Neil Melville

Neil Melville
Born	(1953-02-18) 18 February 1953 (age 71) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupations	actor singer producer director
Spouses	Debra Byrne (m. 1989 – d. 1997) Bo Melville (m. 16 October 1997 – present)

Neil Melville is an Australian actor.

Early life

Melville was born in Sydney, but spent most of his childhood in Apollo Bay, Victoria. In the early 1970s he was lead singer of Geelong rock band 'SteamHammer'. Melville graduated from Adelaide's Flinders University with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English Literature, Philosophy and Drama. He performed in a number of university productions, including, most notably, the world premiere of Jack Hibberd's The Les Darcy Show for the Adelaide Festival in 1974.[1]

Career

After graduating from university, Melville spent a year writing and performing for children with the Little Patch Children's Theatre. While with this group, he wrote the vaudeville-documentary, Australian Born, Australian Bred. He also worked with the South Australian Theatre Company and toured with The South Australian Arts Council.[1]

Melville went on to serve as actor and director-in-residence at the University of Melbourne. While there, he secured roles in Crawford television series' Cop Shop, The Sullivans, Carson's Law and The Flying Doctors. He also worked in cabaret and theatre at John Pinder’s ‘Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant’ and Ralph Kerle’s ‘Flying Trapeze’. Neil created the highly successful Busking with Brel. He went on to perform in stage productions of Evita, Oklahoma! and Les Misérables.[1]

Melville has acted extensively in television, including in series' such as Rafferty's Rules, A Country Practice, The Henderson Kids, Col’n Carpenter, Snowy, Phoenix, Janus, Ocean Girl, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, Correlli, Flipper, Stingers, Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us, McLeod's Daughters, Underbelly, Jack Irish, Offspring, Wentworth, Playing for Keeps and Five Bedrooms. He has also appeared in films such as Brilliant Lies and Run Rabbit Run.[1]

Melville is also an accomplished musician and worked as Executive Producer on ex-wife Debra Byrne's album, Heaven Down Here.[1]

Personal life

In 1987, Melville met fellow actor and singer Debra Byrne on the set of the Australian theatre production of Les Misérables.[2] By June 1989 the couple were planning their wedding.[3] Byrne and Melville separated in November 1996 and later divorced.[4]

Melville met his current wife, Bo, a costume designer, while touring with Melbourne Theatre Company. They have been married since 1997 and live in Glenaire in the Otways on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, where they run a hospitality business, while Melville continues to act.[5]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
	The Fantasticks		The Space	[1]
1974	The Les Darcy Show		Adelaide Festival - World premiere
1976	Coriolanus		Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA for Adelaide Festival	[6]
1977	How the Other Half Loves[6]		Arts Theatre, Adelaide with Adelaide Repertory Theatre
1980-81	Evita	Singer	Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Perth Entertainment Centre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney	[6]
1981	Busking with Brel	Actor & Singer	Nimrod Theatre, Sydney	[6]
1982	Oklahoma![6]	Cord Elam	Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Theatre Royal, Sydney, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne
1983	Life of Galileo[6]		SGIO Theatre, Brisbane with Queensland Theatre
1983	Summer of the Seventeenth Doll[6]		Anthill Theatre, Melbourne with Australian Nouveau Theatre
1984	Odyssey of a Prostitute[6]	Ray Le Sting / Uncle Charles	Church Theatre, Melbourne with Australian Contemporary Theatre Company
1985	Blue Window[6]	Tom	St Martins Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company
1987	Les Misérables	Combeferre / Factory Foreman	Theatre Royal, Sydney	[6]
1989	Les Misérables in Concert[6]	Ensemble	The Domain, Sydney for Sydney Festival
1990	This Old Man Comes Rolling Home	Snowy Baker / Violet / Child	Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC	[6]
1996	Summer of the Seventeenth Doll		Theatre Royal, Hobart, Playhouse, Adelaide, Glen Street Theatre, Sydney, Newcastle Civic Theatre with MTC	[6]
2015	West Side Story	Schrank	State Theatre, Melbourne with The Production Company	[6]
	Othello
	Macbeth
	The Naked Vicar Show
	On Our Selection
	The Magic Guitar
	The Ramayana

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2023	Jones Family Christmas	Brian Jones	TV Film	[7]
	Fanciers	Barry	Short
	Run Rabbit Run	Albert
2016	Spirit of the Game	David McKay
2015	Pedal	Reg	Short film
2012	Jack Irish: Black Tide	Ricky Kirsch	TV movie
2011	A Heartbeat Away	Tommy
2010	Oranges and Sunshine	Monsignor	Feature film
	Lifeboat		Short film
2009	Saved	Nigel Weston	TV movie	[8]
2006	Court of Lonely Royals
1996	Brilliant Lies	Vince	Feature film
1995	The Feds: Terror	Don Gosper	TV movie
	In Pursuit of Honor	Sean Quinlain	TV movie
1987	Bushfire Moon (aka Miracle Down Under)	Mr Potts	Feature film
	Feathers	Bert

