Wynn Roberts (actor)
This article needs more citations. (April 2016) |
Wynn Roberts | |
|---|---|
Wynn Roberts in ABC TV play Moby Dick in 1966 | |
| Born | 29 April 1924[1] Australia |
| Died | 24 August 2021 (aged 97) Tanja, New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | Wyn Roberts, Wynne Roberts |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1947–2001 |
Wynn Roberts (29 April 1924 – 24 August 2021)[2] credited also as Wyn Roberts and Wynne Roberts, was an Australian character actor of stage, radio, and screen who appeared in more than 70 film and television productions between the late 1940s and 2001. He appeared in numerous TV plays and was also featured in TV miniseries for a career spanning over 50 years.
Career
[edit]Roberts was born in 1924 and started his career as an actor in the theatre in 1947, as a character actor, he was best known however for his small guest roles on television series.
He may be most recognisable to international audiences for his role in the cult Grundy Television prison drama, Prisoner (also known as Prisoner: Cell Block H. 1979-1986), in which he appeared as Stuart Gillespie, a mean-spirited prison department inspector, in episodes originally aired in 1980-81. His character's authoritarian regime led to the 1980 season cliffhanger, where a number of inmates escape in a tunnel which subsequently collapses, killing a prisoner and trapping others. Later, in 1987, he guest starred in another Grundy soap opera, Neighbours (1985-), as Frank Darcy, an artist friend of Anne Haddy's character, Helen Daniels. The character memorably wore a leather eye patch and came from the Bungle Bungles, and he and Helen almost moved there together, but in the end, Helen decided to stay in Melbourne with her family and Frank left without her.
He is also known for his prominent role as Sergeant Bumpher in the 1975 film classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock.[3][4]
He was also a leading stage actor, starting in the late 1940s.[5]
His other guest roles on television included Homicide, Special Squad, The Flying Doctors, Police Rescue, A Country Practice and Wildside. He worked for a number of years in radio.[6]
A 1965 article called him "one of the best and most versatile actors left in Australia - probably the best in Melbourne".[7]
Death
[edit]He died in a nursing home on 24 August 2021 in Tanja, New South Wales, aged 97.[2]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Symphonie Pastorale | Pastor Etieene | TV play |
| 1959 | Last Call | TV play | |
| 1959 | Treason | TV play | |
| 1960 | Heart Attack | Dr Rutherford | TV play |
| 1960 | Uncle Martino | Trulla | TV play |
| 1960 | Macbeth | Banquo | TV play |
| 1961 | Hedda Gabler | Eilert Lovborg | TV play |
| 1961 | Burst of Summer | Clinton Hunter | TV play |
| 1961 | The Lady from the Sea | The Stranger | TV play |
| 1962 | Manhaul | Charles Forrester | TV play |
| 1962 | Shadow of Heroes | Laszlo Rajk | TV play |
| 1962 | The Hobby Horse | Billy Brocknell | TV play |
| 1962 | Light me a Lucifer | Bill | TV play |
| 1962 | Murder in the Cathedral | Beckett | TV play[8] |
| 1963 | Prelude to Harvest | Governor Phillip | TV play |
| 1964 | A Man for All Seasons | Sir Thomas More | TV play |
| 1964 | Corruption in the Palace of Justice | Counsellor Enzi | TV play |
| 1964 | Everyman | Death | TV play |
| 1964 | The Physicists | Mobius | TV play |
| 1965 | Romanoff and Juliet | Vadim Romanoff | TV play |
| 1965 | A Time to Speak | Gilly (the Doctor) | TV play |
| 1965 | Moby Dick - Rehearsed[9] | Ahab | TV play |
| 1965 | Macbeth[10] | Macbeth | TV play |
| 1966 | The Tape Recorder | Voice of Novelist | TV play |
| 1966 | Should the Woman Pay | Gerald Henderson | TV play |
| 1966 | Ticket to Nowhere | TV play | |
| 1966 | Flight into Danger | TV play | |
| 1968 | Cobwebs in Concrete | Dan Fenner | TV play |
| 1972 | The Survivor | Feature film | |
| 1972 | Flashpoint | Foxy | Feature film |
| 1974 | Essington | TV film | |
| 1975 | Picnic at Hanging Rock | Sergeant Bumpher | Feature film |
| 1977 | Listen to the Lion | Hunter | Feature film |
| 1977 | Born to Run (aka Harness Fever) | McGinnis | Feature film |
| 1978 | Weekend of Shadows | Sergeant Caxton | Film |
| 1982 | Fighting Back | Payne | Feature film |
| 1985 | Wills & Burke | William Wright | Feature film |
| 1988 | The Man from Snowy River II | Priest | Feature film |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Killer in Close Up | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1962 | Jonah | Morgan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1964 | Barley Charlie | Jim Fogarty | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1962-64 | Consider Your Verdict | Defence Counsel Robert Winter / Crown Prosector Robert Winter | TV series, 19 episodes |
