Josephine Burge is the widow of British actor Oliver Reed, whom she married on 7 September 1985 and stayed with until his sudden death in Malta on 2 May 1999. Born in the United Kingdom around 1964, she is approximately 61 years old in 2026. After Reed died she remarried, had two sons with her second husband Walter Ryan-Purcell, and has lived privately in West Cork, Ireland, ever since.
She walked out of St. James Church in Mallow, County Cork, in May 1999 with Reed’s children at her side and photographers waiting outside. She said nothing to the press. She would say almost nothing publicly for the next ten years.
Table of Contents
Facts About Josephine Burge
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Born | Around 1964, United Kingdom |
| Age (2026) | Approximately 61 |
| First married | Oliver Reed, 7 September 1985, Epsom |
| Widowed | 2 May 1999 |
| Second husband | Walter Ryan-Purcell |
| Second marriage | 21 July 2001, Churchtown, Co. Cork |
| Children | Two sons with Ryan-Purcell (born approx. 2002, 2005) |
| Last known location | Schull, West Cork, Ireland |
Meeting Oliver Reed
Josephine met Oliver Reed in 1980 when she was 16 and he was 42. Reed was one of the most prominent actors in British cinema at the time, with major roles in Oliver!, Women in Love, and The Three Musketeers already behind him. He was equally well known for his drinking, his public confrontations, and interviews that could go anywhere. The gap in their ages drew press attention from the beginning and never fully left.
Getty photographs from 1981 confirm the two were a couple within a year of meeting, photographed together in New York City.
The clearest early window into what those years actually looked like comes from a Reuters news wire filed from Guernsey in August 1984. Reed had been arrested in St Peter Port after a drunken episode, reportedly staggering in the street wearing only his underwear. A court was told that his girlfriend, Josephine Burge, had tried to restrain him, but he kept falling down. He pleaded guilty to two charges of disorderly conduct and breaking a hotel window.
She was 20 years old at the time. They married the following year.
The Marriage: September 7, 1985
Josephine Burge and Oliver Reed married on 7 September 1985 at Epsom Register Office in Surrey. The ceremony was civil and private. She was around 21. Reed was 46. It was his second marriage.
His first, to Kate Byrne in 1960, ended in divorce in 1969 and produced one son, Mark. He also had a daughter, Sarah, from a subsequent relationship with dancer Jacquie Daryl, whom he met on the set of Oliver! in 1968. Josephine stepped into the family as stepmother to both children. She and Reed had no biological children together.
Reed told interviewers he had gone on a two-day drinking binge before the wedding. He later walked that story back, saying the famous incident had actually happened at a Guernsey arm-wrestling competition years earlier and had grown considerably in the retelling.
From Surrey to County Cork
After marrying, the couple settled in the Surrey countryside near Oakwoodhill. Reed had already sold his larger estate, Broome Hall, between the villages of Coldharbour and Ockley, before the marriage. He and Josephine were regulars at the White Horse Hotel on Dorking High Street during those years.
By the mid-1990s they had moved to Churchtown, County Cork, in Ireland. Walter Ryan-Purcell, speaking to the Irish Examiner in 2001, confirmed the couple had arrived “six or seven years” before then, placing the move at around 1994 or 1995.
In Churchtown, Reed became a daily fixture at O’Brien’s Bar, a one-roomed pub that sat directly across the road from the 13th-century village cemetery. Locals recalled him resting on the pub windowsill, staring across at the graveyard. He seemed entirely at ease with what he saw there.
When Reed was cast in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in the late 1990s, Scott extracted a promise from him to stay sober during production. Reed managed this by limiting his drinking to weekends when filming was not scheduled. His co-star Omid Djalili, speaking in 2016, recalled: “He hadn’t had a drink for months before filming started.” Those who knew the couple put much of that steadiness down to Josephine’s presence in his life.
The Death of Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed died of a heart attack in Valletta, Malta, on 2 May 1999. He was 61 years old.
During a break from filming Gladiator, he went to a bar on Archbishop Street with cast and crew. A group of Royal Navy sailors from HMS Cumberland arrived on shore leave. A drinking contest followed. Reed collapsed during it and died in the ambulance before reaching hospital.
His final bar bill came to 270 Maltese lira, around ยฃ450. The bar framed it. It has remained on the wall ever since.
Josephine was in Ireland when it happened.
Reed had set aside ยฃ10,000 in his estate for O’Brien’s Bar in Churchtown, with one instruction attached: the money was to be spent only by those who were genuinely crying for him.
His funeral drew more than 400 people to Churchtown. The congregation heard “Consider Yourself” from Oliver!. He was buried at Bruhenny Graveyard, within direct sight of O’Brien’s Bar, his grave seeded with Irish wildflowers. His headstone reads:
“He made the air move.”
