Sheila Kennelly (born 28 December 1936)[3][4] also credited as Sheila Kenneally, is a British-born Australian retired characteractress of theatre and music hall, television and film, with a career spanning over 50 years.[5][6] From the late 1950s onwards, her early career was based exclusively in theatre and she didn't start her screen career until the late 1960s becoming well known for her roles in TV soap operas, serials, sitcoms and mini-series. She is best known locally and internationally for her role in Home and Away as Floss McPhee in that series first year (with several guest stints), before being written out as producers wanted to concentrate on a younger and updated cast.[4]
Early life
Kennelly was born in Brighton, Sussex, England in December 1936 and arrived with her family in Australia at an early age, where she attended North Sydney Girls High School before training at the Independent Theatre. She worked as a secretary at a radio station, before becoming a casting director and assistant, assigning aspiring actors into radio serials.[7]
Sheila had been a staple of the small screen since the late 1960s until retiring in 2008, firstly appearing in plays at the ABC, before taking soap opera and comedy relief roles
She became a household name in the hugely popular serial Number 96 as brassy bubbly barmaid Norma Whittaker, a comedy character opposite Gordon McDougall. Norma's trademark catchphrase was calling everyone 'Ducky'. Whilst her husband, amateur inventor Les was killed off in the infamous bomb blast storyline, Norma remained with the series for 4+1⁄2 years, returning for the final episode. Both characters also featured briefly in the Number 96 feature film version.
In one storyline, a fictional artist (played by Owen Weingott) visits the apartment and requests to paint a nude portrait of Norma; the painting is subsequently hung in the wine bar. This famed portrait of Norma, was in reality painted by the network's art director Eunice Dyer, and was based on "Chloé" a painting at a Melbourne hotel. After the series' demise it was given to Tom Oliver, who housed it at a wine establishment business he owned in Sydney Jacks Sellers[8]
In a 2009 reunion with the cast of Number 96 on Where Are They Now?, Kennelly stated she had wanted to become a serious actor featuring in plays by such dramatists as Arthur Miller and Bertolt Brecht, but ended up in Number 96 instead as Norma, in which she used a blonde wig to disguise 'the real Sheila'.
In 1987, she was given the choice of appearing in a small role in the film Evil Angels. She stated at the time she would have loved to have been in the film, purely to be able to say she had appeared with Meryl Streep,[9] but ultimately turned it down to appear in new Seven Network soap opera Home and Away as one of 16 original characters. She played retired carnival worker Floss McPhee for the first year of screening, but was eventually written out, as the producers wanted to concentrate on a younger cast and updated formula.[4]
^Giles, Nigel "Number 96: Australia's Most infamous Address"
^ abcdeOram, James "Home and Away" Behind the Scene's published by Angus and Robertson Cite error: The named reference "Oram" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
