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Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Winifred Cracknell AM (6 July 1925 – 13 May 2002) was an Australian character and comic actress, comedienne and author, her career encompassing all genres including radio, theatre, television and film. She appeared in many dramatic as well as comedy roles throughout a career spanning some 56 years. In theatre she was well known for her Shakespeare roles. Early life Cracknell was born in 1925 in Maitland, New South Wales to Charles and Winifred Cracknell. When she was four years old, the family moved to Sydney. She was educated at North Sydney Girls High School and, after graduating, worked at the Ku-ring-gai Council as a clerk. At 17 she was taken to the theatre by a friend. She immediately wanted to become an actress and joined the Modern Theatre Players drama school. Career Radio and theatre Cracknell's first acting jobs were in radio. By 1946, she was performing five episodes of radio plays a week. She also performed on stage with the Sydney-based companies the Inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Government. Before the establishment of the order, Australian citizens received British honours. The Monarch of Australia is sovereign head of the order, while the Governor-General of Australia is the principal companion/dame/knight (as relevant at the time) and chancellor of the order. The governor-general's official secretary, Paul Singer (appointed August 2018), is secretary of the order. Appointments are made by the governor-general on behalf of the Monarch of Australia, based on recommendations made by the Council of the Order of Australia. Recent knighthoods and damehoods were recommended to the governor-general by the Prime Minister of Australia. Levels of membership The order is divided into a general and a military division. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Little Australians
''Seven Little Australians'' is a classic Australian children's literature novel by Ethel Turner, published in 1894. Set mainly in Sydney in the 1880s, it relates the adventures of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their stern army father Captain Woolcot, and faithful young stepmother Esther. Turner wrote the novel in 1893 while living at Inglewood in what was then rural Lindfield (now Woodlands, Killara, New South Wales), having moved there from the inner city suburb of Paddington in 1891. The suburban bushland surroundings quickly became important in Turner's stories. On her 21st birthday, Ethel wrote in her diary, 'Seven L. Aust. – sketched it out.' (24 January 1893) In 1994 the novel was the only book by an Australian author to have been continuously in print for 100 years. The book's original handwritten manuscript is held by the State Library of NSW. The full text of the manuscript has been digitized and can be viewed on the Library's website. The original title ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith
''The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith'' is a 1972 Booker Prize-nominated Australian novel by Thomas Keneally, and a 1978 Australian film of the same name directed by Fred Schepisi. The novel is based on the life of bushranger Jimmy Governor, the subject of an earlier book by Frank Clune. Story outline The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is set in 19th century New South Wales and tells the ultimately tragic story of Jimmie, an Aboriginal man caught between his family and culture and white settler colonialism. The story is written from the perspective of Jimmy Blacksmith, an Indigenous Australian man on a mission of revenge. The story is a fictionalised retelling of the life of the infamous Indigenous bushranger Jimmy Governor. Keneally has said that were he to write the novel today he would not write 'from within a black consciousness'. Notes * Dedication: To the Memory of Peter Cady iedJanuary, 1971. Awards The novel was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1972, losing to John Berg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smiley Gets A Gun
''Smiley Gets a Gun'' is a 1958 Australian comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Sybil Thorndike and Chips Rafferty. It is the sequel to the 1956 film ''Smiley''. Synopsis A young boy named Smiley desperately wants a gun. A deal is made between him and Sergeant Flaxman that if he gets 8 nicks (marks on a certain tree) for his good deeds he will get a .22 caliber £2 rifle. He has several adventures and is accused of stealing some gold. Smiley runs away but the real thief is caught and Smiley is rewarded with a gun. Cast * Keith Calvert as Smiley Greevins ** Alexander ( Bruce) Thomas as Smiley Greevins on horse * Bruce Archer as Joey * Sybil Thorndike as Granny McKinley * Chips Rafferty as Sergeant Flaxman * Margaret Christensen as Ma Greevins * Reg Lye as Pa Greevins * Grant Taylor as Stiffy * Guy Doleman as Mr Quirk * Leonard Thiele as Mr Scrivens *Verena Kimmins as Miss MacCowan *Bruce Beeby as Dr Gasper *Ruth Cracknell as Mrs Gaspen *John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American productions, including '' The Overlanders'' and '' The Sundowners''. He appeared in commercials in Britain during the late 1950s, encouraging British emigration to Australia. Early days He was born John William Pilbean Goffage in Broken Hill, New South Wales to John Goffage, an English-born stock agent, and Australian-born Violet Maude Joyce.Pike, A. (1996) "Goffage, John William Pilbean hips Rafferty(1909–1971)", ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 14, Melbourne University Press. Gaining the nickname "Chips" as a school boy, Rafferty studied at Parramatta Commercial School before working in a va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judy Morris
Judith Ann Morris (born 17 February 1947) is an Australian character actress, as well as a film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 58 different television shows and films, starting her career as a child actress and appearing on screen until 1999, since then she has worked on film writing and directing, most recently for co-writing and co-directing a musical epic about the life of penguins in Antarctica which became ''Happy Feet'', Australia's largest animated film project to date. Early career Morris's first role came at the age of 10 when she was part of the cast of the television episode "Picture of the Magi" a ''Family Theater'' production which aired about 1957 on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States. She then performed in two other roles in the US, at the age of 10 on the '' Loretta Young Show'', and in 1960, at the age of 13, on ''The Chevy Mystery Show'' hosted on that occasion by Vincent Price. Career Returning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Szeps
