Lois June Ramsey (; 18 June 1922 – 22 January 2016) also billed as Lois Ramsay, was an Australian actress, best known for her regular roles on television series '' The Box'' 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. ...

'' as two different characters. As a character actress of both drama and comic roles in numerous serials, she often played quirky, eccentric old ladies on television soap operas.

Career

The Box and Prisoner

She was a major cast member of the 1970s soap opera ''The Box'' as

tea lady A tea lady provides drinks in an office, factory, hospital, or other place of work. The role under this name began in Britain during World War II, and continues in the National Health Service today. It used to be a wide-spread occupation for wo ...

Mrs. Hopkins, appearing for the entire run of the serial. She also had 2 prominent stints in ''Prisoner''—firstly as dotty social worker Agnes Forster in 1980 in 1985 as an elderly inmate Ettie Parslow, who thought that the Second World War was still going on.

Television and film roles

She had numerous roles in TV soap opera/serials including ''

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords ...

'' serials ''

Homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

'' , ''

The Sullivans ''The Sullivans'' is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-clas ...

'', ''

Cop Shop ''Cop Shop'' is a long-running Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that ran for seven seasons between 28 November 1977 and 23 July 1984. It comprised 582 one-hour episodes. The show The show revolved ar ...

'', as well as ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

'', '' E Street'', ''

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 ...

'', and ''

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 ...

'', ''

Always Greener ''Always Greener'' was an Australian television drama/comedy series that aired on the Seven Network which followed the fortunes of two families, one from the city and the other from the country, when they decide to switch homes and start a new d ...

'' and '' All Saints'' and the films '' Crackerjack'' and ''

Boytown ''BoyTown'' is a 2006 Australian comedy film, directed by Kevin Carlin and starring an ensemble cast of prominent Australian comedians, including Glenn Robbins, Mick Molloy, Bob Franklin, Wayne Hope and Gary Eck. It was filmed in Melbourne, Vict ...

''Vale: Lois Ramsey
''TV Tonight'', 16 January 2016. AFI Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role in a Television Drama Series for a performance in the television series ''

Grass Roots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

''.

Stage roles

Also a stage actress, she was one of the founders of the Flinders Street Revue Company in 1961 and appeared later she appeared in numerous productions with both the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

and the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

Personal life

Born to Bill and Maud Dickson, she married Cuthbert Ward Ramsey on 25 September 1943. They had two children: writer/director Stephen Ramsey and the late actress

Penny Ramsey Penny Ramsey (25 June 1947 – 11 February 2009) was an Australian character actress. Her work is featured in over three decades of classic Australian TV series. Her credits include ''Prisoner'', '' The Bush Gang'', ''Matlock Police'', '' Ho ...

Filmography

References

External links

* 1922 births 2016 deaths AACTA Award winners Actresses from Adelaide Australian film actresses Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses {{Australia-tv-actor-stub