The 30 best Australian entertainers of the past 30 years
Aussie stars of the stage and screens have been making their mark in Hollywood or at home. Here are the 30 most influential entertainers who have made us laugh, cry, sing, dance or think over the past three decades. Do you agree? CAST YOUR VOTE.
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It was no small task to curate a list of 30 of Victoria’s greatest entertainers over the past three decades.
In fact, putting together this selection of TV personalities, artists, singers, stage performers, industry heavyweights, directors, writers and cultural identities was its own song and dance.
Just how do you cover off all aspects of entertainment in a city that has such a rich history in arts, culture and show business?
Melbourne is the home of the AFL and footy shows, it is the country’s theatre high point, has a thriving arts community and is the live music capital of Australia. Every major TV variety show of the past 50 years was based in Melbourne. Key national arts organisations call Melbourne home. And the city has always nurtured actors, directors and film creatives.
The likes of Bert Newton, Eddie McGuire, Rhonda Burchmore, Michael Gudinski, Hamish Blake, Andy Lee and Molly Meldrum are featured in this celebration alongside David McAllister, Gillian Armstrong, Vincent Fantauzzo and Mirka Mora.
While not everyone will agree with the 30 we have settled on, that is OK, is to be expected and is welcomed.
Let us know your favourite entertainers and why they should have been considered.
MOLLY MELDRUM
Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum not only championed Australian music during the heady years of the iconic ABC series Countdown, he introduced some of the biggest names in the international recording industry to Australian audiences. Meldrum was a king maker in terms of chart success. The power of countdown and his endorsement of a song or an artist was gold for record sales. Evidence of how dearly he is loved by some of the biggest names in music came when Meldrum suffered a horrendous, potentially life-threatening fall at his Richmond home in 2011. Well wishes flowed from the likes of Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Boy George, David Bowie, Pink and Elton John. Meldrum, 77, was born in country Victoria in 1943 and went on to be a music journalist, producer and TV presenter. He worked for The Beatles Apple company in London in the late 1960s, produced the classic Australian hit The Real Thing for Russell Morris, and launched Countdown in 1974. He was a key part of the Hey Hey It’s Saturday team for 11 years. There is only one Molly and he is a national treasure.
KATH AND KIM
Jane Turner and Gina Riley debuted their mother daughter characters Kath Day and Kim Craig in the sketch comedy series Big Girl’s Blouse. While that 1994/95 show did not last, the characters certainly did with the Kath & Kim series becoming a cultural phenomenon, a ratings hit and an international success when it launched on the ABC in 2002. The impact of Magda Szubanski’s character, Sharon Strzelecki (Kim’s second best friend) can’t be underestimate. The show’s quirky phrases (“I’m not a housewife, I’m a hornbag”, “Zip your lip”, “I have a feeling in my waters”) and mangled pronunciations (“Cardonnay”) were quickly picked up and parroted in everyday conversation by fans. The show lovingly mocked everything about the suburban dream, bratty bogans, WAG fashion, crowd behaviour at the races, footy snacks and pumpkin wedding coaches through the adventures of neat and trim single mum Kath and her spoiled, deluded daughter Kim. The show owed its style of humour owed in some part to that pioneered by Barry Humphries and Dame Edna. Humphries was a fan of the show, even appearing in the Da Kath and Kim Code telemovie. Kath & Kim ran for four seasons on the ABC with a feature film, Kath & Kimderella, released in 2012.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
Chris Hemsworth is arguably the current international face of Australia. Born in Melbourne, Hemsworth made his name on Home And Away for three and a half years before rolling the dice on Hollywood in 2007. After a slow start the gamble has paid off handsomely, so much so that Forbes put his 2019 earnings at a staggering $109 million. At 37, Hemsworth is box office gold playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s god of thunder franchise and in The Avengers franchise. Famously he beat his younger brother, Liam, for the role of Thor. He recently announced he will star in the Mad Max: Fury Road spin-off Furiosa. His other films include Rush, Star Trek Ghostbusters, 12 Strong, Men In Black: International and Extraction. Hemsworth’s decision, along with his wife Elsa Pataky, to base their young family in Byron Bay rather than Los Angeles has turned the NSW beachside enclave into a celebrity hotspot. He is a Tourism Australia ambassador, a patron of the Australian Childhood Foundation and a passionate Western Bulldogs supporter.
