- Sheila Florance
Infobox actor
name = Sheila Florance
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birthdate =July 24 ,1916
birthplace =St Kilda, Victoria ,Australia
deathdate = Dda|1991|10|12|1916|7|24
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occupation =Television actor
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website =Sheila Florance (
July 24 ,1916 –October 12 ,1991 ) was anAustralia nfilm andtelevision actress. She is probably best known for playing Lizzie Birdsworth in "Prisoner".Biography
Born in St Kilda,
Melbourne ,Australia , her passion for theatre took her toLondon , and eventually back to Melbourne. Florance was a frequent guest star in various television series during the 1960s and was a regular on the "Bellbird" series. In the 1970s, she began appearing in films, most notably "Petersen " (1974), "End Play " (1975), "The Devil's Playground " (1976), and "Mad Max " (1979).In 1978, she joined the cast of the television series "Prisoner" (known outside of Australia as "Prisoner: Cell Block H"), which was produced by The
Reg Grundy Organisation . As the recalcitrant, alcoholic, convicted murderer Lizzie Birdsworth, Florance became one of the show's favourite performers. The writers initially devised the character as comic relief; however, with Florance's performance, the character was further developed and given more substantial dramatic storylines. Her popularity was such that she won twoLogie Award s as Australia's most popular television actress in 1981 and 1983. Florance left the show in 1984 and worked in such films as "Nirvana Street Murder " (1990).In a heated on air exchange with Grundy's senior Vice President
Peter Pinne on a live British television programme "Open Air " in 1989, Florance was highly critical of the production company and its treatment of the cast.Her final film role was in
Paul Cox 's "A Woman's Tale " (1991). As a genteel, elderly woman, down on her luck, who reminisced with her nurse of better days, while dying of cancer, Florance gave a performance that was widely praised both within Australia, and internationally following the film's release. Florance herself was fightingcancer during the filming. She won theAFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work, and seven days after receiving the award, died from the disease, in Melbourne.In 2005, a
biography , "On The Inside", was published, written by her daughter-in-lawHelen Martineau .External links
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* [http://www.helenmartineau.com website of Florance's biographer Helen Martineau]
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