Thomas Gibson Dysart (24 December 1935 – 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born Australian actor, known for his appearances on television dramas and comedies and in character roles in films and miniseries.

Early career

Dysart graduated from

NIDA Nida or NIDA may refer to: People * Nida Allam (born 1993), American politician * Nida Fazli (1938–2016), Indian Hindi and Urdu poet and lyricist * Nida Eliz Üstündağ (born 1996), Turkish female swimmer * Eugene Nida (1914–2011), American l ...

in 1959, and started his career as a vocalist and performed in theatre.

Film and TV roles

High-profile early roles included appearances in '' Skippy the Bush Kangaroo'', ''

Phoenix Five ''Phoenix Five'' is an Australian science fiction television series which first screened on the ABC in 1970. It was later also screened on the Seven Network. It was part of a trilogy and followed on from the six part serial ''The Interpretaris ...

'', and several roles in the

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 Crawfor ...

police drama series '' Homicide'', ''

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

'', ''

Matlock Police ''Matlock Police'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network (now known as the 10 Network) between 1971 and 1976. The series focused on the police station and crime in the Victorian town o ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. Dysart appeared briefly in the series ''

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. ...

'' in the early 1980s, where he played what is perhaps his best-known acting role, that of vicious and cold prison officer Jock Stewart. In the storyline, after being fired from the prison service Stewart admitted to prisoner Judy Bryant that he was the one responsible for murdering her lesbian lover, fellow prisoner

Sharon Gilmour Sharon ( he, שָׁרוֹן ''Šārôn'' "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname. In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name. However, historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In I ...

. This revelation brought to a close a murder-mystery storyline in the series but launched a long-running story-arc where Bryant repeatedly escaped from prison in a succession of attempts to exact her revenge on Stewart. After this, Dysart continued in guest-starring television roles in drama series and situation comedies, and appeared in many feature films. His films included ''

The Man from Snowy River The Man from Snowy River may refer to: * "The Man from Snowy River" (poem), an 1890 Australian poem by Banjo Paterson. * '' The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses'' an 1895 poetry collection by Banjo Paterson (including the above) * ''The Man ...

'' (1982), ''

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...

'' (1985), '' Garbo'' (1992), and ''

Flynn Flynn is an Irish surname or first name, an anglicised form of the Irish ''Ó Floinn'', meaning "descendant of Flann" (a byname meaning "reddish (complexion)" or "ruddy"). The name is more commonly used as a surname rather than a first name. A ...

'' (1996). Television roles of the 1990s included appearances in '' All Together Now'', '' The Games'', '' State Coroner'', ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian Police procedural, police drama series that was produced by Endemol Australia, Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, ...

'', ''

Something in the Air "Something in the Air" is a song by English rock band Thunderclap Newman, written by Speedy Keen who also sang the song. It was a No. 1 single for three weeks in the UK Singles Chart in July 1969. The song has been used for films, television ...

'' and '' Neighbours''. He also provided the voice for Captain Griswald in Anthony Lucas' animated short film ''The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello'' (2005).

Commercial advertisements

In the 1990s he appeared in a well-remembered television commercial advertisement for the

Yellow Pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...

where he calls a series of mechanics about his problematic

Goggomobil Goggomobil was a series of microcars produced by Hans Glas GmbH in the Bavarian town Dingolfing between 1955 and 1969. Glas produced three models on the Goggomobil platform: the Goggomobil T sedan, the Goggomobil TS coupé, and the Goggomobil ...

, ("G, O, G, G, O ... No! No! Not the Dart"). He was also known for playing a recurring character of a Mafia-boss-like butcher in advertisements for

Don Smallgoods George Weston Foods is one of the largest consumer products companies in Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods Plc. Its brands include Tip Top and Top Taste. In 2003, Weston's biscuits were put up for sale in ...

. In the early 2000s he continued his Goggomobil persona advertising Shannons Insurance. The concept played on the role of a person searching for the car parts as any car enthusiast would.

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

challenged this in the Supreme Court and Shannons withdrew the advertisements, but continued with Dysart and the accent (which Dysart insisted was his own and could not change). The adverts continue and Shannons Insurance also owns several of the Goggomobil cars which feature regularly in their shows. Dysart and Joan Brockenshire appeared in

Karl von Möller Karl von Möller (born 11 December 1969) is an Australian cinematographer and film maker. He is best known for ''Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!'', ''D'art'' and Storm Warning (2007 film), Storm Warning. Early life ...

's 2019 documentary "D'art".

Personal life

Dysart enjoyed a long personal and professional relationship with director and writer

Frank Howson Frank Michael Howson (born 1952) has had a career in entertainment. He directed ''Flynn'' (1996) on the early life of Errol Flynn and ''Hunting'' (1991). Howson, with Peter Boyle, helped establish Boulevard Films which produced thirteen film ...

. They worked together on the films '' Backstage'', '' Boulevard of Broken Dreams'', '' What the Moon Saw'', ''

'', '' Crime Time'', '' The Final Stage'', ''

The Lucky Country ''The Lucky Country'' is a 1964 book by Donald Horne. The title has become a nickname for Australia and is generally used favourably, although the origin of the phrase was negative in the context of the book. Among other things, it has been use ...

'', and the award-winning short film ''Remembering Nigel'', which also featured Dysart's wife and son Kole. Dysart was married to actress Joan Brockenshire. On 18 February 2022, Dysart suffered a stroke and was taken to the Alfred Hospital. He died on 7 June 2022 in Melbourne, Victoria at the age of 86.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dysart, Tommy 1935 births 2022 deaths Australian male film actors Australian male soap opera actors Male actors from Melbourne Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish male film actors Scottish male soap opera actors Scottish male television actors 20th-century Australian male actors 21st-century Australian male actors 20th-century Scottish male actors 21st-century Scottish male actors