Patricia Carmel Stewart Kennedy (17 March 191610 December 2012) was an
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Au ...
actress with a long career in theatre, radio, film and television. According to one writer she was "sometimes called the first lady of Melbourne radio and theatre."
Early life
Kennedy was born in
Queenscliff, Victoria
Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe. At the , Queenscliff had a population o ...
on St Patrick's Day, 1916. (Many sources give her year of birth as 1917.) She was raised, and remained, a practising Catholic.
She trained as a school teacher before winning the Colac Amateur Festival around 1938, which sparked a passion for acting. She started her stage career in 1943.
In 1972–1973 she worked as a consultant to the
Australia Council for the Arts
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
.
Honours
Kennedy was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
She remained single, very private and very independent. Even in her 80s, although she owned a house in Melbourne, she preferred to live alone in a hut without electricity, on the edge of a state forest near Bega in southern
New South Wales
)
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. This was 5–6 hours drive by road from Melbourne, where she would travel for theatre commitments. In the 1990s, she was involved in founding the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui.
Kennedy died on 10 December 2012, aged 96. A private funeral was held on 19 December.
Theatre
Patricia Kennedy was noted for her range – from high drama to comedy. She was mainly based 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 ...
, and had a strong association with 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 ...
(MTC), but she also performed in England with the
Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...
Company's 1969–1970 season.
She appeared in plays such as
Jay Presson Allen
Jay Presson Allen (March 3, 1922 – May 1, 2006) was an American screenwriter, playwright, stage director, television producer, and novelist. Known for her withering wit and sometimes-off-color wisecracks, she was one of the few women making a ...
's adaptation of
Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist.
Life
Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...
Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
's ''
Ghosts
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
'' (1969: Mrs Alving),
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
South Australian Theatre Company
The State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA), branded State Theatre Company South Australia, formerly the South Australian Theatre Company (SATC), is South Australia's leading professional theatre company, and a statutory corporation. I ...
's Melbourne production of
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
's '' Long Day's Journey into Night'' was described as "the best female performance on the Melbourne stage in 1973", and that production is considered one of the landmark productions in Australian theatre, largely due to Patricia Kennedy's involvement.
Plays written for her included the single-hander ''The Rain'' by Daniel Keene.
She appeared alongside
Zoe Caldwell
Zoe Ada Caldwell, (14 September 1933 – 16 February 2020) was an Australian actress. She was a four-time Tony Award winner, winning Best Featured Actress in a Play for '' Slapstick Tragedy'' (1966), and Best Actress in a Play for '' The Pri ...
in the MTC's production of
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
' ''
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'', the first production at the
Arts Centre Melbourne
Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...
's Playhouse Theatre in 1984.
In 1991–92, Kennedy appeared in a one-woman stage adaptation of
Elizabeth Jolley
Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO (4 June 1923 – 13 February 2007) was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was publishe ...
's novel ''The Newspaper of Claremont Street'' staged by the
Playbox Theatre Company
Playbox Theatre Company is a theatre company for children and young people based in Warwick. Playbox provide training for children and young people aged 3-25 in various different areas, including theatre training, musical theatre, circus, voice ...
at a number of venues in Victoria.
She was still active with the MTC well into her 80s.
Radio
In 1946, Kennedy shared the title role in Crawford Productions' radio drama ''The Melba Story'' with singer Glenda Raymond (later to become
Hector Crawford
Hector William Crawford CBE AO (14 August 191311 March 1991) was an Australian entrepreneur, conductor and media mogul, best known for his radio and television production firms. He and his sister Dorothy Crawford founded Crawford Productions ...
's wife),
She played Miss Crump on the long-running ABC radio program '' The Village Glee Club'' (1942–71).
She also appeared in episodes of the Caltex Theatre.
Selected credits
Film and television
Patricia Kennedy's film roles included:
* ''
The Getting of Wisdom
''The Getting of Wisdom'' is a novel by Australian novelist Henry Handel Richardson. It was first published in 1910, and has almost always been in print ever since.
Plot introduction
Henry Handel Richardson was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence ...
'', 1977, as Miss Chapman
* ''
My Brilliant Career
''My Brilliant Career'' is a 1901 novel written by Miles Franklin. It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (1879–1954), one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, ...
'', 1979, as Aunt Gussie
*''
Emmett Stone
''Emmett Stone'' is a 1985 Australian film based on a play by Michael Gurr.''Emmett Sont'' at AusStageDeparture'', 1986, as Sylvia Swift
* '' Country Life'' (an adaptation of
Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
's ''
Uncle Vanya
''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direct ...
''), 1994, as Maud Dickens
* ''
Road to Nhill
''Road to Nhill'' is a 1997 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Sue Brooks. The film won the "Golden Alexander" (first prize) for Best Feature-Length Film at The International Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece).
Produced by Sue Maslin, it ...
'', 1997, as Jean.
Her television appearances included ''
The Flying Doctors
''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...
'', ''
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 ...
Five Mile Creek
''Five Mile Creek'' is a western television drama series adapted from Louis L'Amour's novel ''The Cherokee Trail'' and produced in Australia. It starred Liz Burch, Louise Caire Clark, Rod Mullinar, Jay Kerr, Michael Caton, Peter Carroll, Gu ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Holiday Island
''Holiday Island'' is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten. The show aired twice weekly from 1981 to 1982, with the first episode going to air on 17 June 1981.
Series synopsis
Like preceding Crawford' ...
'', ''
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 ...
'' 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.
...