Alan Hopgood
Alan Hopgood | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alan John Hopgood 29 September 1934 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1956–present |
Alan John Hopgood AM (born 29 September 1934) credited also as Alan Hopwood, is an Australian actor of theatre, television and telemovies, producer, dramatist and playwright and screenwriter and musical librettist.
Early life
Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania and grew up in Tasmania. He acted in several dramatic roles while still a child. He attended school in Melbourne, and attended the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Diploma of Education. Hopgood had his first play, Marcus, produced at Melbourne University while he was working as a school teacher. He left teaching to write full-time and act in the theatre.[1]
Career
Hopgood's first very successful play was And the Big Men Fly in 1963 produced by the Union Theatre Repertory Company. The script writer at the time was Brad Hopgood. The play was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973. In 1964, he followed with The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women. In 1966 he produced Private Yuk Objects, which he claims was the first play anywhere in the world on the subject of the Vietnam War.
Hopgood has also written a number of film and television screenplays, including the comedy film Alvin Purple (1973), which was the most commercially successful Australian film of the early 1970s.
Hopgood was an actor with the Melbourne Theatre Company for ten years and was an early "soap" star in Bellbird, in which for six years he played the town doctor. He has also performed in the later soaps, Prisoner (for which he also scripted many episodes) and Neighbours as Jack Lassiter (a role he reprised in August 2013).[2]
As an actor, his cinema credits include My Brilliant Career (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Roadgames (1981), Evil Angels (1988, released as A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand)[3] and The Man from Snowy River II (1988). He has worked with a large number of actors including Frank Thring, Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields, Sam Neill, Judy Davis.[4]
He contracted prostate cancer and his book on the experience Surviving Prostate Cancer – One Man's Journey (1996) was widely praised. He often tours giving humorous talks on men's health.[4]
Honours
Hopgood won AWGIE awards for The Cheerful Cuckold and The Bush Bunch and writing several feature films including Alvin Purple and the documentaries The Prophecies of Nostradamus and The Fountain of Youth.
Hopgood was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in 2005 for his services to the performing arts as an actor, playwright and producer, and to the community through raising awareness of men's health issues.[5]
Filmography
Actor
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1959 | Tragedy in a Temporary Town (TV movie) | McCarthy |
| 1959 | Antony and Cleopatra (TV movie) | First Soldier |
| 1959 | Ned Kelly (TV movie) | |
| 1960 | Man in a Blue Vase (TV movie) | Aaron |
| 1960 | The Astronauts (TV movie) | Dave Armstrong |
| 1960 | Who Killed Kovali? (TV movie) | |
| 1962 | The Teeth of the Wind (TV movie) | Frank Andrews |
| 1962 | She'll Be Alright (TV movie) | |
| 1962 | You Can't Win 'Em All (TV movie) | Feliz |
| 1962 | Lola Montez (TV movie) | Smith |
| 1963 | Night Stop (TV movie) | |
| 1963 | And The Big Men Fly (TV movie) | |
| 1969 | Dynasty (TV series) | Jacob Goldberg |
| 1969 | The Cheerful Cuckold (TV movie) | |
| 1969 | The Torrents (TV movie) | |
| 1973-1974 | Matlock Police (TV series) | 3 roles -Frank Walsh -Ted Reid -Brian Davis |
| 1973-1975 | Homicide (TV series) | 3 roles -John Ford -Paul Markes -Jim Knight |
| 1972-1977 | Bellbird (TV series) | Dr. Reed |
| 1977 | The Trial of Ned Kelly (TV movie) | Narrator |
| 1979 | Skyways (TV series) | Edward Fielding |
| 1979 | My Brilliant Career | Father |
| 1979 | Burn the Butterflies (TV movie) | |
| 1980 | The Blue Lagoon | Captain |
| 1980 | The Quick Brown Fox (film short) | Marley Powers |
| 1980 | All the Green Years (TV series) | Mr. Reeves |
| 1980 | The Coast Town Kids (TV movie) | Mick James |
| 1980 | Pacific Banana | Sir Harry Blandings |
| 1978-1980 | Cop Shop (TV series) | 3 roles -Doug Bramley -Horrie Gibbs -Doug Bramley |
| 1981 | Road Games | Lester |
| 1982 | A Shifting Dreaming (TV movie) | |
| 1983 | A Slice of Life | Dr. Williams |
| 1981-1985 | Prisoner (TV series) | Wally Wallace |