MICHAEL GUDINSKI
Michael Gudinski needs no introduction. The Mushroom Group boss has always worn his love for Melbourne like a badge. He makes things happen – even during a pandemic. During this year’s COVID-19 lockdown Gudinski has been working constantly on ways and ideas to support Australian artists and the local music industry. His music show, The Sound, produced by his Mushroom Vision company, has been a success for the ABC. Earlier in the year his epic Music from the Home Front virtual concert brought together an incredible line-up of major stars to acknowledge ANZAC DAY and also thank the front line workers confronting the COVID-19 challenge. He is a colossal figure in Australian entertainment.
MAGDA SZUBANSKI
If she had just created Sharon Strzelecki, Magda Szubanski would still be beloved by the Australian public. But Szubanski is celebrated for some many more reasons. She is an actor, writer, activist and powerful voice of reason on a variety of social and cultural issues. She is currently bringing attention to social media trolling and abuse.
Szubanski’s TV career took off when she joined the stretch comedy series The D-Generation where viewers first met the character of Lynne Postlethwaite. Her gift for comedy then saw her join the Channel 7 series Fast Forward where the characters of Pixie-Anne Wheatley and Chenille from the Institute de Beauté emerged. In 1995, she teamed with Gina Riley and Jane Turner to write, perform and produce Big Girl’s Blouse. The series Kath & Kim grew out of that show, with Szubanski bringing her greatest character, Sharon Strzelecki to what became a TV phenomenon. Sports mad Sharon started out lusting after Shane Warne (Warnie). Last year she made a buddy out of Kim Kardashian with a TV ad.
Szubanski’s film hits include Babe and Babe: Pig in the City and Happy Feet and its sequel.
Her memoir, Reckoning, released in 2015 was a bestseller.
DAVID MCALLISTER
As the longest-serving artistic director of The Australian Ballet you could say David McAllister has devoted his life to the pursuit of excellence in dance. McAllister, 56, was born in Perth and joined The Australian Ballet in Melbourne 1983. He was promoted to Senior Artist in 1986 and to Principal Artist in 1989. His many principal roles included Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and The Sentimental Bloke. He has performed with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Georgian State Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Singapore Dance Theatre. He made his final performance with The Australian Ballet in March 2001 before stepping into the role as Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet in July of that year. He will step down from the role at the end of the year.
HAMISH & ANDY
TV, radio, podcasting, books, film and production: Hamish Blake and Andy Lee have covered all bases since meeting at Melbourne University and their subsequent appearance at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2003. Their Radio Krate show for Channel 31 was spotted by Channel 7 in 2004 and the following year The Hamish and Andy Show made its network debut. It did not work, but if anything the misfire made the pair more determined. Their national Drive show launched on what is now the Hit Network in 2006 becoming an instant success, dominating the timeslot for four years. It moved to a weekly program from 2011-14, with the pair returning to Drive five days a week from 2015-17. Their radio success has been replicated on TV with their Gap Year and True Story series for Channel 9. Blake won the Gold Logie in 2012 and now hosts Lego Masters for 9. Lee is a regular on Channel 7’s footy hit The Front Bar. They are Australia’s podcast kings, with their Hamish & Andy Show regularly topping the monthly listening charts. And with 2.5 million Facebook followers and 1 million Instagram followers they have an audience and social media reach that makes them catnip for advertisers. Seventeen years into their career it feels like they are only just getting started. Watch this space.
GILLIAN ARMSTRONG
Gillian Armstrong was a trailblazer for female feature film directors in Australia. When Armstrong directed My Brilliant Career, starring Sam Neill and Judy Davis, it marked the first time a woman had helmed an Australian feature-length film in 46 years. Armstrong was born in Melbourne in 1950 and grew up with an interest in film, set design and costume design. Her work post My Brilliant Career included Mrs Soffel with Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton, Little Women, starring Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale and Winona Ryder, Oscar and Lucinda with Cate Blanchett and Ralph Finnes, Charlotte Gray, where she again teamed with Blanchett, and Death Defying Acts which brought together Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce. Her 2015 documentary on the Australian-born, three time Academy Award winning costume designer Orry George Kelly was fascinating. Fun fact: Armstrong, 69, directed a young model Nicole Kidman in the 1984 video clip for Pat Wilson’s hit single Bop Girl.
