Coral Drouyn née ''O'Neill'', (born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, England in 1945), also billed as Coral Kelly, is an

English Australian English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (wheth ...

actress, singer and screenwriter/story editor best known for her work in television, including ''

Prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

'', ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'', ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

'', ''

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'' and ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

Biography

Drouyn was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to Terry O,Neill who was born Terry Norris in Ireland in 1922, who was an actor and son of an Irish tenor, her matarnel uncle was the British actor Jack Haig and her maternal grandparents where Charles Coppin and Bertha Baker, who where both music hall performers billed as "Haig and Esco". Drouyn emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 1960s, where she wrote comedy for her father's Melbourne-based program "Time for Terry" and worked as a singer, whilst writing material for theatre restaurants. At the age of four, she appeared in an uncredited role as "Precocious Child'' in

I Was a Male War Bride ''I Was a Male War Bride'' is a 1949 comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The film was based on "Male War Bride Trial to Army", a biography of Henri Rochard (pen name of Roger Charlier), a Belgian who ma ...

, During her acting career, when she was often billed as Coral Kelly<"AL" />,she featured in the ill-fated TV soap opera ''

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

'' as health studio receptionist Consuela McPhee. Retiring from acting, Drouyn began writing for television, working as a scriptwriter for Grundy Productions series such as ''

The Restless Years ''The Restless Years'' is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and the drama and relationships faced by young adults. It was created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for N ...

'', ''

'' and ''

''. During her time on ''

'', Drouyn worked her way up from freelance writer to in-house story editor, creating characters and stories before leaving the series prior to its 600th episode. Drouyn subsequently was involved in the creation of serial ''

'' before performing story editor duties on ''

'' and ''

''. Her book 'Big Screen, Small Screen', detailing the craft skills involved in screen-writing, was published in 1994. Drouyn now works as a theatre critic.

Select credits

References

External links

* Australian women screenwriters Living people English people of Irish descent 1945 births Australian soap opera writers Women soap opera writers Australian women television writers {{UK-film-bio-stub