Wendy Blacklock
Wendy Blacklock AM (born 1932) is a retired Australia-based theatre, radio and television actress, comedienne, producer, writer, singer and choreographer and theatre entrepreneur, who has for appeared in numerous radio and stage roles,and has been referred to as a "Grand Dame of the Stage". She has worked with numerous performers including comedian Barry Humphries and is a theatrical entrepreneur, who founded her own theatre company "Performing Lines", that she ran for 21 years, after years working with Elizabethan Theatre Trust, to coach, produce and showcase new productions and artist's for the stage, and her theatre museum, features several alumni of entertainers and performers including Graham Kennedy, Jill Perryman, Carol Raye and Gordon Chater[1]
Wendy Blacklock | |
|---|---|
| Founder and Chairwoman of Performing Lines Theatre Company | |
| In office 1980 (foundation) – 2011 (retirement) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1932 (age 88–89) Sydney, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation |
|
Blacklock became famous for her long-running role of comedy character dizzy Edith "Edie" MacDonald, often referred to as Mother or Mummy, opposite Mike Dorsey in the 1970s television soap opera Number 96: a suburban housewife with a fondness for gin, daytime soap operas and analgesics.
Career in radio and theatre
Blacklock's acting career began on the stage and from 1953 she spent two years in England acting in repertory theatre. She returned to Australia and had a solid career in the theatre which included stage tours of Australia and New Zealand; she was also a regular cast member of the satirical revues staged at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre in the 1960s. Prior to the role in Number 96 she had played in theatrical productions of Don's Party and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and made a few guest appearances in Australian television drama series[2]
Television
She played the title role in the TV musical Pardon Miss Westcott.[3]
The role in Number 96 began in January 1974. At that time the show was Australia's highest-rated television program and Blacklock's character, dizzy housewife Edith "Edie" McDonald – otherwise known as "Mummy" – along with Edie's regimented husband Reg, known as "Daddy" (Mike Dorsey) and their adopted daughter Marilyn (Frances Hargreaves), became popular and enduring comedy characters in the series. In late 1976 there were plans to spin off the characters of "Mummy and Daddy" into a new situation comedy series titled Mummy and Me and starring Blacklock and Dorsey, but the proposed series was not picked up by the network and the characters remained in Number 96. Blacklock played in the series continuously until it ended in August 1977 and was in fact the final person shown in the closing scene of the last episode.When he series was released to DVD, she recorded a commentary alongside series creator and scriptwriter David Sales and co-stars Sheila Kennelly, Elaine Lee and Deborah Gray
During 1977, Blacklock appeared occasionally as a panellist on game show Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks. In the late 1970s she and her main Number 96 co-star Mike Dorsey created a stage show based on their Number 96 characters which toured clubs in New South Wales.
Honours
Blacklock was a JC Williamson Award recipient for lifetime achievement in 2003.[4] Blacklock was awarded the Order Of Australia for her services to the arts in 1992. A pioneer and facilitator of young people wanting to enter the arts, she is also a Helpmann Award recipient
Screen roles and appearances
| year | title | role |
| 1957 | Pantomine Quiz | Guest (as herself) |
| 1959 | Pardon Miss Westcote (TV movie) | Elizabeth Westcott |
| 1959 | Pardon Miss Westcott (soundtrack) | Performer "Send for Me" I'm on My Way,/br >HowCould i See You Walked By |
| 1967 | Australian Playhouse | unknown |
| 1968 | Play School | Herself as Presenter |
| 1970 | Skippy | Hattie McDougall |
| 1970 | Homicide | Ann "Aunty" Turner |
| 1971 | The Comedy Game | Herself |
| 1972 | Carry on Spike in Australia | Herself (TVspecial) |
| 1972 | Boney | Janet Asworth |
| 1974 | Me and Merle | Guest |
| 1976 | The Celebrity Game | Herself |
| 1977 | Blankety Blanks | Panellist |
| 1978 | The Peter Coackman Show | Guest as herself |
| 1974-1977 | Number 96 | Edie "Mummy", "Mother" McDonald 227 episodes |
| 2006 | Number 96...The Final Years DVD "96 special" | Commentary |
Theatre
Source = AusStage For further information: see Wendy Blacklock Theatre
| Production |
| Dear Charles |
| Two to One |
| Around the Loop |
| The Happiest Days of Your Life |
| Cinderella |
| Phillip Street Revue |
| Mistress Money |
| The Playboy of the Western World |
| The Rage |
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| Revue at the Loo |
| Spring and Port Wine |
| Gone Potty |
| The Prince and the Firebird |
| The Hostage |
| Dick Whittington |
| An Aweful Rose |
| Don's Party |
| Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly |
| Habeas Corpus |
| Incompletions |
| George and Mildred |
| Blood of the Lamb |
| Corporal Mime Theatre Workshops |
| Face Value |
References
- Joyce Morgan. "Grand Dame of the Stage Takes Her Bows". Sydney Morning Herald.
- "Wendy Blacklock AM".
- Vagg, Stephen (4 November 2020). "Forgotten TV Plays: Pardon Miss Wescott". Filmink.
- "JC Williamson Award recipients". Helpmann Awards. Live Performance Australia. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
External links
- Wendy Blacklock at IMDb
- Blacklock, Wendy (1932 - ) in The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
