Garrett Seaton "Garry" Meadows (15 April 1939 – 22 July 1982) was an Australian television presenter, radio announcer, and actor.

Career

Stage

Meadows began acting in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

during his youth in the 1950s when he appeared in a number of local stage productions. His stage credits included a starring role in ''Small Hotel'' in 1957. He also appeared in productions of ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', '' The Teahouse of the August Moon'', ''

The Rising Generation ''The Rising Generation'' is a lost 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Harley Knoles and George Dewhurst and starring Alice Joyce, Jameson Thomas and Robin Irvine. It was based on a play by Laura Leycester. The screenplay concerns a ...

'', '' Ten Little Niggers'' and ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

''.McKay, Ken (15 April 2012
Tribute to Garry Meadows (1939-1982)
WA TV History website. Retrieved 2 October 2018. Although he ultimately became known for hosting television game shows, Meadows also acted in a number of television programs including ''

The Bluestone Boys ''The Bluestone Boys'' is a 1976 Australian comedy television series about a fictional prison, produced by Crawford Productions. The program was not particularly successful and was cancelled after a run of 26 episodes. The series starred Garry M ...

'', ''

Bobby Dazzler ''Bobby Dazzler'' was an Australian television sitcom produced by Crawford Productions, starring pop singer John Farnham as well as Daniel Rumpf and Darrin Collier as the title characters: up-and-coming pop music stars Frankie Marie Vicars and B ...

'', '' Bluey'', '' Homicide'' and ''

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. ...

''. Meadows also appeared in the movie ''

Mad Dog Morgan ''Mad Dog Morgan'' is a 1976 Australian bushranger film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. It is based upon the life of Dan Morgan. Plot Dan Morgan witnesses the (fictitious) bloody massa ...

''.

Radio

Meadows' radio career began in 1959 when he commenced working at Perth's 6IX. From there, Meadows went on to work at a number of radio stations including Perth's

6PR 6PR, known as 882 6PR, is a commercial radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. Owned by Nine Entertainment, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial talkback radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 Oc ...

where Meadows was credited as being one of the first announcers to use the talkback format. He was also live on air at 6PR during the

1968 Meckering earthquake The Western Australian town of Meckering was struck by an earthquake on 14 October 1968. The earthquake occurred at , with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). Total damage amounted to $2.2 million wit ...

. He also worked at 2KO in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, 7HO and 7HT in Hobart, and 3DB in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Television

In 1960, Meadows joined Perth station TVW as a news presenter and host of music show ''Teenbeat''. He left TVW at the end of 1961 but returned to the station in 1967 to host ''Spellbound'', ''In Perth Tonight'' and ''Perth's New Faces''. Meadows also co-hosted the

Perth Telethon The Channel Seven Perth Telethon, regionally known simply as Telethon, is an annual telethon established in 1968 by philanthropist James Cruthers, Sir James Cruthers and Brian Treasure, and produced by TVW, a Seven Network-owned television statio ...

in 1968. Meadows won the

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for Best Male Personality in Western Australia at both the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and 1971 Logie Awards. During the 1970s, Meadows moved on to host national television programs, most notably ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

.''(1 October 2018
The 1970s Price Is Right
television.au website. Retrieved 2 October 2018. Meadows also hosted ''

High Rollers ''High Rollers'' is an American television game show that involved contestants trying to win prizes by rolling dice. The format was based on the dice game shut the box. ''High Rollers'' debuted on July 1, 1974, as part of NBC's daytime lineup. ...

'', ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is an American television musical comedy variety-game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created an ...

'', and ''

The Marriage Game ''The Marriage Game'' (Swedish: ''Äktenskapsleken'') is a 1935 Swedish comedy drama film directed by Ragnar Hyltén-Cavallius and starring Zarah Leander, Gösta Cederlund and Harry Roeck-Hansen.Jacobi p.103 The film's art direction was by Arn ...

''. In 1980, Meadows worked as a producer on ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

''.Hamilton, Gay (3 September 1980
The Insider
''

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by ...

''. Retrieved 2 October 2018.

Death

Meadows died at the age of 43 on 22 July 1982 after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

outside the 3DB studios in Melbourne, as he was walking into the building to begin his shift. He had been working at 3DB for less than a week when he died.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meadows, Garry 1939 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Australian male actors Australian male television actors Australian male film actors Australian radio presenters Australian game show hosts Male actors from Perth, Western Australia