Fay Kelton

Fay Kelton
Born1940-1941 (aged 81-82)[1]
Tasmania, Australia[2]
Occupation(s)Stage, radio and television actress
Years active1961–1988; 1994–1995, 2001

Fay Kelton (born in Tasmania between 1940 and 1941)[3] is an Australian former actress radio, stage and television, she relocated to Melbourne in her teens.[4] She was a regular performer on the ABC radio serial Blue Hills (1949–1976), and also appeared in the shorter serials for commercial radio Danse Macabre[5] and Forests of the Night.[6]

Kelton also appeared in numerous television films and series, including a part based on the historical figure of Mary Bryant in the 1963 television series The Hungry Ones with Leonard Teale. She also starred in Nice Day at the Office, Cop Shop, Prisoner, A Country Practice and Home and Away.

Biography

Kelton worked as a stage and radio actress prior to making her television acting debut in the live television play Who Killed Kovali? on the 13 July 1960.[7] This was followed by, amongst other productions, the television film The End Begins (1961). Two years later, she was cast as Mary Bryant in the television mini-series The Hungry Ones, with co-star Leonard Teale,[8][9] and followed this with appearances in The Gioconda Smile (1963)[10] and A Man for All Seasons (1964).[11] Kelton played 'the daughter of a miser' in Cross of Gold which aired in October, 1965.[12][13]

She made eight guest appearances on Homicide between 1964 and 1971.[14][15] She also made one-time appearances on the Australian series Dynasty and The Comedy Game, the latter performance leading to her role as Vicki Short in the spinoff A Nice Day at the Office in 1972.[16]

Having moved from Melbourne to Sydney the previous year, she also performed on the ABC radio serial Blue Hills[17] (as well as commercial radio serials Danse Macabre and Forests of the Night)[18] and in the Hugh Leonard farce The Patrick Pearce Motel. She was working seven days a week and up to 16 hours a day.[19] In 1974, she had a leading role in the televised play The Misanthrope.[20]

Kelton guest starred in Ryan, Matlock Police, Division 4 and Power Without Glory.[21] In 1981, she was cast as Alison Page on the soap opera Prisoner.[22][23] Her character was introduced as a troubled housewife who is sent to prison for shoplifting. Despondent over the separation from her family and bullying from the other women, especially Doreen Burns (Colette Mann), she attempts suicide.[24][25] Kelton later returned to stage acting and performed for the Northside Theatre Company in Sydney for much of the 1980s.

After a five-year absence from television, she appeared on A Country Practice in 1986 and the television miniseries Emma: Queen of the South Seas in 1988.[26] In 1994, she had a recurring role as Anne Harris on Home and Away.[27][28][29] She returned to acting once more to guest star on All Saints in 2001.

References

  1. ^ Melbourne Age Radio-TV Supplement 8 April 1960, p. 5
  2. ^ Melbourne Age Radio-TV Supplement 8 April 1960, p. 5
  3. ^ Melbourne Age Radio-TV Supplement 8 April 1960, p. 5
  4. ^ "Women in the Theatre: Musical to Have Australian Cast" Melbourne Age 7 November 1959, p. 7
  5. ^ Melbourne Age TV-Radio Guide 24 June 1965 p. 9; Melbourne Age TV-Radio Country Guide 1 November 1966 p. 4
  6. ^ Melbourne Age TV-Radio Guide 24 February 1966 p. 9; Melbourne Age TV-Radio Guide 8 July 1966 p. 10
  7. ^ "New Faces in Tennis Murder Drama on TV" Melbourne Age Radio/TV Supplement, 7 July 1960 p. 5
  8. ^ "The Hungry Ones." TV Times. 22 May 1963.
  9. ^ "The Hungry Ones (1963)". OZTV Credits. 2004. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  10. ^ "The Games to Good Medicine". The Memorable TV Guide to Australian TV. MemorableTV.com. 2003. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  11. ^ "Mac and Merle to Mission Impossible". The Memorable TV Guide to Australian TV. MemorableTV.com. 2003. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  12. ^ Vagg, Stephen. "Forgotten Australian television plays: Cross of Gold and Goodbye Gloria Hello | FilmInk". Filmink. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  13. ^ 'TV' Melbourne Age 27 October 1965 p. 14
  14. ^ Riddler, E. (26 August 1996). "Homicide (Australia) Episode Guide". Lawmen: Cops, Spies and PIs. The Riddler's Cult TV Net Directory. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  15. ^ Storey, Don (2008). "Homicide Episode Details". ClassicAustralianTV.com. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  16. ^ Storey, Don (2008). "A Nice Day at the Office". ClassicAustralianTV.com. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  17. ^ Kent, Jacqueline. Out of the Bakelite Box: The Heyday of Australian Radio. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1983. (pg. 267) ISBN 0-207-14486-9
  18. ^ "Australian Radio Series: 1930s to 1970s" (PDF). Radio Series Collection Guide. National Film & Sound Archive. 25 January 2002. Archived from the original (.pdf) on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  19. ^ "A Work Fest for Fay". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 Jan 1972
  20. ^ Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide section, 7 October 1974 p. 4
  21. ^ Moran, Albert (2004). "Power Without Glory". Australian Programming. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  22. ^ Curthoys, Ann; John Docker (2004). "Prisoner, Australian Prison Melodrama". Australian Programming. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  23. ^ Museum of Broadcast Communications (2004). "Prisoner." In H. Newcomb (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Television (Vol. I, 2nd ed.). New York and London: CRC Press. (pg. 1827) ISBN 1-57958-411-X
  24. ^ "1981". Prisoner: Eight Years Inside. Aussie Soap Archives. 1996. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  25. ^ "PCBH Characters, Section 23". WWWentworth.co.uk. 3 March 2001. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  26. ^ "Fay Kelton Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  27. ^ "Who's Who: Stars of 1994". HomeandAway.org. 22 March 1998. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  28. ^ "Who's Who: Stars of 1995". HomeandAway.org. 22 March 1998. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  29. ^ "Location Spotting – K". Prisoner Cell Block H Escapees. ThatEden.co.uk. 2002. Archived from the original on 29 August 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.

Further reading

  • Sumner, John. Recollections at Play: A Life in Australian Theatre. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-522-84494-4