| 1985 | Emerging (TV movie) | Tom Birchfield |
| 1986 | Sword of Honour (TV mini-series) | Stuart Rogers |
| 1987 | The Petrov Affair (TV mini-series) | Alan Reid |
| 1987 | Ground Zero | Commissioner #2 |
| 1988 | Return to Snowy River | Simmons |
| 1988 | Rikky and Pete | Laughing Uncle |
| 1988 | A Cry in the Dark | President Cox |
| 1989 | The Flying Doctors (TV series) | Neil Hutton |
| 1990 | Flair (TV miniseries) | Harris |
| 1991 | A Country Practice (TV series) | Tom O'Connell |
| 1992 | Good Vibrations (TV mini-series) | Cec |
| 1993 | Phoenix (TV series) | Bill Douglas |
| 1994 | Wedlocked (TV series) | Father Damien |
| 1994 | Law of the Land(TV series) | Reg Bates |
| 1995 | Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (TV series) | Gil Tyson |
| 1996 | Hotel de Love | Ronnie |
| 1997 | State Coroner(TV series) | Keith Summers |
| 1998 | Good Guys, Bad Guys (TV series) | Judge Moody |
| 1998 | Driven Crazy (TV series) | Mr. Tuck |
| 1998 | Two Girls and a Baby (film short) | Catherine's Dad |
| 1999 | Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude (TV mini-series) | Lecturer |
| 1998-2000 | The Games(TV series) | Radio Newreader (voice only), Database Inquiry Questioner |
| 2001 | Round the Twist (TV series) | Cornelius Crenshaw |
| 2001 | Something in the Air( TV series) | Bill Mackay |
| 2001 | Halifax f.p. (TV series) | Joshua Lippmann |
| 2002 | The Secret Life of Us (TV series) | Dr. Morgan |
| 2002 | Dalkeith | Mick |
| 2003 | Welcher and Welcher (TV series) | Judge Furphy |
| 2003 | Stingers (TV series) | Detective Senior Sargeant Bill Skelton |
| 2003 | The Saddle Club (TV series) | Bud |
| 2002-2003 | MDA (TV series) | Dr. Hugo Willard |
| 2004 | Fergus McPhail (TV series) | Shop Assistannt |
| 2004 | The Gift (film short) | Man on Bus |
| 2004 | Stiff (TV movie) | Herb Gardiner |
| 2000-2004 | Blue Heelers (TV series) | 3 roles -George Ratcliffe QC -Bob Swinburn -Doc Parkinson |
| 2005 | Holly's Heroes (TV series) | Max Peterson |
| 2007 | City Homicide (TV series) | Harry Mackintosh |
| 2009 | Knowing | Reverend Koestler |
| 2011 | Magic (film short) | Grandfather |
| 2011 | The Cup | Grandfather at Football |
| 2012 | The Game (film short) | Charles |
| 2012 | Last Dance | Mr. Nathan |
| 1986-2013 | Neighbours (TV series) | Jack Lassiter |
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1963 | And The Big Men Fly (TV movie) | |
| 1964 | Barley Charlie (TV series) | Written by 7 episodes |
| 1967 | Bellbird (TV series) | |
| 1968 | The World of the Seekers (TV movie documentary) | Written by |
| 1969 | The Cheerful Cuckold (TV movie) | |
| 1973 | Alvin Purple | Written by |
| 1974 | And the Big Men Fly (TV series) | |
| 1974 | Alvin Rides Again | Written by |
| 1975 | The True Story of Eskimo Nell | Written by |
| 1976 | Alvin Purple (TV series) | creator 13 episodes written 13 episodes |
| 1979 | Gulpilil: Man of Two Worlds (TV movie documentary) | |
| 1980 | The Quick Brown Fox (film short) | |
| 1980 | Pacific Banana | Written by |
| 1981 | And Here Comes Bucknuckle (TV series) | |
| 1981 | The Man Who Saw Tomorrow | Screenplay |
| 1981 | The Cliffhanger (TV movie) | |
| 1981 | The Bush Bunch: 1.1 the Cliffhanger (TV movie) | |
| 1982 | Breakfast in Paris | As Morris Dalton |
| 1982 | Prisoner (TV series) | written by - 1 episode |
| 1983 | A Slice of Life | Screenplay |
| 1985 | From Opera with Love (TV movie) | |
| 1989 | Sugar and Spice (TV series) | 8 episodes |
| 1990 | Flair (TV miniseries) | |
| 1989-1991 | Pugwall (TV series) | scriptwriter - 42 episodes |
| 1988-1991 | The Flying Doctors (TV series) | 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Blue Heelers (TV series) | 1 episode |
| 1998-2001 | Neighbours (TV series) | written by - 22 episodes |
References
- ^ AustLit, The Resource of Australian Literature
- ^ "Jack Lassiter returns to Erinsborough". Neighbours.com.au. Eleven. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- ^ "A Cry in the Dark (1988) – Release dates". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
- ^ a b Entertainoz Archived 29 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Health Play Archived 24 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- 1934 births
- Australian dramatists and playwrights
- Australian male film actors
- Australian screenwriters
- Australian male soap opera actors
- Australian male stage actors
- Australian male television actors
- Living people
- People from Launceston, Tasmania
- University of Melbourne alumni
- 20th-century Australian male actors
- 21st-century Australian male actors