John Beresford Power (20 November 1930 – February 2016) was an Australian film and television director, who began his career as a journalist.

Early life and journalism career

Power was born in

Maitland, New South Wales Maitland () is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Hi ...

. His older brother was Dave Power, a long-distance runner who won medals at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. After leaving school, he joined the ''Maitland Mercury'' as a cadet journalist, later moving to Sydney to work for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' and ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. He was a political journalist in Canberra at the time of the

Australian Labor Party split of 1955 The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a split within the Australian Labor Party along ethnocultural lines and about the position towards communism. Key players in the split were the federal opposition leader H. V. "Doc" Evatt and B. A. S ...

, events which he would later cover in the documentary film ''Like a Summer Storm''.

Awards

Power won the AFI Award for Best Direction for the 1974 TV

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

'' Billy and Percy''.

Select Filmography

*''The Other Side of Innocence '' (1972) (documentary) - director *'' Like a Summer Storm'' (1972) (TV movie) - director, writer, producer *''What did you do at school today?'' (1974) (documentary short) - director *'' Escape from Singapore'' (1974) (TV movie) - director, writer, producer *'' Billy and Percy'' (1974) (TV movie) - director, writer, producer *'' They Don't Clap Losers'' (1975) (TV movie) - director, writer, producer *''

The Picture Show Man ''The Picture Show Man'' is a 1977 Australian film about a travelling film exhibitor (John Meillon) in the 1920s. He has to deal with the rebelliousness of his son ( Harold Hopkins) and a rival American exhibitor (Rod Taylor). The film was Rod Ta ...

'' (1977) - director *''

The Sound of Love ''The Sound of Love'' is a 1977 Australian television film directed by John Power and starring John Jarratt and George Ogilvie George Buchan Ogilvie (5 March 1931 – 5 April 2020) was a prolific Australian theatre director and actor, who al ...

'' (1978) (TV movie) - director, writer *'' A Single Life'' (1986) (TV movie) *'' The Dismissal'' (1983) (TV miniseries) - director *'' The Great Gold Swindle'' (1984) - director *'' Special Squad'' (1984) (TV Series) - director *''

Return to Eden ''Return to Eden'' is an Australian television drama series starring Rebecca Gilling, James Reyne, Wendy Hughes and James Smillie. It began as a three-part, six-hour mini-series shown on Network Ten on September 27–29, 1983. Gilling and Sm ...

'' (1986) (TV series) - director *'' A Single Life'' (1986) - director, writer *''

Alice to Nowhere ''Alice to Nowhere'' is a 1986 Australian miniseries set in the outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback region ...

'' (1986) (TV miniseries) - director *''

Willing and Abel ''Willing and Abel'' is an Australian television comedy series which was made in 1987, about two handymen. The main cast were Grant Dodwell as "Charles Willing", Shane Withington as "Abel Moore", and Rebecca Rigg as "Angela Reddy". Their nam ...

'' (1987) (TV series) - director *'' Mike Willesee's Australians'' (1988) (TV series) - director episode "Clyde Fenton" *''

The Dirtwater Dynasty ''The Dirtwater Dynasty'' is a five-part Australian drama miniseries, first screened on Network Ten in 1988. It was directed by Michael Jenkins and John Power.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, ...

'' (1988) (TV miniseries) - director *'' Tanamera - Lion of Singapore'' (1989) (TV miniseries) - director *''

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

'' (1990) - director *''

Sky Trackers The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In th ...

'' (1990) (TV movie) - director *'' All the Rivers Run 2'' (1990) (TV miniseries) - director *'' Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After'' (1992) (TV movie) - director *''

The Tommyknockers ''The Tommyknockers'' is a 1987 science fiction novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the i ...

'' (1993) (TV miniseries) - director *'' Someone Else's Child'' (1994) (TV movie) - director *'' Betrayed by Love'' (1994) (TV movie) - director *'' Fatal Vows: The Alexandra O'Hara Story'' (1994) (TV movie) - director *'' A Child is Missing'' (1995) (TV movie) - director *''Heart of Fire'' (1997) (TV movie) - director *''Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure'' (1998) (TV movie) - director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, John 1930 births 2016 deaths Australian film directors Australian journalists Australian television directors Australian war correspondents Logie Award winners