Henri Szeps OAM, (born 2 October 1943) alternatively Henry Szeps, is an Australian character actor of theatre and television. He has also featured in films and worked in voice roles, and has worked in productions in the United Kingdom. Early life Szeps was born in Lausanne, Switzerland to Polish parents. Due to the German invasion of Poland during World War II, his parents fled to France in 1938. His father left the family to join the French Resistance. In 1943, his mother and three-year-old sister made their way to a refugee camp in Lausanne, where Henri was born. At 1 months he was fostered to a Swiss couple in Blumenstein. His mother reclaimed him when he was three years old, and returned to the Swiss couple when he was 4. He was reclaimed by his mother to Paris, and due to her illness, at the age of six was placed at the Rothschild Orphanage. He came to Sydney, Australia at the age of eight in 1951 or 1952 with his mother and sister. Career Szeps studied acting at Ensem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garry McDonald (actor)
Garry George McDonald AO (born 30 October 1948) is an Australian actor, satirist and comedian. In a career spanning five decades he has had many theatre, television and film roles, and has been listed as a National Living Treasure. He is best known as the seemingly naive celebrity interviewer Norman Gunston, through whom he pioneered the "ambush interviewer" technique since followed by many others. He received a Gold Logie award for the television ''Norman Gunston Show'' in which he developed the character. He is also famed for his role of the hapless Arthur Beare in the television sitcom ''Mother and Son''. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2003 for service to the community in the mental health field and to the arts as an entertainer, he has also been a board member of the Australian mental health organisation Beyond Blue. Career McDonald was born in Bondi, a beachside suburb of Sydney. He was educated at Cranbrook School. During his time at Cranbrook, McD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senility
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affects a person's ability to function and carry out everyday activities. Aside from memory impairment and a disruption in thought patterns, the most common symptoms include emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. The symptoms may be described as occurring in a continuum over several stages. Consciousness is not affected. Dementia ultimately has a significant effect on the individual, caregivers, and on social relationships in general. A diagnosis of dementia requires the observation of a change from a person's usual mental functioning, and a greater cognitive decline than what is caused by normal aging. Several diseases and injuries to the brain, such as a stroke, can give rise to dementia. However, the mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Aunty Jack Show
''The Aunty Jack Show'' was a Logie Award-winning Australian television comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1973. Produced by and broadcast on ABC-TV, the series attained an instant cult status that persists to the present day. The lead character, Aunty Jack was a unique comic creation — obese, moustachioed and gravel-voiced, part trucker and part pantomime dame — who habitually solved any problem by knocking people unconscious or threatening to "rip yer bloody arms off". Visually, she was unmistakable, dressed in a huge, tent-like blue velvet dress, football socks, workboots, and a golden boxing glove on her right hand. She rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and referred to everyone as "me little lovelies" — when she was not uttering her familiar threat: "I'll rip yer bloody arms off!", a phrase which immediately passed into the vernacular. The character was devised and played by Grahame Bond and was partly inspired by his overbearing Uncle Jack, whom he had d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Atherden
Geoffrey John Atherden , credited also as Geoff Atherden, is an Australian television screenwriter and playwright, especially of comedy. He is best known for creating the sitcom ''Mother and Son''. Early life and education Atherden attended the University of Sydney in the 1960s. He trained as an architect. Architectural career Atherden practised as an architect until he was in his mid-thirties. He worked for the architectural firm of McConnel Smith & Johnson, and was responsible for designing the Law Courts building in Queen's Square, Sydney. Writing career In 1969, the founders of Producers Authors Composers and Talent (now PACT Centre for Emerging Artists) attended a Sydney University Architecture Revue, with sets by Atherden and Grahame Bond, and invited Bond, Atherden, Peter Weir and his friend, composer Peter Best, a chance to do a show at the National Art School's Cellblock Theatre. Sir Robert Helpmann saw the show and took it to the Adelaide Festival, and soon afterward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother And Son
''Mother and Son'' is an Australian television sitcom that was broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from 16 January 1984 until 21 March 1994. The show stars Ruth Cracknell, Garry McDonald, Henri Szeps and Judy Morris. It featured many Australian actors of the time in guest roles. It was created and written by Geoffrey Atherden. Its theme song features the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, playing to "I Want a Girl", a jazz standard which was recorded by Al Jolson in the 1920s. A stage version of ''Mother and Son'' was written by Geoffrey Atherden and premiered at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne on 18 July 2014. In November 2022, it was announced the series will be given an eight-episode remake with Denise Scott and Matt Okine set to play Maggie and Arthur, respectively. Premise The plot of the show addresses the problems of ageing and caring for somebody with increasing memory loss, with an often sharp-edged humour which carried with it a tinge of sadness. Des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
