Australian actor (1934–2022)
Alan Hopgood
Born Alan John Hopgood
29 September 1934Died 19 March 2022 (aged 87) Occupations Actor producer playwright and dramatist screenwriter librettist publisher lecturer Years active 1940–2014
Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood , was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film Alvin Purple and made appearances in television shows such as Bellbird , Prisoner and Neighbours .
Early life
Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania , and grew up in the state. He acted in several dramatic roles in his childhood. He attended school in Melbourne and then studied at the University of Melbourne , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) and a Diploma of Education. His first play, Marcus , was produced at Melbourne University while he was working as a school teacher. He left teaching to write full-time and start his acting career.[1]
Career
Scriptwriting and screenwriting
Hopgood's first successful play, And the Big Men Fly , was about Australian rules football and was produced in 1963 by the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Russell Street Theatre in Melbourne with scripts by Brad Hopgood.[2] The play was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973 and also a telemovie. In 1964, he followed with The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women . In 1966 he produced Private Yuk Objects , which he said was the first play anywhere in the world on the subject of the Vietnam War .
Hopgood has also written a number of film and television screenplays, including the comedy film Alvin Purple (1973), which was the most commercially successful Australian film of the early 1970s.
Screen actor: Television and film
Hopgood was an actor with the Melbourne Theatre Company for ten years and was an early 'soap' star in Bellbird , in which for six years he played the town doctor. He has also performed in the later soaps, Prisoner (for which he also scripted many episodes) and Neighbours as Jack Lassiter (a role he reprised in August 2013).[3]
As an actor, his cinema credits include My Brilliant Career (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Roadgames (1981), Evil Angels (1988, released as A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand)[4] and The Man from Snowy River II (1988).
He worked with a large number of actors including Frank Thring , Meryl Streep , Brooke Shields , Sam Neill and Judy Davis .[5]
In late 2021, Hopgood appeared in an exclusive interview for the official YouTube channel Talking Prisoner , in which he discussed his life and career. The episode was published in January 2022.[6]
Honours
Hopgood won AWGIE awards for The Cheerful Cuckold and The Bush Bunch and writing several feature films including Alvin Purple and the documentaries The Prophecies of Nostradamus and The Fountain of Youth .
Hopgood was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia ) in 2005 for his services to the performing arts as an actor, playwright and producer, and to the community through raising awareness of men's health issues.[7]
Personal life
Hopgood resided in Melbourne with his wife Gay, with whom he had two children (Fincina and Sam), and four grandchildren (Jackson, Harrison, Ashwyn and Darcy).[8]
Health issues and death
Alan Hopgood developed prostate cancer and published a book on the experience titled Surviving Prostate Cancer: One Man's Journey , which was widely praised.[9] [10] He ofter toured giving humorous lectures on men's health issues.[5]
Hopgood died from prostate cancer at the age of 87 on 19 March 2022 at a hospital in Melbourne.[11] [12]
Filmography
Film
Television
As writer
Year
Title
Role
Type
1963
And the Big Men Fly
Writer
TV movie
1964
Barley Charlie
Writer
TV series, season 1 (7 episodes)
1967
Bellbird
Writer
TV series
1968
The World of Seekers
Writer
TV movie
1969
The Cheerful Cuckold
Writer
TV movie (from Australian Plays )
1973
The Barry Crocker Comedy Hour
Writer
TV special
1973
Alvin Purple
Screenplay
Feature film
1974
And the Big Men Fly
Writer
TV series, season 1 (6 episodes)
1974
Alvin Rides Again
Screenplay
Feature film
1975
The True Story of Eskimo Nell
Writer
Feature film
