Bunney Brooke

Bunney Brooke (9 January 1921

Personal life

Brooke was born as Dorothy Cronin on 9 January in 1921

Brooke landed the front cover of the edition of 28 April 1975 of Brisbane's TV Week Magazine, giving an interview of her "battle to the top" explaining being in a better position in life, career success and being a star in the earlier years of

Career

Earlier career (1940s–1970s)

Brooke later worked as a typist with Melbourne-based television production company

Brooke's acting career continued into the 1970s. She was working as director of the Adelaide Theatre Company when she was asked to audition for a role in Number 96. The producers of the show were having trouble filling the role of Flo, a friend and comic foil of gossip Dorrie Evans (Pat McDonald), and Brooke fit the part. Initially seen as a frequent visitor to the flat of Dorrie and her husband Herb, the writers soon burnt down Flo's off-screen apartment in a neighbouring suburb and moved Flo permanently into Dorrie and Herb's flat, where she became a key character in many of the serial's comedy stories.

Brooke continued with Number 96 until the series ended in 1977, also appearing in the

By the early 1980s, Brooke was living in Melbourne and again working for Crawford Productions, this time as a casting agent. She also had acting roles in the Crawford shows Skyways and Carson's Law. In the 1980s, she cast a relatively unknown Kylie Minogue for The Henderson Kids.^[12] In November 1980, Brooke won the Penguin Award of "BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS" – Rock Pool, ABC^[13]

Next Brooke was known to a new generation of viewers with an ongoing role in the children's series

Brooke, esteemed acting career spanned 50 years from the late 1940s and she to had at least 69 known acting credits to her name in theatre work, spanning four decades ranging from 1956 to 1989.[2]

Death

Brooke, a heavy smoker and drinker, died in a Manly, New South Wales, hospital on 2 April 2000 at the age of 79, after a two-year battle with bowel and liver cancer.^[10][14]

On 20 January 2009, her 1974 Silver Logie Award (presented to Brooke in 1975 by the late Hollywood great John Wayne) was purchased by an anonymous Queensland bidder in a 24-hour auction on eBay for A$2,225.^[15] Given that Brooke died in 2000, it is not entirely known how the award then came to be in the possession of the seller.

Tributes

Charlie Little, director, had Brooke reflect on her life to him not long before she died as her illness worsened. Little recalls, she said "I've done all the things I've wanted to do in my life. I've been a very lucky woman". He also said Brooke was "Quite Chaplin-esque".^[16]

Elisabeth Kirkby, fellow Number 96 cast-member and former NSW Politician, said: "Brooke's performance was mesmerising. There was no dialogue. It was just the expression on her face. It was almost as [if] it was actually happening".

Elaine Lee, another Number 96 cast-member, said Brooke "was about laughter, laughter, laughter. We used to laugh a lot, she was a very funny lady". Mark Mitchell, comedian and fellow Round The Twist star, said it was "impossible not to learn from Bunney. You could turn to her in a moment of exasperation knowing she would impart something very timely, if humbling".

Frankie J. Holden, another Round The Twist star, said Brooke "Could play with the kids, be a serious actress opposite the adults and that night drink the crew under the table".

Joanna Milosz (also known as Joanna Milosz-Piekarska), Brooke's long-time agent, said: "Nearly everyone in the industry of the older generation knew Brooke, worked with Brooke, was taught by Brooke or directed by Brooke" and "she had an incredible impact on the industry".^[10]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

References