Reginald Thomas Lye (14 October 1912 – 23 March 1988), was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at the time, as well as on stage and radio. Lee Robinson called him "one of the best character actors in Australia." He moved to England in the early 1960s, (also starring in television, such as ''

Mrs Thursday ''Mrs Thursday'' is a British television comedy-drama produced by Associated Television. It stars veteran British actress Kathleen Harrison as Alice Thursday, a Cockney charwoman who inherits £10 million and the controlling interest in a mult ...

'' and ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

''), but returned to Australia when the film industry revived in the 1970s. He won the Australian Film Institute award for the his role in the 1975 film, '' Sunday Too Far Away'', opposite

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

Selected filmography

*''

King of the Coral Sea ''King of the Coral Sea'' is a 1954 film starring Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell, directed by Lee Robinson and shot on location in Thursday Island. It was one of the most commercially successful Australian films of the 1950s and was Rod Ta ...

'' (1954) - Grundy *''

Smiley A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...

'' (1956) - Pa Bill Greevins *''

Walk Into Paradise ''Walk Into Paradise'' (also known as ''Walk Into Hell'') is a 1956 French-Australian international co-production adventure film directed by Lee Robinson and Marcello Pagliero and starring Chips Rafferty and Françoise Christophe. It was sho ...

'' (1956) - Ned 'Shark-eye' Kelley *'' Three in One'' (1957) - The Swaggie (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates") *'' The Shiralee'' (1957) - Desmond *'' The Stowaway'' (1958) - Buddington *''

Smiley Gets a Gun ''Smiley Gets a Gun'' is a 1958 Australian comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Sybil Thorndike and Chips Rafferty. It is the sequel to the 1956 film Smiley (1956 film), ''Smiley''. Synopsis A young boy named ...

'' (1958) - Pa Greevins *'' The Flaming Sword'' (1958) - Poggy *''

Dust in the Sun ''Dust in the Sun'' is a 1958 Australian mystery film adapted from the 1955 novel '' Justin Bayard'' by Jon Cleary and produced by the team of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty. The film stars British actress Jill Adams and an indigenous-Australian ...

'' (1958) - Dirks *''

The Restless and the Damned ''The Restless and the Damned'' (also known as ''L'Ambitieuse'') is a 1959 French-Australian film co produced by Lee Robinson. It was shot on location in Tahiti and the Tuamotu Islands. There are French and English-language versions. Synopsis I ...

'' (1959) - Matthews *''

The Grey Nurse Said Nothing "The Grey Nurse Said Nothing" is a television play written by Sumner Locke Elliott. It was based on elements of the Shark Arm case but is mostly fictitious. The play was screened in the US in 1959 as an episode of '' Playhouse 90''. It was perform ...

'' (1959) *''

The Dock Brief ''The Dock Brief'' (US title ''Trial and Error'') is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer (creator o ...

'' (1960, by John Mortimer) - Fowle *''

The One Day of the Year ''The One Day of the Year'' is a 1958 Australian play by Alan Seymour about contested attitudes to Anzac Day. Plot Alf’s son Hughie and his girlfriend Jan plan to document Anzac Day for the university newspaper, focusing on the drinking on Anz ...

'' (1961, by

Alan Seymour Alan Seymour (6 June 192723 March 2015) was an Australian playwright and author. He is best known for the play ''The One Day of the Year'' (1958). His international reputation rests not only on this early play, but also on his many screenplays, ...

) - Wacka *''

The Amorous Prawn ''The Amorous Prawn'' or ''The Amorous Mr. Prawn'' is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Ian Carmichael, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker. The film was based on a 1959 farcical play by Kimmins. In the United S ...

'' (1962) - Uncle Joe (the poacher) *'' Reunion Day'' (1962, by

Peter Yeldham Peter Alan Yeldham (25 April 1927 – 20 September 2022) was an Australian screenwriter for motion pictures and television, playwright and novelist. Biography Peter Yeldham was born in Gladstone, near Smithtown, New South Wales, in 1927. L ...

) - Carmody *''

The Wrong Arm of the Law ''The Wrong Arm of the Law'' is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier and Bill Kerr. It was partly written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and made by Ro ...

