Australian actor Carmen Duncan dies after cancer battle, aged 76

Australian actor Carmen Duncan has lost her battle with cancer at age 76. The much loved star of the small and big screen is understood to have died at the weekend.

Carmen Duncan has featured in film and television show since 1966.

Australian actor Carmen Duncan has lost her battle with cancer.

The much loved star of the small and big screen is understood to have died at the weekend.

Veteran stage performer Carmen Duncan at home in Edgecliff. Picture: Jess Husband

“She has passed away,” a family representative said when contacted today.

The mother of two was 76, and is survived by her children Duncan and Amelia.

Reports at the end of last week suggested Duncan was gravely ill.

Carmen Duncan is survived by her two children. Picture: Steve Morenos

She was the sister of actor Paula Duncan and known for her work in film and television dating back to 1966 when she appeared on the big screen in Don’t Let It Get You.

Her other film credits include Harlequin, Touch and Go and Turkey Shoot.

Carmen Duncan in Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced.

She was also known for television work ranging from Homicide to Number 96, Cop Shop, Skyways, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, All Saints, Water Rats, Always Greener and Winners and Losers.

She played Iris Carrington Wheeler on US soap Another world in the 1980s and her last film was a role alongside Oscar winner Dev Patel in the upcoming feature Hotel Mumbai.

Duncan, who has three grandchildren, was diagnosed with cancer three times in her life, including breast cancer in 2000.

She was most recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017.

Her roles ranged from Number 96 to Water Rats.

“Despite the glitter and glamour of working in Hollywood and New York, I genuinely missed my family, my brothers and my baby sister Paula, which is why I called it quits and returned to Australia in the late ‘90s,” she said in a recent interview with Woman’s Day.

Despite both being recognisable faces and household names, the Duncan sisters only ever appeared on screen together once and that was for an episode of Cop Shop.

“ln all honesty, we’ve never been jealous of one another’s successes,” Paula Duncan said in the same magazine interview.

Duncan’s famous friends took to social media today to remember the late actor.

“So sad to hear of the lovely Carmen Duncan passing,” wrote TV host and singer David Campbell. “She indeed was a beautiful soul.”

Theatre publicist Ian Phipps wrote: “Vale to my darling friend Carmen Duncan, a wonderful and beautiful human being inside and out.”