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
She was born Olivia Newton-John but thanks to Grease she will always be Sandy to fans of the beloved movie. Newton-John, 72, arrived in Australia from the UK, settling in Melbourne with her family, when she was five. Her big break came at 15 when she won a talent contest on Johnny O’Keefe’s show Sing, Sing, Sing. The prize was a trip to London where she recorded her first single, Till You Say You’ll Be Mine, in 1966 and represented the UK in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. The four time Grammy winner is known for hits including Physical, Xanadu, You’re The One That I Want, Magic, I Honestly Love You and Suddenly. Based in the USA since the mid-70s, Newton-John remains Australia’s sweetheart, thanks in particular to her work to lift awareness of breast cancer and fundraising for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne. Newton-John dignified public battle with her cancer continues and she is an advocate for the use of medicinal cannabis as a pain management tool.
DARYL SOMERS
“What a stupid name. What’s it supposed to mean?” Those were the first thoughts of Darryl Somers when he was told Channel 9 wanted him to host a new Saturday morning kids show with an unusual name. Despite his surprise at the title he thankfully said yes and in 1971 the history making Hey, Hey It’s Saturday was launched. In 1984 the show’s popularity had grown to a point where 9 moved it to a 9:30 Saturday evening timeslot, but in 1985 it settled in the schedule at 6.30pm. The show was a massive success, a showcase for talent and the “must do” for any visiting international celebrity. Somers, as host and executive producer, was one of the most valuable stars within 9’s famous star factory. Hey Hey ran for 28 years before being axed in 1999. The show won him three Gold Logies. It returned for a reunion special in 2009 and had a 20 episode run on 9 in 2010. Somers enjoyed further prime time success at Channel 7 between 2004 and 2007 as host of Dancing With The Stars. Now 69, Somers has three Gold Logies and is a lifelong supporter of the Geelong Football Club.
FRED SCHEPISI
Acclaimed director Fred Schepisi started his career directing commercials before he made his feature film directing debut in 1976 with The Devil’s Playground. He followed that with The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith before making the move to America where success came with films such Plenty, Roxanne, The Russia House, A Cry In The Dark (Evil Angels), Fierce Creatures, He career seen him work with extraordinary talents including Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Donald Sutherland, John Cleese and Steve Martin. Born in Melbourne in 1930, Schepisi, now 80, resides between Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.
SIGRID THORNTON
Very few Australian actors have had a cultural trend named after them, but very few have the connection with local audiences like Sigrid Thornton. Although not born in Melbourne, Thornton has called the city by the Yarra home for most of her life. Her acting work has included roles on Prisoner, Seachange, All The Rivers Run, Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Wentworth and the US series Paradise.
The film The Man From Snowy River was a huge hit for her. She was famously described by Steven Spielberg as having the ‘most beautiful face he had ever seen’.
Demographer Bernard Salt coined the phrase ‘the Sigrid Factor’ in his book The Big Shift, noting that towns where movies or TV series that featured Thornton were shot often flourished after the shows or films were released. Thornton is deeply committed to the Australian acting industry. She served several terms as a director of both the Australian Film Institute and Film Victoria and was patron of Women in Film and Television. She chaired the 1999 Victorian Film and Television Taskforce and was a board member of the Malthouse Theatre from 2007 to 2016. She is also on the board of Scripted Ink.
WORKING DOG
The Working Dog team of Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner and Michael Hirsh prefer to let their work do the talking and with the quality and success of their shows, who would argue with them. There was Frontline, which skewered current affairs TV, The Hollowmen, that punctured political operatives, Utopia, which made a joke of bureaucracy, and Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures which poked fun at every outback TV wild man. Other hits have included The Panel, Thank God You Are Here, Have You Been Paying Attention and Funky Squad. Their films include The Dish, The Castle and Any Questions For Ben. Working Dog was established in 1993 by the friends who met at Melbourne University and worked together on The Late Show and as The D-Generation.
