Vivienne Garrett is an Australian-based theatre, film and television actress. She is a theatre director, acting and voice coach and also a qualified yoga instructor and therapist. She was born in Sydney and now lives in Western Australia. Garrett graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1970.
Her best known role was as rebellious teenager Rose Godolfus (later Myers), an original character in TV serial Number 96, her character was involved in numerous controversial storylines[2]
Early career
As a primary school student she was chosen to star in a theatrical production of The Little Mermaid where she was spotted by Geoff Harvey the then musical director for TCN-9 and subsequently began performing and singing on children's television talent show Comedy Capers. While still a teenager, her first screen acting role was in The Unloved produced by NLT Productions in 1968. After graduating from NIDA she toured with a Theatre in Education company[3] and had guest roles in police dramas Homicide and Matlock Police.
Garrett is best known for her role of rebellious Rose Godolfus, the daughter of deli owner Aldo (Johnny Lockwood), in top-rated soap opera Number 96. She was a member of the original cast of Number 96 when it began in March 1972. Number 96 brought sexual situations and nude scenes to Australian television for the first time. Although series star Abigail became famous for being the first woman to appear topless on Australian television, in fact it was Garrett, who was topless in the serial's first episode, who deserves the credit. However the scene was screened only in Sydney. By the time the episode went to air in other localities in the days following, the shot had been cut by censors[4] after complaints from viewers.[5] Garrett remained in the show for five months, breaking her contract and leaving the series over a storyline where Rose was gang raped by a group of bikers in which the script called for her to be actually enjoying it.[6][7]
In 1976 she travelled to India where she studied yoga, meditation and philosophy at an ashram for 12 months under the guidance of Baba Muktananda in Ganeshpuri.[citation needed] She wrote about the experience in 1977 for the lifestyle magazine Simply Living. Back in Australia, she worked on student films for Australian Film Television and Radio School and continued to act in theatre and on screen.
Garrett has worked as a theatre director on productions of Breaststroke, Ursula's Ecstasy, The Spook, Margritte and Tartuffe. She has also directed more than twenty short story productions for ABC Radio National.
After graduating from NIDA with a BA in Dramatic Arts Garrett went on to post graduate studies in Voice and Shakespearean Text at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC, Canada.
^Clarke, David and Steve Samuelson. 50 Years: Celebrating a Half-Century of Australian Television, Random House: Milsons Point, NSW, 2006. ISBN1-74166-024-6 p 142
^Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps, Pluto Press Australia, 2004. ISBN1-86403-191-3 p 45