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2019-22	Five Bedrooms	Roger Everely	TV series, 2 episodes
2021	Love Me	Arty	TV series, 1 episode
	Lie With Me	Ray Tucker	TV miniseries, 4 episodes	[9]
	Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries	Bill Steed	TV series, 1 episode
2019	Upright	Jim	TV series, 1 episode
	Playing for Keeps	Bob Macklevee	TV series, 6 episodes	[10]
2018	Jack Irish	Ricky Kirsch	TV series, 5 episodes
	Picnic at Hanging Rock	Mr Hussey	TV miniseries, 5 episodes
2017	Offspring	Drew Crew	TV series, 5 episodes
	The Leftovers	Captain	TV series, 1 episode
	Newton's Law	Christopher Elvin	TV series, 3 episodes
2015	Utopia	Ken	TV series, 1 episode
	Wentworth	Brendan Maddock	TV series, 1 episode
2014	Party Tricks	Duncan Guthrie	TV series, 4 episodes
2013	Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries	George Sanderson	TV series, 3 episodes
2012	Rake	TV series, Keegan Wiley	1 episode
	Howzat! Kerry Packer's War	Ray Steele	TV miniseries, 2 episodes
2011	Killing Time	Barry Edwards	TV miniseries, 4 episodes
2009	City Homicide	Jack Ferguson	TV series, 1 episode
2008	The Hollowmen	Ian	TV series, 12 episodes	[11]
	Underbelly	Todd McDonald	TV series, 6 episodes	[12]
1994-05	Blue Heelers	Kevin Sutton / Bob Crowley	TV series, 6 episodes
2004	McLeod's Daughters	Merv Richards	TV series, 1 episode
2003	The Saddle Club	Mr Roth	TV series, 2 episodes
2002	Something in the Air	Colin Lynch	TV series, 1 episode
1998-01	Halifax f.p.	Phillip Parker / Jim Dettmann	TV series, 2 episodes
2001	The Secret Life of Us	Male Doctor	TV series, 1 episode
1999	Stingers	Gil Truman	TV series, 1 episode
1996	Flipper	Dr Hansen	TV series, 1 episode
1995	Correlli	Jim Sanderson	TV miniseries, 8 episodes
	Snowy River: The Mcgregor Saga	Fergus Ross	TV series, 1 episode
1994	Law of the Land	Terry Rankin	TV series, 1 episode
	Ocean Girl	Lambert	TV series, 1 episode
	Janus	Sergeant Morris	TV series, 1 episode
1993	Snowy River: The McGregor Saga	Jack Logan	TV series, 13 episodes
	Phoenix	Martin Schultz	TV series, 2 episodes
1992	Boys from the Bush	Ted	TV series, 2 episodes
	Good Vibrations	Jim	TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1981-92	A Country Practice	Bruce / Martin / Olsen	TV series, 5 episodes
1992-85	Neighbours	Roy Riley / Jim Hawkins	TV series, 5 episodes
1991	Col'n Carpenter	TV Repair Man	TV series, 1 episode
1990	Embassy	Phil Hartman	TV series, 2 episodes
1988	Rafferty's Rules	Banks	TV series, 1 episode
1987	In Between	Doctor	TV series, 1 episode
1986	Alice to Nowhere	Roy	TV miniseries, 2 episodes
	Studio 86		TV miniseries, 1 episode
	Whose Baby?	Jim	TV miniseries, 1 episode
	The Flying Doctors	Niall Robertson	TV series, 1 episode
1985	The Henderson Kids	Barton	TV series, 14 episodes
1982-85	Prisoner	Mick Kirby / Phil Sutton	TV series, 3 episodes
1985	The Fast Lane	Wallace	TV series, 1 episode
1983	Carson's Law	Patrick McAvoy	TV series, 2 episodes
1979-81	The Sullivans	Sgt Pauling / Lecherous Seaman	TV series, 3 episodes
1980	Cop Shop	Plain Clothes Cop	TV series, 1 episode

References

1. "Neil Melville". Creative Media Careers. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
2. "Event: Les Misérables". AusStage. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
3. "New film about a colourful racing identity". The Canberra Times. Vol. 63, no. 19, 619. 26 June 1989. p. 6 (The Guide). Retrieved 10 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
4. Gans, Andrew (21 March 1997). "Diva Talk: Betty Takes 'Flight' at Maxim's". Playbill. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
5. "Glenaire Cottages – your own private retreat". Otway Journal. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
6. "Neil Melville". AusStage. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
7. Knox, David (August 2023). "Filming underway on Jones Family Christmas for Stan | TV Tonight". TVtonight.
8. Knox, David (6 April 2009). "Saved | TV Tonight". TVTonight.com.
9. Knox, David (3 November 2021). "Lie with Me | TV Tonight". TVTonight.
10. "Australian Television: Playing for Keeps: Episode guide: Series 2".
11. Knox, David (14 June 2008). "Airdate: The Hollowmen | TV Tonight". TVTonight.com.
12. "Australian Television: Underbelly: Cast".

Sources

• Stratton, David. "Brilliant Lies". Variety i2 (13–19 May 1996): 68
• Graeme Turner; Stuart Cunningham (2000). The Australian TV Book. Allen & Unwin Australia. ISBN 978-1-86508-014-7.
• Brilliant Lies
• Neil and Bo Melville at Apollo Bay
• Neil Melville at IMDb