Barbara Angell

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Barbara Angell
Born (1935-03-06) 6 March 1935 (age 89)
Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Other namesBarbara Angela Barr, Barb Angell, Angela Barr
EducationPresbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne., Melba Opera Trust
Occupations
  • Actress
  • playwright/dramatist
  • scriptwriter
  • composer
  • director
  • producer
  • singer
  • dancer
  • choreographer
  • comic
[1]
Years active1955-present
Known for

Barbara Angell (born 6 March 1935), also known as a performer as Barb Angell, Barbara Angela Angell, Barbara Angel and as a screenwriter Angela Barr,[1] was Australia's first female television comedy writer-entertainer. She has also worked internationally in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.

Angell has worked in all facets of the industry including cabaret, revue, musical comedy, vaudeville and radio and television, she starred in and wrote for the satirical TV series The Mavis Bramston Show, as well as writing for Neighbours and New Zealand series Shortland Street. [2]

Biography and career[edit]

Angell was born in Toorak, Victoria in 1935 and educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College. before studying at the Melba Conservatorium as a soprano.[3]

Angell began as an actress with the Melbourne Little Theatre (later St Martins) under Brett Randall and Irene Mitchell, for whom she debuted in their 1955 production of The Guinea Pig. She worked as a dancer-comedian with the Tivoli Circuit from 1955 to 1958, and in comedy sketches.

She was in Melbourne's first TV variety show, a live weekly program called Tivoli Party Time (1956–7), as one of the nuclear cast that featured her with Buster Fiddess, Iris Shand (wife of actor Ron Shand) and Don Williams. In this show she wrote her own comedy material.

She visited the UK in 1959–60 where she performed a solo cabaret act, further featuring her comedy sketches, music and lyrics.[4] On returning to Australia, she formed a Revue company with Jon Finlayson at Melbourne's Arrow Theatre and co-wrote and produced a series of productions there including Slings 'n' Arrows and Outrageous Fortune – the titles both from the one line in Shakespeare.[5] On stage, Barbara Angell starred again for the Tivoli in Lilac Time with John Larsen and in The Wizard of Oz as Glinda the Good Witch opposite Reg Livermore's Wicked Witch. Under the guidance of John McCallum at J. C. Williamson, she understudied Jill Perryman in Carnival and Maggie Fitzgibbon in Noël Coward's Sail Away. She wrote TV sketches, music and lyrics for the satirical The Mavis Bramston Show from Episode 1 throughout its 4-year run and starred in it with Ron Frazer during its last 2 years.[6]

Following the Australian tour with Madge Ryan for J.C. Williamsons in Peter Shaffer's play Black Comedy she returned to England in 1969, where she spent the next 20 years appearing on stage, in films and TV dramas and comedies.[4] She was production coordinator of the Association of Australian Artistes, based at the Australian High Commission in London. She leased The Arts Theatre in Great Newport Street, WC2, for lunchtime theatre in the 1970s and directed a series of plays including some of her own. She wrote TV sketches for Dave Allen and became a script assessor for the BBC's light entertainment department. Her TV play Some Day Man won a nationwide competition in the U.K. and was produced by David Cunliffe for Yorkshire Television in 1987.[7] In 2005, Angell played a cameo role in the movie Superman Returns, filmed at Fox Studios, Sydney, Australia.[8]

Publications[edit]

Her first book The Entertainment Machine was published in 1972 (Horwitz), her second, Voyage To Port Phillip, 1803 in 1983 (Nepean Historical Society) her third book A Woman's War in 2003 (New Holland Publishers) but most of her writing career has been for television and the stage. Her latest book The Coral Browne Story: Theatrical Life and Times of a Lustrous Australian was published in Sydney in May 2007 by her own company Angell Productions Pty Limited.[9]

Education[edit]

In 2008 she completed a professional research doctorate in Visual and Performing Arts with Charles Sturt University, her major paper being Another Coral Browne Story: analysis of the continuing export of Australia's performing arts talent (yet to be published). She continues to teach and to write.

Personal life[edit]

Angell was in a relationship for 43 years with her partner, Pat Gaye, an actress, who was also the first female film stunt driver in Britain, they remained togeter unil her death.[2]

Filmography[edit]

Title Year Role Note/s
Consider Your Verdict 1962 Doreen Barlow (2 episodes) TV series
Contrabandits 1968 Nola TV series
Homicide'' 1969 Rosie Callen TV series
Doctor in the House 1970 Margery Brown TV series
No - That's Me Over Here! 1970 Woman TV series
River of Gold 1971 Tina Marston TV film
Late Night Theatre 1972 Miss Eversholt TV series
The Jensen Code 1973 Miss. Howard
Not On Your Nellie 1974 Mrs. Smallpiece
The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs 1974 Jennifer Briggs TV series
Anne of Avonlea 1975 Mrs. Harrison TV miniseries
All Creatures Great and Small 1978 Mrs. Mallard TV series
Shoestring 1979 Tattooist TV series
World's End 1981 Connie TV series
Angels 1979-1982 3 roles TV series
Prisoner 1983 Valerie Jacobs TV series
Water Rats 2001 Mrs. Gooding TV series
Fireflies 2004 Nina TV movie
Fireflies 2004 Mena TV series
Home and Away 2004 Pam Soames TV series
Superman Returns 2006 Polly Film
Love My Way 2007 Woman at Pokies TV series
Chandon Pictures 2009 Margs TV series

Screenwriter[edit]

Title Year
The Mavis Bramston Show 1964-1968
Dave Allen at Large 1971
Elephant Boy 1972
First Sight 1987
Home and Away 1990
Neighbours 1991-1997
Poippys Head 1998
Shortland Street 1992-2010

See also[edit]

  • Performing Arts Collection, Melbourne, The Barbara Angell Collection[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b ""AusStage – Barbara Angell"".
  2. ^ a b ""Melbourne Arts Centre – Barbara Angell - A Treasure chest of memories"". Melbourne Arts Centre.
  3. ^ "Angell, Barbara (1935-))".
  4. ^ a b ""Barbara Angell - biography"". IMDB. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  5. ^ Harmer, Wendy (1989). It's a Joke, Joyce. Pan. ISBN 0330271156.
  6. ^ "The Mavis Bramston show". IDMB. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  7. ^ ""Some Day Man"". IDMB. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  8. ^ ""Superman Returns"". IDMB. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Austlit — Barbara Angell". Austlit. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  10. ^ ""Performing Arts Collection, Melbourne, The Barbara Angell Collection"". Performing Arts Collection. Retrieved 20 April 2024.

Further reading[edit]

  • History Magazine, No. 96, June 2008, p. 15; North Shore Times, Friday, 18 January 2008; Sydney Observer, December 2007, p. 55; The Monthly, Issue 30, December 2007 – January 2008, p. 76; On Stage, Vol 8 No. 3, Winter 2007, p. 30
  • Van Straten, Frank, Tivoli,Thomas C. Lothian Pty Ltd, 2003, p. 203; Harmer, Wendy, It's a Joke, Joyce, Pan Books, 1989, pp. 57–60
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