His son Mark later told reporters that nothing will grow on the grave because visitors pour drinks onto it whenever they come to pay their respects.
Reed’s remaining scenes in Gladiator were completed using a body double and CGI. The film was dedicated to him. His performance earned a posthumous BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2000 and a shared Screen Actors Guild nomination with the rest of the principal cast.
After Reed: Meeting Walter Ryan-Purcell
Josephine gave no interviews after Reed’s death. She made no public statements and contributed nothing to the documentaries and biography projects that followed. She managed his estate, stayed in the Churchtown house they had shared, and kept out of sight.
Around ten months after Reed died, so approximately early 2000, she met Walter Ryan-Purcell, a local landowner and recycling factory manager from County Cork.
Ryan-Purcell told the Irish Examiner in 2001 that he proposed during a day trip to Glandore, a bay in West Cork, in the spring of that year. Before asking her, he sought her mother’s approval first. He also decided against giving her a ring. Instead, he gave her a horse, so their plans would not reach the press.
His words: “We are soul mates, there was no question about that from day one.”
He also told reporters: “Josephine is on terrific form, bubbling with life.”
Josephine had told reporters she never expected any of this. She said she had never thought she would meet another man after Reed.
The Wedding: July 21, 2001
The wedding took place on 21 July 2001 at Ryan-Purcell’s 17th-century ancestral home in Churchtown, County Cork. Hundreds of guests attended. Pre-wedding celebrations reportedly ran for a full week.
The service was conducted by Father Patrick Joseph Twohig. Josephine is a member of the Church of England, which required Father Twohig to obtain dispensation from the local bishop before the ceremony could go ahead.
Father Twohig spoke to the press before the day:
“She doesn’t want it elaborate. They are not doing much in the way of music, just three hymns. She doesn’t want it any more fussy than that.”
He described Josephine as “a very quiet laid-back person” who was “extremely happy.” On Oliver Reed, Father Twohig added:
“He was quite shy and he used to need a few shots for Dutch courage. Drink set him off but he was a decent chap and very kind.”
The couple chose to live in the house Josephine and Reed had originally bought when they moved to Churchtown.
Two Sons, Castle McCarthy, and a Move to Schull
Josephine and Walter Ryan-Purcell had two sons together, born roughly in 2002 and 2005. The family lived at Castle McCarthy for a number of years before selling the property around 2007 and relocating to Schull, a coastal town in West Cork.
In May 2009, on the tenth anniversary of Reed’s death, Josephine gathered family and friends in Churchtown to mark the occasion. It was the first time she had spoken publicly since 1999.
She said: “I don’t feel sad now as I know he lives on.”
She also said she wished Reed had lived long enough to see his grandchildren grow up.
Where Is Josephine Burge Now?
As of May 2026, Josephine Burge is approximately 61 years old. Her last confirmed public statement was that 2009 gathering in Churchtown. No interviews, public appearances, or media contributions have been recorded since.
Her last known location is Schull, West Cork, where the family moved around 2007. Oliver Reed’s widow has now spent more years as Walter Ryan-Purcell’s wife than she ever did as Reed’s. Two sons raised in a coastal town most of the world has never heard of. No memoir. No documentary credits. No social media presence.
In 2009, she told the people gathered in Churchtown that she knew he lived on. She has not said anything publicly since.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Josephine Burge still alive?
Yes. As of 2026, there are no confirmed reports of her death. Josephine Burge is believed to be alive and living privately in West Cork, Ireland.
How old is Josephine Burge?
Josephine Burge was born around 1964 in the United Kingdom. This makes her approximately 61 years old as of 2026, a figure confirmed by a 2001 Irish Examiner report noting that both she and Walter Ryan-Purcell were 37 at the time of their wedding.
Did Josephine Burge have children with Oliver Reed?
No. Oliver Reed had two children from relationships before Josephine: his son Mark from his first marriage to Kate Byrne, and his daughter Sarah from a relationship with dancer Jacquie Daryl. Josephine and Reed had no children together. She later had two sons with her second husband, Walter Ryan-Purcell.
Did Josephine Burge remarry after Oliver Reed died?
Yes. She married Walter Ryan-Purcell, a local landowner and recycling factory manager from County Cork, on 21 July 2001. The ceremony was held at his ancestral home in Churchtown, County Cork, roughly two years after Reed’s death.
Where is Josephine Burge now?
Josephine Burge’s last confirmed location is Schull in West Cork, Ireland, where she and Walter Ryan-Purcell relocated around 2007 after selling their previous home, Castle McCarthy. She has maintained a private life since Oliver Reed’s death in 1999 and has made no public appearances since 2009.