1976
Alvin Purple
Writer / creator
TV series, season 1 (13 episodes)
1979
Gulpilil: Man of Two Worlds
Writer
TV movie
1979
The Prophecies of Nostradamus
Writer
Feature film
1980
The Quick Brown Fox
Writer
Short film
1981
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Screenplay
Feature film
1981
And Here Comes Bucknuckle
Writer
TV series, season 1 (6 episodes)
1981
Pacific Banana
Screenplay
Feature film
1981
The Cliffhanger
Writer
Short TV movie
1981
The Bush Bunch: 1.1 the Cliffhanger
Writer
TV movie
1982
Breakfast in Paris
Screenplay (credited as Morris Dalton)
Feature film
1982
Prisoner
Writer
TV series, season 4 (1 episode)
1983
A Slice of Life
Screenplay
Feature film
1985
Fountain of Youth
Writer
TV movie
1985
From Opera with Love
Writer
TV movie
1988–91
The Flying Doctors
Writer
TV series, seasons 3-5 & 9 (6 episodes)
1989
Sugar and Spice
Writer
TV series, season 1 (8 episodes)
1989–91
Pugwall
Scriptwriter
TV series, seasons 1 & 2 (42 episodes)
1990
Flair
Writer
TV miniseries (2 episodes)
1991
Chances
Writer
TV series, season 1 (3 episodes)
1994
Blue Heelers
Writer
TV series, season 1 (1 episodes)
1998–01
Neighbours
Writer
TV series, seasons 14–17 (22 episodes)
Theatre
As actor
Year
Title
Role
Type
1947
Saint Joan
Playhouse, Hobart
1953
Slaves of Duty
Puckapunyal Army Base
1953
The Shoemaker's Holiday
Lord Mayor of London
University of Melbourne
1956
Of Mice and Men
George
University of Melbourne
1956
The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Rag Picker
University of Melbourne
1956
Golden Boy
University of Melbourne
1956
The Troublemakers
University of Melbourne
1956
Thieves' Carnival
Harlequin
University of Melbourne
1957
Much Ado About Nothing
University of Melbourne
1957
Arsenic and Old Lace
Lieutenant Rooney
University of Melbourne
1957
A View from the Bridge
First Officer / Neighbour
University of Melbourne
1957
Speak of the Devil
University of Melbourne
1958
The Making of Moo
William
University of Melbourne
1958
A Hatful of Rain
Polo Pope
University of Melbourne
1958
Lola Montez
Smith
University of Melbourne , Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane , Elizabethan Theatre
1958
The Threepenny Opera
Smith
University of Melbourne
1958
Look Back in Anger
Cliff Lewis
Elizabethan Theatre
1959
Marcus
University of Melbourne with The Marlowe Society
1960
Long Day's Journey into Night
Edmund Tyrone
St Martins Theatre
1961
Stop Press
Phillip Street Theatre
1962
The Fantasticks
Narrator
Russell Street Theatre
1963
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Banjo
Russell Street Theatre
1963-65
And the Big Men Fly
J.J. Forbes
Russell Street Theatre , Arts Theatre Adelaide , Wangaratta Town Hall, Broken Hill Town Hall, Playhouse Perth , Albury, Theatre Royal Hobart , Twelfth Night Theatre
1964
After the Fall
Quentin
Russell Street Theatre
1964
Night of the Auk
University of Melbourne
1965
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Russell Street Theatre
1965
Bandicoot on a Burnt Ridge
Russell Street Theatre
1965
Tiny Alice
Butler
University of Melbourne
1965
Inadmissible Evidence
University of Melbourne
1965
The Homecoming
Lenny
University of Melbourne
1966
A Break in the Music
Derek
Playhouse Theatre Perth
1966
The Owl and the Pussycat
Russell Street Theatre
1967
The Servant of Two Masters
Truffaldino
Russell Street Theatre
1968
The Crucible
Giles Corey
Russell Street Theatre , Canberra Theatre , Tasmania
1968
Three Sisters
Captain Solyony
Russell Street Theatre
1968
Everything in the Garden
Russell Street Theatre
1969
Henry IV, Part 1
Poins
Octagon Theatre Perth , Murdoch Court Melbourne
1986
A Kind of Justice
Masonic Hall, Perth
1993-94
Emperor of the Ghetto
Rumkowski
Fairfax Studio Melbourne, Lion Theatre Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1995
It's My Party (And I'll Die if I Want To)
Arts Theatre Adelaide
1997
For Better, for Worse
Des
Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2007
Four Funerals in One Day
Clarrie
Bay Street Productions
2007-08
Visiting Mr. Green
Mr Green
Whitehorse Centre, Drum Theatre Dandenong, Kingston Arts Centre Moorabbin, Clocktower Centre Moonee Ponds
2008
The Peppercorn Tree
Jonah
2008
Never Too Old
Fred
