‘Superb actor and human being’: Neighbours star Janet Andrewartha has died
Famous for her roles in iconic Australian TV shows Neighbours and Prisoner, much loved actor Janet Andrewartha has died, surrounded by family.
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Famous for her roles in two iconic Australian TV shows, Neighbours and Prisoner, much loved actor Janet Andrewartha has died.
Best known for playing Lyn Scully on Neighbours and Rebecca ‘Reb’ Kean on Prisoner, Andrewartha was 72.
She passed away peacefully in Melbourne on Friday with her daughters Eloise and Sarah by her side.
As Lyn Scully on Neighbours she was the mother to on-screen daughters Stephanie Scully, played by Carla Bonner, Felicity Scully, played by Holly Candy (formerly Holly Valance) and Michelle Scully played by Kate Keltie.
She appeared on Neighbours from 1999 until 2006 and then made sporadic returns to the show up until 2019.
Former Neighbours casting director Jan Russ paid tribute to the “beautiful, talented and superb actor and human being, the unforgettable Janet Andrewartha,” on Facebook on Sunday.
“I had cast Janet in the role of Reb Kean in Prisoner having been a fan of her work and confident she would take in that role and make it her own,” Russ wrote.
“(I) also cast her as Lyn Scully in Neighbours where once again she excelled in her role. Of course her theatre successes were also superb and many theatre goers will remember her work at the MTC.
“It was devastating to hear this news (of her passing). She was such a vibrant, serene person and she will be greatly missed in the industry.
“RIP dearest Janet. Forever in our hearts and great memories.”
Andrewartha was born in September 1951 and started her working life as a music teacher and then decided to train as an actor.
“I was teaching music at a school and the principal asked me to put on a musical play at the end of the year with the Year 10s,” Andrewartha said in an interview.
“I said ‘I don’t know anything about theatre’ and he said ‘could you find out?”.
“So I started a part-time drama course and after one year of part-time study I quit teaching and went to drama school full-time for three years and have never taught since. I have just been an actor.”
Among her drama school classmates was her future Neighbours co-star Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy on Neighbours).
Andrewartha graduated from the National Theatre in Melbourne in 1979.
“I worked my way through drama (school), playing in a band and singing folk songs in restaurants,” she said in 2010.
“If I get a singing role in a play, I brush up on the singing. I don’t think there’s anything better than music. I’m very moved emotionally by it.”
Andrewartha’s Neighbours’ co-star and friend Jackie Woodburne described the actor as “extraordinary” in a statement released on the Neighbours social media platforms.
“Janet was one of the finest actors of her generation, but more than that, she was an extraordinary woman,” Woodburne said.
“Passionate, political, curious, delightfully eccentric, generous and fun.
“To me she was a steadfast friend for over 45 years. I will miss her every day.”
One of her earliest TV roles was in Carson’s Law in 1983.
In 1984, she joined the cast of Prisoner playing Reb Kean for 94 episodes.
She was a prolific theatre actor, appearing regularly with the Melbourne Theatre Company during the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s and the Malthouse Theatre Company.
Her list of stage credits stretches from 1981 to 2013.
In 2017 Andrewartha appeared in the TV series Seven Types Of Ambiguity.
In 2023 she played the character of Diana in Safe Home on SBS and her most recent role was in the Logie-nominated Paramount+ drama Fake starring Asher Keddie.
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