BERT NEWTON
The great star of Australian television is Bert Newton; no question, no doubt, no argument. At 82 he is one of the last remaining links between the earliest days of commercial TV in this country and today’s industry. He signed his first TV contact at the end of 1956 and made his on-air debut in 1957. He was soon working alongside Graham Kennedy on In Melbourne Tonight where the pair created the template for Australian variety TV. From 1975 – 1983 he was part of one of TV’s great partnerships with Don Lane on The Don Lane Show. His next long run came on Good Morning Australian for 14 years with Channel 10. Along the way he collected four Gold Logies, is a TV Week Hall of Fame member, was the king of Moomba twice (1978 and 2014), was Victorian of the Year in 2
008, has an MBE and an AM, and hosted the Logie Awards 20 times.
An entertainment icon, over the past 30 years the Herald Sun has chronicled some major milestones in Newton’s career and life from returning to his network home at Channel 9 in 2006, his star turns in stage productions, his dramatic emergency dash from Singapore to Melbourne for major heart surgery in 2012, as well as cherished family moments such as his daughter Lauren’s wedding to Olympic swimmer Matt Welsh. These days Newton considers himself resting rather than retired and is enjoying his favourite role, that of a proud and loving grandfather to Sam, Eva, Lola, Monty, Perla and Alby.
“I feel if I had any criticism of what has turned out to be my show business life, I should be seen as a very unsatisfied man,” he said earlier this year.
“If I never work again I would never be in a situation where I would be annoyed or angry or wish for the good old days, because I had them and I was very lucky to get them.”
EDDIE MCGUIRE
Eddie McGuire had six weeks to make Channel 9’s new prime time sports panel experiment, The Footy Show, work in 1994. Twenty five years later the pin was pulled. It worked. McGuire drove The Footy Show from its humble start in 1994 to its greatest heights and in the process became one of 9’s biggest stars. He hosted the show until 2005 and returned as host from August 2017 until the end of 2018. In 1999 he was made host of Who Wants To Be Millionaire, a show that continues today in revamped form as Millionaire Hot Seat. The line “Lock it in, Eddie,” has become a catchphrase.
He was the CEO of Channel 9 for 16 months between February 2006 and June 2007.
Radio also has been a long and happy home for McGuire. He is unquestionably one of Melbourne’s enduring radio stars with his Triple M Hot Breakfast show with Luke Darcy clocking up 11 years. He hosted the Logies in 2003 and 2004 and co-hosted in 2005 and has been part of Fox Footy since 2012.
On top of all of that he runs his own production company and is involved with the sport, entertainment and marketing company, Twenty3 Group. Did I mention he was also the CEO of 9 from February 2006 to June 2007?
And then, of course, there is the Collingwood Football Club where he has been president for 22 years.
SAM NEWMAN
Love him or loathe him Sam Newman never failed for 24 years on The Footy Show to create headlines and provoke a reaction from the program’s audience. He sometimes hugely overstepped the mark, but whatever his actions he was always seeking one thing: to entertain the viewers. Many stars came and went from that set but Newman was the show’s most consistent and most valuable performer, and he was the one who could put the show on page one of the Herald Sun. The former Geelong Football Club champion knew creating controversy was his job. And he did that better than anybody. Having a private life with its fair share of drama, as uncomfortable as that may have been for himself and those in his orbit, only increased his power as a media star. Newman was part of the 3AW footy commentary team from 1981 to 1999 and was a member of World of Sport on Channel 7 from 1981 to 1987. He joined Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show in 1993 and remained part of the panel until 1998. But it was in 1994 that The Footy Show came into his life. Twenty four years later Newman farewelled the show at the end of 2018. He resigned from 9 in June this year. At 74, Newman is now focusing on his You Cannot Be Serious podcast and has four young granddaughters keeping him busy.