'' (1963) - Reg Denton *''

The Counterfeit Constable ''The Counterfeit Constable'' (French: ''Allez France!'') is a 1964 French comedy film directed by Robert Dhéry and Pierre Tchernia and starring Ronald Fraser, Diana Dors and Arthur Mullard. Plot A French rugby supporter (Robert Dhéry), in ...

'' (1964) - Le chauffeur de taxi fatigué *''Stell'' (1964, by

) *'' King Rat'' (1965) - Tinker Bell *''

The Wrong Box ''The Wrong Box'' is a 1966 British comedy film produced and directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, based on the 1889 novel '' The Wrong Box'' by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne. It was made by ...

'' (1966) - Third Undertaker *''

A Challenge for Robin Hood ''A Challenge for Robin Hood'' is a 1967 British adventure film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Barrie Ingham, Peter Blythe and John Arnatt. Plot When the father of the De Courtenay family dies, the brothers argue about th ...

'' (1967) - Much *'' Fathom'' (1967) - Mr. Trivers *''

Danger Route ''Danger Route'' is a 1967 British spy film directed by Seth Holt for Amicus Productions and starring Richard Johnson as Jonas Wilde, Carol Lynley and Barbara Bouchet. It was based on Andrew York's 1966 novel ''The Eliminator'' that was the work ...

'' (1967) - Balin *''The Magnificent Six and ½: It's Not Cricket'' (1968) - Angry Houseowner *'' Doctor Who'' (1968, British TV) - Griffin the Chef *'' The Lost Continent'' (1968) - Helmsman *''

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

'' (1969) - Workman (uncredited) *'' The Games'' (1970) - Gilmour *'' Performance'' (1970) - Workman (uncredited) *'' 10 Rillington Place'' (1971) - Tramp *'' Burke & Hare'' (1971) - Old Joe *''

Ooh… You Are Awful ''Ooh... You Are Awful'' is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen. It is a feature-length adaptation of ''The Dick Emery Show''. It starred Dick Emery, Derren Nesbitt, Ronald Fraser and Cheryl Kennedy. Its alternative title on its No ...

'' (1972) - Bogus Milkman (uncredited) *''

The Amazing Mr. Blunden ''The Amazing Mr. Blunden'' is a 1972 British family mystery film involving ghosts directed by Lionel Jeffries. It was based on the 1969 novel ''The Ghosts'' by Antonia Barber. It stars Laurence Naismith, Lynne Frederick, Garry Miller, Rosaly ...

'' (1972) - Sexton *'' Dracula'' (1974) - Zookeeper *'' Sunday Too Far Away'' (1975) - Old Garth *''

Quiller Quiller is a fictional character created by English novelist Elleston Trevor. Quiller, whose one-word name is a pseudonym, works as a spy, and he is the hero of a series of 19 Cold War thrillers written under the pseudonym Adam Hall, and beca ...

'' (1975) - Chirac *''Blind Man's Bluff'' (1977) - Uncle Fred *''

Jabberwocky "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The ...

'' (1977) - Hawker (uncredited) *''

Death on the Nile ''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at s ...

'' (1978) - Workman (uncredited) *''

Wombling Free ''Wombling Free'' is a 1977 British film adaptation of the children's television series ''The Wombles''. Directed by Lionel Jeffries, it stars The Wombles, David Tomlinson, Frances de la Tour, and Bonnie Langford. Plot Based on the BBC children ...

'' (1978) - Assistant Surveyor *''A Man Called Intrepid'' (1979) - Newsvendor *'' Unidentified Flying Oddball'' (1979) - Prisoner *''

Tarka the Otter ''Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers'' is a novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published in 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue. It won th ...

'' (1979) - Dairy Farmer *''

The Killing of Angel Street ''The Killing of Angel Street'' is a 1981 Australian thriller film loosely based on the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) green bans against development in inner Sydney city waterside suburbs. It briefly touches on the real-life disappearance of ...

'' (1981) - Riley *'' Freedom'' (1982) - Old farmer *'' Molly'' (1983) - Old Dan

References

External links

*
Reg Lye
at National Film and Sound Archive 1912 births 1988 deaths Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Male actors from Sydney 20th-century Australian male actors {{Australia-actor-stub