Bille Brown
Bille Brown | |
---|---|
Member of the Order of Australia |
William Gerald Brown
Early life
Brown was born in
Abroad
Brown's career took him abroad to Britain, where he joined the
While working in the United Kingdom, Brown also performed in the West End, at the Aldwych and Haymarket Theatres, the Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera and Dublin Theatre Festival. While performing onstage at Stratford he was spotted by John Cleese, who cast him in Fierce Creatures, the sequel to A Fish Called Wanda.
In New York, Brown made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1986 in
Bille Brown was a visiting professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
Australia
Brown returned to Australia to live permanently in 1996. He had an outstanding career on stage and performed for many leading Australian theatre companies, including
In 1996, he directed the Australian stage production of
The same year he accepted an offer to be Adjunct Professor in the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland, and gave workshops and master classes for drama students.
In 2009, Brown wrote and performed in
His playwriting credits include Bill and Mary, based on imaginary conversations between the poet Mary Gilmore and the portrait painter William Dobell while she was sitting for him.[4]
Film
Brown appeared in films including Fierce Creatures (as "Neville"), The Dish (as "the Prime Minister"), Oscar and Lucinda (as "Percy Smith") and Singularity.[5]
Honours
Brown was appointed a
Awards
Brown received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Queensland.
Death
Brown died from bowel cancer on 13 January 2013, two days after his 61st birthday.[7] After a private funeral, a public memorial service was held at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on 4 February 2013. The eulogy was delivered by longtime friend and colleague Geoffrey Rush.[8]
Film credits
- Fierce Creatures (1997) - Neville Coltrane
- Oscar and Lucinda (1997) - Percy Smith
- Passion (1999) - John Grainger
- Walk the Talk (2000) - Barry
- The Dish (2000) - Prime Minister
- Serenades (2001) - Pastor Hoffman
- The Man Who Sued God (2001) - Gerry Ryan
- Black and White (2002) - Sir Thomas Playford
- Dirty Deeds (2002) - Senator
- Curtin (2007) - Robert Menzies
- Unfinished Sky (2007) - Bob Potter
- Dying Breed (2008) - Harvey / Rowan
- At World's End(2009) - James Hall
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader(2010) - Coriakin
- The Eye of the Storm (2011) - Dudley
- Killer Elite (2011) - Colonel Fitz
- Singularity (2013) - Egerton (final film role)
Television
- Medivac (1997) - Prosecutor
- A Difficult Woman (1998) - Howard
- Big Sky (1999) - Lightfoot
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1999) - Hinkel
- The Farm(2001) - Booth
- Bad Cop, Bad Cop (2002) - Detective 'Blue' Wales
- White Collar Blue (2003) - Tony Heron
- Blackjack (2005) - Tez Miller
- The Hollowmen (2008) - Senator Ron Engels
- All Saints (2000-09) - Steve Coulter / Bill Lewis
- Heartbeat(2009) - Sergeant Flaherty
- 3 Acts of Murder (2009) - George Ritchie
- Wild Boys (2011) - Booth
- Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2012) - Bart Tarrant
- The Kennedys
- Rake (2012) - Dominic Rose
References
- ^ "Bille Brown, a truly original titan of the theatre". The Australian.
- ^ New York Times, 27 November 1986.
- ^ Bille Brown — Internet Broadway Database
- ^ "Bill and Mary". Archived from the original on 3 March 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
- ^ "Josh Hartnett and Olga Kurylenko filming in Brisbane for Singularity". The Courier-Mail. Tristan Swanwick. 16 November 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
- ^ "Brown, Bille". Search Australian Honours. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- ^ "Veteran stage actor Bille Brown dies". The Australian. 13 January 2013.
- ^ "Stars celebrate Bille Brown's talent, warmth and fierce humour". Brisbane Times. 5 February 2013.
External links
- Bille Brown at IMDb
- Alyce Faye Cleese interviews Bille Brown in Montecito, Ca. 35 minutes.
- Bille Brown – Stage acting credits
- "Merry Wives of Windsor" – special Waratah Festival performance, at Albert Park Amphitheatre, Brisbane (1987)
- "The Merry Wives of Windsor" – Albert Park Amphitheatre, Brisbane (1987)