MARINA PRIOR
Long before she was a leading lady of the stage, Marina Prior was turning heads in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall, busking while she was completing her Bachelor of Music Studies. Born in Port Moresby, Prior, 57, grew up in Melbourne and in 1983 she landed her first major stage show, The Pirates of Penzance for the Victorian State Opera. The production kicked off an incredible decade of leading roles for her. In 1984 she played ‘Guinevere’ in the Australian production of Camelot opposite Richard Harris, the following year she performed the dual roles of “Jellylorum” and “Griddlebone” in the Australian premiere production of Cats. This was followed by the Australian premiere production of Les Miserables where she played Cosette and later Fantine. But arguably the role that cemented her as a household name was that of Christine, which she played from 1990 – 1993, in the Australian premiere production of The Phantom of the Opera alongside Anthony Warlow and then Rob Guest. Her success has continued with roles in West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, The Sound Of Music and Hello Dolly. She is a regular and celebrated performer at Melbourne’s Carols By Candlelight.
DAVID WILLIAMSON
One of Australia’s greatest playwrights, David Williamson was born in Melbourne in 1942 and grew up in Bentleigh before moving to Bairnsdale when he was 12. He returned to the city and studied at Melbourne and Monash universities where he began honing his unique talent to tell Australian stories. From student reviews he moved on to become part of the La Mama Theatre Company in Carlton. His best known works include Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City and Brilliant Lies.
He worked on the screenplays for the films successful films Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously, both of which starred Mel Gibson.
Based in Noosa, Williamson, 78, has 50 plays to his name and signalled in February that he was considering retiring from theatre.
RHONDA BURCHMORE
After 40 years in the Australian entertainment industry Rhonda Burchmore is more determined than ever that the show will go on after COVID-19. With her trademark red hair, long legs and rich voice Burchmore has starred in stage shows including Sugar Babies on London’s West End with Mickey Rooney, Hot Shoe Shuffle with David Atkins, The Drowsy Chaperone, Calendar Girls, Jerry’s Girls and the Australian premiere season of the ABBA musical, Mamma Mia. She was a stalwart of Jeanne Pratt’s The Production Company and found a new fan base by appearing on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! in 2020. Burchmore was also a favourite of the golden era of Australian television variety shows appearing regularly on The Don Lane Show, The Mike Walsh Show, Hey, Hey It’s Saturday with Daryl Somers, Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton and Midday with Ray Martin.
VINCENT FANTAUZZO
Vincent Fantuzzo is the other boy from Broady. Like Eddie McGuire the acclaimed artist grew up in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Broadmeadows where his parents settled after migrating from the UK when he was 3. School was a challenge due to his undiagnosed dyslexia. He was expelled aged 14 and was saved from falling in with troublesome locals by Jack Rennie, a boxing coach who brought structure into his life and encouraged him to pursue his art. It was encouragement that changed his life particularly after his dyslexia was identified. “I definitely feel that dyslexia is a superpower,’ he has said.
Fantauzzo’s extraordinary ‘photorealistic’ portraits have seen him win the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the Archibald Packing Room Prize and he is a four-time winner of the Archibald People’s Choice Award. He easily straddles the gap between celebrity and art and wants his work to be popular. Married to actress Asher Keddie, Fantuzzo, 43, now has a Brisbane hotel named after him and hopes to inspire children to follow their passion for art.
“I want to make art popular and accessible to everyone. If you don’t make it popular, how will people experience it? I want to inspire kids to consider art as a career path, if that’s what they love doing,” he has said.
RACHEL GRIFFTHS
Rachel Griffiths first grabbed the public’s attention as Rhonda Epinstalk in the adored Australian movie Muriel’s Wedding in 1994 and she has continually delivered must-watch performances on stage, TV and film over the ensuing 26 years. She earned an Academy Award nomination for the film Hilary and Jackie, won a Golden Globe for her role as Brenda Chenowith on the US TV series Six Feet Under and has received four Emmy Award nominations. At 51 Griffiths continues to evolve as a force in front and behind the camera in the Australia film and TV industry. Her feature film directing debut, Ride Like A Girl, based on Michelle Payne’s 2015 Melbourne Cup win, was the highest grossing Australian film of 2019. The 2019 ABC TV series Total Control, which she co-created and starred in, was widely praised. She is committed to telling Australian stories. Griffiths, a board member of the Australian Center for the Moving Image, is based in Melbourne with her artist husband, Andy Taylor and their three children.
