Colleen Clifford

Colleen Clifford
Born	Eileen Margaret 17 November 1898(1898-11-17) Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom
Died	7 April 1996(1996-04-07) (aged 97) Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Stage, film and television actress
Years active	c. 1920–93
Awards	John Campbell Fellowship 1992

Eileen Margaret (17 November 1898 – 7 April 1996), better known as Colleen Clifford, was a British-born Australian musician, stage, film and television actress. In a career spanning nearly seven decades, she was one of the most popular actresses in both British and Australian theatre and the last-surviving member of Sydney's "grand dames".

She was also an early radio and television performer for the BBC during the 1930s hosting cabaret and variety shows, and during the Second World War, in news broadcasting and war concerts. Clifford was, at one time, featured on a 15 minute radio show showcasing her singing and musical performances. She later did radio plays for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In her later years, she was a highly recognizable character actor with appearances in several films and television series during the 1970s and 80s.

Career

Born in Taunton, Somerset, Colleen Clifford lived in England and New Zealand during her childhood. She studied as a pianist at the Brussels Conservatoire, received a scholarship at the Royal Academy and was active in British theatre as a London stage performer for almost thirty years before emigrating to Perth, Australia in 1954. She continued her theatrical career there and, in 1959, she made her first television appearance performing on the variety show Spotlight. It was first-ever television program to be broadcast in Western Australia. She founded the Perth Theatre Guild and Drama School and the next spent fifteen years helping develop and train talent for the theatre. She staged six successful musicals using entirely local talent and without importing professional actors. These included stage productions of Annie Get Your Gun (1959), starring Leone Martin Smith in the title role, Oklahoma (1961) and South Pacific (1962) at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth.^[1]

Clifford moved to Sydney in 1969 where she regularly performed at the Old Tote Theatre. Although she remained in the theatre, she also began taking on television and film roles.^[1] Clifford made her television acting debut as a guest star on the soap opera Dynasty ^[2] and The Godfathers in 1971.^[3] While touring in New Zealand in 1972, Clifford fell ill and was unable to perform for the first few shows. Being under a "no play, no pay" policy with the theatre company, meaning payment would be withheld from an actor during an illness, she was forced to remain in her Wellington apartment with no means of support. Clifford was then in her late-70s and, with rent money and doctor bills piling up, Michael Craig, Honour Blackman and other members of the company raised enough money to financially support Clifford until she was well enough to rejoin the cast.^[4]

In 1978, she guest starred on Case for the Defence.^[5] A year later, she appeared on the cult series Prisoner: Cell Block H in a brief but memorable role as Edie Wharton,^{[6][7][8][9][10]} an elderly woman imprisoned for vagrancy.^[11] That same year, she made another guest appearance on The Young Doctors.

She took a three-year absence to return to the theatre full-time but, in 1981, began playing a recurring role as Miss Bird on A Country Practice. She also appeared in the television miniseries 1915 (1982) and the historical drama film Careful, He Might Hear You (1983).^[12] She spent the next decade starring in a variety of supporting roles in film and television. These included appearances on Mother and Son and Five Mile Creek, Where the Green Ants Dream (1984),^[13] The Coca-Cola Kid (1985),^[14] Double Sculls (1986), The Year My Voice Broke (1987) and Barracuda (1988). In 1990, the 92-year-old Clifford starred in the latest version of her one-woman show A Nightingale Still At It in Berkeley Square. She was awarded the John Campbell Fellowship for her contribution to theatre two years later.^[15]

She returned to A Country Practice playing Freda Spinner in 1990 and Mrs. Grainger in 1993;^[16] that same year, she starred in Frauds (1993) ^[13][17] and This Won't Hurt a Bit (1993) marking her final film and television roles. Clifford died in Sydney on 7 April 1996, at the age of 97.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hough, David. A Dream of Passion: The Centennial History of His Majesty's Theatre. Perth: UWA Press, 2004. (pg. 170–171) ISBN 1-920843-09-4
2. ^ "Dynasty Episode Details". ClassicAustralianTV.com. 2008. http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/dynasty_eps.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
3. ^ "The Godfathers Episode Details". ClassicAustralianTV.com. 2008. http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/GODFeps.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
4. ^ Craig, Michael. The Smallest Giant: An Actor's Life. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin, 2005. (pg. 173) ISBN 1-74114-565-1
5. ^ "Case For The Defence Episode Details". ClassicAustralianTV.com. 2008. http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/CaseEps.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
6. ^ Terrace, Vincent. Television, 1970–1980. San Diego: A.S. Barnes, 1981. (pg. 161) ISBN 0-498-02539-X
7. ^ Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots & Specials: 1974–1984. Vol. 2. New York: Zoetrope, 1985. (pg. 333) ISBN 0-918432-61-8
8. ^ "Location Spotting – C". Prisoner Cell Block H Escapees. ThatEden.co.uk. 2002. http://www.thateden.co.uk/prisoner/actorc.htm#colcli. Retrieved 2009-06-27. 
9. ^ "Prisoner (1979–1987?)". OZTV Credits. 2004. http://www.users.on.net/~fsteiny/prisoner_home.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
10. ^ "Steve Hurst's reviews of Prisoner: Episodes 41–50". 1979 In Review. WWWentworth.co.uk. 2008-06-12. http://www.wwwentworth.co.uk/jock/Jock1979.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ "PCBH Characters, Section 11". WWWentworth.co.uk. 2001-03-03. http://www.wwwentworth.co.uk/C11.htm#549. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
12. ^ Variety's Film Reviews: 1983–1984. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1986. ISBN 0-8352-2798-7
13. ^ ^{a b} Lentz, Harris M. Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000. (pg. 1116, 1669) ISBN 0-7864-0951-7
14. ^ Willis, John. Screen World 1986 Film Annual. Vol. 37. New York: Random House, 1986. (pg. 159, 175) ISBN 0-517-56257-X
15. ^ "1898". Ladies First: Celebrated Women from the 7th to 20th Century. UKOnline.co.uk. 2003. http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/19th%20Century/1898.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
16. ^ "A Country Practice: Episode Guide (1993)". Australian Television Information Archive. AustralianTelevision.net. 1998. http://www.australiantelevision.net/acp/1993.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
17. ^ Willis, John. Screen World 1994 Film Annual. Vol. 45. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2000. (pg. 275) ISBN 1-55783-201-3

Further reading

• Amadio, Nadine. "Never To Old." The Bulletin. 112.5725–5733 (1990): 90–91.
• Blackman, Barbara. "Colleen Clifford interviewed by Barbara Blackman". National Library of Australia, 1985.
• Blundell, Graeme. Australian Theatre: Backstage with Graeme Blundell. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-19-553767-X
• Deveson, Anne. Coming of Age: Twenty-One Interviews About Growing Older. Newham, Victoria: Scribe Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-908011-28-8

External links

• Colleen Clifford at the Internet Movie Database
• Colleen Clifford at the TCM Movie Database
• Colleen Clifford at AllRovi

Persondata
Name	Clifford, Colleen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1898-11-17
Place of birth	Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom
Date of death	1996-04-07
Place of death	Sydney, Australia