| 1966 | Australian Playhouse | Johnson / Gerald Henderson / The Author | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1967 | Sergeant Musgrave's Dance | Sergeant Musgrave | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 1967-68 | Contrabandits | Joshua Stoney / Arnell | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1979 | Adventure Island | Captain James Cook | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1968-70 | Delta | Rand / Janosek | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1974 | Homicide | Ross Bullen | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1975 | Behind the Legend | Christopher Brennan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1978 | Skyways | Barney Waters | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1979 | Disneyland | McGinnis | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1980-81 | Prisoner: Cell Block H | Stuart Gillespie | TV series, 9 episodes |
| 1981 | Holiday Island | David Owens | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1980-82 | Cop Shop | Alan MacNamara, George Payne, Jack Gren, Walter Green | TV series, 8 episodes |
| 1982 | Spring and Fall | Clive | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1984 | Waterfront | Inspector Legge | TV miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 1983-84 | Carson's Law | Andrew Riley KC / Andrews | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Superintendent Kerslake | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1985 | One Summer Again | James Smith | TV miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 1985 | The Dunera Boys | Slattery | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Whose Baby? | Edward Hudson KC | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Sword of Honour | Arthur Lawrence | TV miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 1987 | The Petrov Affair | Brigadier Spry | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1988 | Always Afternoon | Pastor Jules | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 1988 | Neighbours | Frank Darcy | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1988 | All the Way | Maynard | TV miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 1988 | The Last Resort | Exeter Shannon | TV series |
| 1988 | Spit MacPhee | Judge Laker | TV miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 1989 | Rafferty's Rules | Matt Keegan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1991 | Police Rescue | Anthony Mason | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1986-91 | The Flying Doctors | Dr Don McKenzie / Bill Richards / Stirling / Mal Pryor | TV series, 4 episode |
| 1991 | Embassy | Dave | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Boys from the Bush | Harry | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Bony | Templeman | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | The Adventures of Skippy | Grumpy Johnston | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993 | A Country Practice | Gordon Moss | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Snowy | Alf Rutherford | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1993-99 | Law of the Land | Hamilton Chalmers | TV series, 14 episodes |
| 1995 | Snowy River: The McGregor Saga | Sir Harry Garfield | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1996 | Sun on the Stubble | Ebeneezer Blitz | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Big Sky | Fred Morgan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1999 | Wildside | Lionel | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2001 | The Farm | George Cooper | Miniseries, 3 episodes |
Theatre
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Tombstone
- 1 2 "Obituary: Wynn Roberts".
- ↑ "Wyn Roberts". BFI. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019.
- ↑ "Wyn Roberts". www.aveleyman.com.
- ↑ "Prisoner scores a double treat". The Australian Women's Weekly. Australia. 24 September 1980. p. 21 (Your TV Magazine). Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ↑ "On the Grapevine". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 17 November 1956. p. 17. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ↑ "No dents in Rogues? armour". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 21 May 1965. p. 17. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ↑ Vagg, Stephen (27 August 2022). "3 Forgotten Australian Television Plays". Filmink. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ↑ "What to stay home for..." The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 17 May 1965. p. 17. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ↑ "'Macbeth' on camera". The Australian Women's Weekly. Australia. 8 September 1965. p. 18. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ↑ "AusStage".
External links
[edit]- Wynn Roberts at IMDb
- Wynn Roberts at AusStage