GEOFFREY RUSH
Geoffrey Rush is part of a unique club of just 25 actors who have won the ‘Triple Crown’ of acting – an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award – during his stellar career.
His Best Actor Academy Award for Shine in 1996 introduced the world to his extraordinary talent. He followed that with nominations for his work in Quills (2000), Shakespeare In Love (1998) and The King’s Speech (2010). Rush has also won two Golden Globe Awards among plethora of accolades. Born in Queensland, Rush, 69, has long called Melbourne home. He was the founding president of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) and was the 2012 Australian of the Year.
BARRY HUMPHRIES
Let’s be honest, Barry Humphries and his most famous creation Dame Edna Everage put Moonee Ponds on the international map. Born in Melbourne, Humphries, 86, unveiled Edna in 1955 drawing on his observations of house proud, if small-minded, suburban housewives of the time. The character, which he later revealed was in part based on his mother, was an immediate hit and over the past 55 year Edna has become a gigantic celebrity in her own right; a triumph of satire and cheek which gives Humphries licence to take aim with a smile at celebrity, ego, privilege and the mundane. Despite having starred in three ‘final’ tours, Edna, it seems, is not retiring gracefully yet. While Edna is his most successful creation, Humphries says the repulsive character, Sir Les Patterson, is his favourite to play.
“I enjoy playing Les more than any other character because it releases my inner vulgarity,” he said in 2018.
“I defend to the ultimate my right to give deep and profound offence so long as people laugh while they’re being offended.” A writer, painter, book collector and actor, Humphries moved to London in the early 1960s and has lived between the UK and Australia ever since.
PAUL KELLY
Singer songwriter Paul Kelly is an urban poet who sets his sonnets and stanzas to music. At 65, he is a quiet, private man who lets his lyrics make his point. Born in South Australia, Kelly moved to Melbourne in the mid-70s and the city has become one of his muses. His best known songs include Before Too Long, Darling It Hurts, To Her Door and Dumb Things. To Her Door, which he wrote and Treaty, which he co-wrote with Yothu Yindi, were named in the Australasian Performing Right Association’s Top 30 Australian songs of the past 75 years in 2001. Kelly was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. He once described songwriting as “like a way of feeling connected to mystery.”
ERIC BANA
Eric Bana has always beautifully balanced Hollywood with his love of Melbourne and his support of the Australian film industry. Born in Melbourne, Bana, 52, started his career as a comedian before making his TV debut on Steve Vizard’s Tonight Live in 1993. That led to a four-year stint on the sketch comedy series Full Frontal where his characters included Aussie bogan ‘Poida.’
Keen to try his hand at drama he was offered the role of colourful underworld character Mark ‘Chopper’ Read in the film Chopper. It was apparently Chopper himself who suggested Bana for the role after liking his Full Frontal skits. His performance made Hollywood sit up. Critic Roger Ebert, in his review of Chopper, marked Bana as a future star: “He has a quality no acting school can teach and few actors can match: You cannot look away from him.”
From there the opportunities flowed – Black Hawk Down, Troy, Munich and the lead role in The Hulk. More recently he has had a huge hit with the Netflix series Dirty John. Bana and his family still call Melbourne home and he has continued to support local productions. As well as The Castle and Chopper, Bana’s Australian film roles have included The Nugget, Romulus, My Father and The Dry, which is due for release next year.
MIRKA MORA
Mirka Mora was more than an artist. Mora and her husband Georges brought bohemian joie de vivre to Melbourne when they immigrated from France in 1951. She surrounded herself with the likes of John and Sunday Reed, Charles Blackman, and Arthur Boyd and celebrated culture, art, literature, poetry and expression. She and her family brought European-style dining to the city in the 1950s, with Mirka Cafe on Exhibition Street and Cafe Balzac in East Melbourne. In the late 1960s she and Georges moved to St Kilda and bought the Tolarno Hotel. Born in France in 1928 Mora escaped being sent to Auschwitz during the Nazi occupation. She trained in mime and drama under Marcel Marceau before focusing her artist passions on painting. Celebrated as a “grand dame” of Melbourne culture, Mora was famous for her distinctive works that included cherubic angel, fantastical beasts, symbols and her soul dolls. She died in 2018 aged 90.
