Writer, rogue Bob Ellis dies at 73

Prominent author and political commentator Bob Ellis died yesterday following a long-running battle with cancer. He was 73.

Bob Ellis has died, aged 73.

Prominent author and political commentator Bob Ellis has been warmly remembered as a “scoundrel”, “curmudgeon” and “literary titan” after he died yesterday following a long-running battle with cancer. He was 73.

The confrontational writer, journalist, playwright, speechwriter and filmmaker worked with Labor leaders Bob Carr, Paul Keating, Kim Beazley and Mike Rann during his long ­career.

The Independent Australia website reported Ellis died ­at his Palm Beach home in Sydney’s northern beaches surrounded by his family, wife Anne Brooksbank, sons Jack and Tom, and daughter Jenny.

In July, Ellis announced he was suffering from liver cancer. “The news is very bad and I may have months to live but it is more like weeks,” he wrote on his blog.

Ellis famously challenged Bronwyn Bishop at a 1994 by-election for the seat of Mackellar and received a higher two-candidate-preferred vote (though not primary vote) than the ALP.

In January, he offered to help Dick Smith challenge Ms Bishop again in Mackellar.

Ellis was raised a Seventh-day Adventist and attended Sydney University with Clive James, Germaine Greer, Les Murray, John Bell, Ken Horler and Mungo McCallum.

He wrote two books, Goodbye Jerusalem and Goodbye Babylon, on his experiences with the Labor Party.

The first edition of Goodbye Jerusalem was pulped after Tony Abbott and Peter Costello sued for defamation in the ACT ­Supreme Court.

A subsequent edition was later published.

Ellis wrote several film scripts, notably The Nostradamus Kid (1992) and, in conjunction with director Paul Cox, Cactus (1986), My First Wife (1984) and Man of Flowers (1983), in which he also starred as a psychiatrist who wrote letters to his dead mother by return post.

Bill Shorten tweeted: “Vale Bob Ellis. A brilliant writer, a wicked wit, a true believer with every fibre of his being. And so it goes.”

Among the fond tributes on social media late yesterday was one that described Ellis as a “rogue of the highest order”.