Bob Ellis

Bob Ellis (born 1942, Lismore, New South Wales) is an Australian writer/journalist, film-maker, and political commentator.

He was a student at University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians Clive James, Germaine Greer, John Bell, Ken Horler, and Mungo McCallum were also studying there. He lives in Sydney with the author and screenwriter Anne Brooksbank; they have three children.

Writing

He was a featured contributor in the "Nation Review" in the 1970s with Michael Leunig, Philip Adams, and Mungo MacCallum. Currently his opinion column appears in an Australian newspaper, most notably "The Sydney Morning Herald".

His writing for the stage includes "The Legend of King O'Malley" (a musical play based on the life of King O'Malley (with Michael Boddy ) (1970) , "Down Under" (with Anne Brooksbank) (1976) and "A Local Man", a play about Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley (with Robin McLachlan) (2006).

His writing for television includes the miniseries "The True Believers" (with Matt Carroll).

Film

creenwriting

Ellis has written several films, notably "The Nostradamus Kid" (1992), "My First Wife" (1984) (with Paul Cox), "Where the Green Ants Dream" ("Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen") (1984) film (with German film director Werner Herzog, "Man of Flowers" (1983) (with Paul Cox), "Fatty Finn" (1980), and "Newsfront" (1978).

Directing

He has also directed several films including "The Nostradamus Kid" (1992), "Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train" (1988) and "Unfinished Business" (1985).

His latest film is the documentary "Run Rabbit, Run" which will premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival. The film is a profile of Mike Rann in the lead up to the 2006 South Australian State Election. [cite news |first= Sandy|last= George |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Ellis zoomed in when Rann made run |url= http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22080483-5006787,00.html|work= |publisher= The Australian |date= 2007-07-16|accessdate= 2007-12-07 ]

Awards

He won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay for "Newsfront" (1978) (with Anne Brooksbank and Phillip Noyce) and for "My First Wife" (1984) (with Paul Cox).

Politics

Ellis, a supporter of the Australian Labor Party, has written speeches for a number of Labor leaders (such as Bob Carr and Paul Keating), and written extensively on Labor history. He has written two books, "Goodbye Jerusalem" and "Goodbye Babylon", on his experiences of the party. "Goodbye Jerusalem" was however subject to a successful defamation case brought by two Liberal cabinet ministers, Tony Abbott and Peter Costello, and their wives. The publisher, Random House accepted that the story was fabricated and the book was removed from sale. A new edition of the book was published three months later, which omitted the particular passage. [cite news |first= Helen|last= Dalley |authorlink= Helen Dalley|coauthors= |title= The inimitable Bob Ellis |url = http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/transcript_292.asp|work= Sunday (TV program) : Cover stories |publisher= Nine Network |date= 1998-11-22 |accessdate= 2007-12-07 ] [cite web | year = 2007 | url = http://www.caslon.com.au/defamationprofile8.htm | title = Defamation profile: offline cases 3 (1998 to 2007) | work = | publisher = Caslon Analytics | accessdate =2006-12-07 cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1998 | url = http://www.law4u.com.au/lil/ls_defamation.html | title = Defamation - sicks and stones | work = Law Spot | publisher = Lawscape Communications | accessdate = 2007-12-07]

Ellis' involvement in politics became more direct when he unsuccessfully contested the Federal seat of Mackellar as an independent candidate against the Liberal Party's Bronwyn Bishop in a by-election in 1994. [ [http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/supplementary_by_elections/Mackellar.htm Australian Electoral Commission report of by-election results for Mackellar] ]

References

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* Leser, David. The two of us: Bob Ellis & Anne Brooksbank. Sydney Morning Herald "Good Weekend" 16 August 1997 p. 12
* . Arts news (arts community to help Bob Ellis, after recent house fire). Sydney Morning Herald 24 April 1993 p. 46
* King, Noel. Abbott and Costello. View From The Couch. Sydney Morning Herald "Good Weekend" 21 November 1998 p. 94

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/profiles/Transcripts/s1130025.htm Interview with Bob Ellis]
* [http://www.bobellis.com.au Personal site]