JOHN FARNHAM
John Farnham’s 1986 hit You’re The Voice is an Australian anthem, possibly the county’s unofficial national anthem, a song that never gets old and that continues to unite. Farnham last performed it at the Fire Fight Australia concert in February with Queen’s Brian May on guitar and Mitch Tambo and Olivia Newton-John joining him on vocals. It was stunning. Born in England in 1949 Farnham, 71, migrated to Australia with his parents when he was 10. His first single Sadie went to number 1 in 1967. Between 1980 and 1985 he fronted The Little River Band before going solo. Famously his manager, Glenn Wheatley mortgaged his house to get Farnham’s career defining album, Whispering Jack, recorded. The album not only included You’re The Voice but also Touch of Paradise, Pressure Down and Reasons. The hits, albums, tours and accolades have rolled since then. Farnham was named Australian of the Year in 1987, inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2003, crowned King of Pop for five years from 1969, and was king of Moomba in 1972. He was named Australia’s Greatest Singer Of All Time in a music industry poll conducted by the Herald Sun in 2013.
KYLIE MINOGUE
With her 15th album, Disco, due for release in November Kylie Minogue is going to provide a joyous soundtrack to summer as Victorians slowly emerge from COVID-19 lockdown. A master of reinvention, a style chameleon, a survivor, a music force, Minogue, 52, has come a long way from Camberwell High and Neighbours where her career took off thanks to her role as tomboy mechanic Charlene Mitchell. While a talented actor, singing was her passion and her potential was immediately spotted when she sang The Locomotion at a Fitzroy Football Club fundraiser in 1986. She was part of the Stock Aitken and Waterman hit factory from the late 1980s to the early 1990s where she was tagged a ‘singing budgie’, before taking more control of her sound and image. Her 2000 album Light Years produced the hits Spinning Around and On A Light Night This, her following album Fever produced the global smash Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. She triumphed at Glastonbury last year after her 14th album Golden topped the charts in the UK and Australia. At 52, she continues to inspire. “I’ll be the one in the old people’s home doing high-kicks in the corner,” she has said.
GUY PEARCE
From playing a maths teacher on Ramsay Street in Neighbours to portraying the uncrowned King of England in The King’s Speech, Guy Pearce has built impressive acting credits over his 34 year career. Born in England, Pearce moved to Victoria with his family when he was 3. While he initially found fame on Neighbours it was The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that gave him his film breakthrough. A role alongside Russell Crowe in the Curtis Hanson classic LA Confidential made him a star. His other films have included Memento, The Hurt Locker, Animal Kingdom, Rules of Engagement and Iron Man 3. His Jack Irish TV telemovies and series have been a hit for the ABC. He won an Emmy for the Mildred Pierce mini series. A talented musician, Pearce, 53, has released two albums. The Geelong supporter has a son, Monte, with Game of Thrones actress Carice van Houten.
DAVE HUGHES
Dave Hughes, or Hughesy as he is better known, has made an art out of making people laugh by drawing on his working class roots, his love of sport, his keen sense of the absurd and witty observations of life. His laconic, everyman persona has made him one of Australia’s most successful, popular and enduring comedians, a radio powerhouse, and a TV fixture thanks to Rove, The Glasshouse, Before The Game, The Project, The Footy Show and Hughesy, We Have a Problem and The Masked Singer. His success is a combination of relentless hard work, talent, professionalism and smarts.
Born in Warrnambool, Hughes, 49, grew up wanting to be a sports hero. After dropping out of an IT course at Swinburne Institute of Technology and working briefly in an abattoir, he took a road trip to Perth in 1993 with a mate and gave stand-up a crack. By his third night he knew he had found his career calling. “It was bumpy for a while but that was the moment when I thought, ‘I am not deluded, there is something here’,” he said.
Hughes and Kate Langbroek have been one of the most successful teams in Australian radio for almost two decades, firstly on Nova FM and then HIT FM. Last year he was joined on the show by Ed Kavalee after Langbroek decided to extend her stay with her family in Italy.
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