John died in 1983.