Monash University , Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2012
Hear Me
Doctor
International Incident Disclosure Conference with Bay Street Productions
2017
Never Too Old
Fred
at ACMI , Federation Square for Melbourne International Comedy Festival with Bay Street Productions
2019
Never Too Old
Fred
Glen Eira Town Hall for Glen Eira Storytelling Festival with Bay Street Productions
2020
The Carer
George Parker
Online with The Sugden Society with Bay Street Productions
As writer / director / crew
Year
Title
Role
Type
1957
Beauty and the Beast
Stage manager
University of Melbourne
1959
Marcus
Playwright
University of Melbourne
1961
Stop Press
Lyricist
Phillip Street Theatre
1963-65
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Russell Street Theatre , Arts Theatre Adelaide , Wangaratta Town Hall, Broken Hill Town Hall, Playhouse Perth , Albury, Theatre Royal Hobart , Twelfth Night Theatre
1964
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Russell Street Theatre
1965-66
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Burnley Theatre Richmond, Camberwell
1966
Private Yuk Objects
Playwright
Mildura, Russell Street Theatre , Phillip Theatre , Mildura Arts Centre
1967
Terribly Terribly
University of California
1967
Monkey Tricks
Playwright
Playhouse Canberra
1967
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Playhouse Canberra
1967-68
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Pymble Community Hall, Adelaide Teachers College , Twelfth Night Theatre
1970
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Scott Theatre, Adelaide
1973
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
La Boite Theatre
1974
Terribly Terribly
Playwright
Monash University
1976
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
SGIO Theatre
1977
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Mountview Theatre Macedon, Arts Theatre Brisbane
1980-83
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Victorian country tour, Arts Theatre Brisbane, Arts Theatre Adelaide , Tilley Recreation Park Adelaide, Brown's Mart Theatre Darwin with Bay Street Productions
1982
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Nerang, Newcastle
1986
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women ; Out of the Frying Pan ; A Kind of Justice
Playwright
Masonic Hall Perth
1988
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Russell Street Theatre with Bay Street Productions
1970
Ritual
Playwright
Majestic Cinemas Sydney
1992
Petrov: The Musical
PlaywrIght
Melbourne Concert Hall
1993-94
Emperor of The Ghetto
Adaptor
Fairfax Studio Melbourne, Lion Theatre Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1994
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Theatre 62, Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1997
For Better for Worse
Playwright
Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
1998
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Harbour Theatre, Shellharbour
2001
The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women
Playwright
Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural Centre
2002
And the Big Men Fly
Playwright
Tower Arts Centre, Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1999-2004
The Carer
Playwright
Australian national tour with Bay Street Productions
2005
Six Degrees of Diabetes
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
2005
Red Dust Diva - the Musical
Writer
Chapel Off Chapel
2006
A Pill, a Pump and a Needle
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
2005-07
Weary - the Story of Sir Edward Dunlop
Playwright
Australian national tour
2007
Four Funerals in One Day
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
2008
Never Too Old
Director / Playwright
Monash University , Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2008
Wicked Widows
Director / Playwright
Monash University , Chapel Off Chapel
2009
My Dog Has Stripes
Playwright
Fortyfivedownstairs with Bay Street Productions
2011
The Empty Chair
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
2012
Hear Me
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
2014
Do You Know Me
Playwright
Bay Street Productions
[13] [8] [14]
References
External links
International National Other