Frederick George "Fred" Bluett (January 20, 1876,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– December 3, 1942,

Double Bay, New South Wales Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipalit ...

) was a London-born

vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and radio actor.

Biography

He was the son of comedian and stage actor Frederick William Bluett, and his grandfather had also been a stage performer. Fred came to Australia as a fifteen year old in 1891 and remained in the region for the rest of his life. Not long after arriving in Australia Bluett left for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, spending almost a decade working for the Fullers on their Dominion circuit. He returned to Australia in 1902 under contract to

Harry Rickards Harry Rickards (4 December 1843 – 13 October 1911), born Henry Benjamin Leete, was an English-born baritone, comedian and theatre owner, most active in vaudeville and stage, first in his native England and then Australia after emigrating in 1 ...

and over the next three decades cemented his reputation as one of the region's premier comedians. Bluett's children Augustus Frederick "Gus" Bluett (born 23 April 1902,

Prahran, Victoria Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a p ...

– 14 March 1936) and radio performer Kitty (born 1916), to dressmaker wife Catherine McKechnie, whom he married in April 1901, also became well-known comedians in their own right. His other daughter was Belle (born 1909).Clay Djubal
Fred Bluett
at ''Australian Variety Theatre Archive''. Retrieved 27 January 2018 Bluett died of coronary vascular disease on 3 December 1942.

Selected credits

*'' An Interrupted Divorce'' (1916) - short film *''

Showgirl's Luck ''Showgirl's Luck'' is a 1931 Australian musical directed by Norman Dawn. It was the first Australian full talking film.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford Universit ...

'' (1931) - film *''

Cinesound Varieties ''Cinesound Varieties'' is a 1934 Australian variety short film from director Ken G. Hall made to go out on a double-bill with the full-length feature, ''The Silence of Dean Maitland'' (1934). Only 18 minutes of the film survive today. Synopsis ...

'' (1934) - film

References

External links

Fred Bluett
at Australian Dictionary of Biography *
Fred Bluett
Biography at ''Australian Variety Theatre Archive'' Australian male radio actors 1942 deaths 1876 births Male actors from London English emigrants to colonial Australia {{Australia-actor-stub