Ethel Muriel Ashton
(11 November 190321 October 1999), known professionally as Queenie Ashton, was a character actress, born in England, who had a long career in Australia as a theatre performer and radio personality, best known for her radio and television soap opera roles, although she did also feature briefly in films.
Ashton alongside her contemporaries
Grace Gibson
Grace Isabel Gibson AO, (17 June 1905 – 10 July 1989), also known as Grace Atchison and Grace Parr was an American Australian radio entrepreneur, executive and producer.
She was best known for her long-running serials Dr. Paul and the local ...
,
Amber Mae Cecil
Amber Mae Cecil (20 August 1938 – 15 July 1998) was a prominent Australian radio, theatre and television actress of the 1950s and 1960s.
Early life
Amber Mae Cecil was born on 20 August 1938 in Potts Point. Her parents were also prominent fi ...
and
Ethel Lang,
has been described as a pioneer for females in radio. Her best known role's was in the long-running
Gwen Meredith
Gwenyth Valmai Meredith OBE (18 November 1907 – 3 October 2006), also known by her married name Gwen Harrison, was an Australian writer, dramatist and playwright, and radio writer. She is best known for her radio serials ''The Lawsons'' (194 ...
radio serial ''
Blue Hills'', as Lee Gordon
and later Grannie Emily Bishop a role she would later reprise for television, with the first Australian-produced soap opera ''
Autumn Affair''.
Biography
Early life and stage
Ashton was born in
London
London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. She was an accomplished ballet dancer, and specialist in voice production and drama, who started performing when she was fourteen. She appeared in musical comedy on the London stage, on occasion appearing with playwright
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
. She left England in 1927, and performed for Dame
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, ...
while travelling to Australia through the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
.
[Crocker, Patti ''Radio Days'' (with foreword by Queenie Ashton), Simon and Schuster 1989 ] She first appeared 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 ...
as a soprano on the concert stage, then in
musical comedy
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
, alongside such stars as
Gladys Moncrieff
Gladys Moncrieff (13 April 1892 – 8 February 1976) was an Australian singer who was so successful in musical theatre and recordings that she became known as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and 'Our Glad'.
Life and career
Early years
Moncrieff ...
, whom she
understudied, and
Strella Wilson.
Radio
Ashton featured in radio from the 1930s, she appeared in musical comedy opposite
Dick Bentley
Charles Walter "Dick" Bentley (14 May 1907 – 27 August 1995) was an Australian-born comedian and actor of radio, stage and screen. He starred with Jimmy Edwards in ''Take It From Here'' for BBC Radio. He was a staple of and pioneer of radio, ...
in ''Oh! Quaite''. Her first straight drama role was in 1939, a period piece playing
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
.
She played Budge's mother in "Budge's Gang", a segment of the
ABC Children's Session (c. 1941–45, and it was so popular it was made into a comic book). Most notably, she played the wife of Dr. Gordon
and the long-running role of Granny Bishop (a character many years her senior) in the radio serial ''Blue Hills'', for the entire 27 years of the serial's run (1949–1976 – hers were the very first and last spoken parts). Ashton, as Granny Bishop, spoke:
"We don't have to see people every day of the week/to imagine them in their surroundings or even to live their lives with them. We can still use our imagination ... they can still be in our minds. They can still be with us and so you see, and it is isn't really very hard to say goodbye. to say goodbye and God bless."
Television and film
Ashton also played this role on Australia's first television serial ''Autumn Affair''. In 1957 she appeared in a one-off television play called ''
Tomorrow's Child'' and played in ''
Certain Women'' (as "Dolly Lucas"), She was a semi-regular cast member of ''
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 ...
'' (as "Lillian Coote") and ''
G.P.'' (as "Mrs Sculthorpe").
[Lane, Richard ''The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama'' Melbourne University Press 1994 ]
Film roles included both theatrical and telefilms ''
Always Another Dawn'' in 1948 and ''
The Farrer Story
''Strong is the Seed'' (also known as ''The Farrer Story'') is a 1949 Australian drama film, about the life of agronomist and plant breeder William Farrer.
Synopsis
English agriculture scientist William Farrer, on a health trip to Australia, adv ...
'' in 1949, she also had cameo's in ''
Mama's Gone A-Hunting'' in 1977 and ''
The Year My Voice Broke
''The Year My Voice Broke'' is a 1987 Australian coming of age drama film written and directed by John Duigan and starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the f ...
'' in 1987. She also appeared in many television commercials, most notably for
Sara Lee
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* Sara (2010 ...
. She was still performing in stage and cabaret plays in her nineties and was one of Australia's last great grand dames and one of the oldest entertainers still performing.
Personal life
Ashton married Lionel Lawson in 1931 (who died in 1950), a violinist, who became
leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
of the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and firs ...
; they had a daughter, nurse Janet Lawson, in 1933 and a son, Tony Lawson, in 1935. They divorced in 1940.
Ashton remarried in 1946 to Frederick John Cover, a theatrical agent, and founder and managing director of the actors' casting firm, Central Casting.
She died on 21 October 1999, in
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford () is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of City of Parramatta. Carlingford is in the ...
, aged 95.
Selected stage appearances
Filmography
FILM
TELEVISION
Radio
Recognition
In 1950 she won the Macquarie Network's award for "best performance by an actress in a supporting role" (in "Edward, My Son").
In 1980, she was appointed by her stage name Queenie Ashton a Member of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
(AM) for her services to the performing arts.
It's an Honour
/ref>
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Read more about Queenie Ashton
and listen to an oral history interview done with her on the National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
of Australia'
website
* Visit the National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
'
Women in Early Radio
collection for more information about the history of women in radio in Australia.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashton, Queenie
1903 births
1999 deaths
Australian radio actresses
Australian stage actresses
Australian television actresses
Australian film actresses
20th-century Australian actresses
British sopranos
English emigrants to Australia
20th-century Australian women singers
20th-century English women singers
20th-century English singers
Members of the Order of Australia