Alan Hopgood

Alan Hopgood

AM
Alan Hopgood; AM
Born	Alan John Hopgood; 29 September 1934; Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
Died	19 March 2022 (aged 87); Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupations	Actor; producer; playwright and dramatist; screenwriter; librettist; publisher; lecturer;
Years active	1940–2014

Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film Alvin Purple and made appearances in television shows such as Bellbird, Prisoner and Neighbours.

Early life

Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and grew up in the state. He acted in several dramatic roles in his childhood. He attended school in Melbourne and then studied at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) and a Diploma of Education. His first play, Marcus, was produced at Melbourne University while he was working as a school teacher. He left teaching to write full-time and start his acting career.^[1]

Career

Scriptwriting and screenwriting

Hopgood's first successful play, And the Big Men Fly, was about Australian rules football and was produced in 1963 by the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Russell Street Theatre in Melbourne with scripts by Brad Hopgood.^[2] The play was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973 and also a telemovie. In 1964, he followed with The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women. In 1966 he produced Private Yuk Objects, which he said 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.

Screen actor: Television and film

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).^[3]

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)^[4] and The Man from Snowy River II (1988).

He worked with a large number of actors including Frank Thring, Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields, Sam Neill and Judy Davis.^[5]

In late 2021, Hopgood appeared in an exclusive interview for the official YouTube channel Talking Prisoner, in which he discussed his life and career. The episode was published in January 2022.^[6]

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.^[7]

Personal life

Hopgood resided in Melbourne with his wife Gay, with whom he had two children (Fincina and Sam), and four grandchildren (Jackson, Harrison, Ashwyn and Darcy).^[8]

Health issues and death

Alan Hopgood developed prostate cancer and published a book on the experience titled Surviving Prostate Cancer: One Man's Journey, which was widely praised.^[9]^[10] He ofter toured giving humorous lectures on men's health issues.^[5]

Hopgood died from prostate cancer at the age of 87 on 19 March 2022 at a hospital in Melbourne.^[11]^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
1959	Tragedy in a Temporary Town	McCarthy	TV movie
1969	Dynasty	Jacob Goldberg	TV movie
1959	Antony and Cleopatra	First Soldier	TV movie
1959	Ned Kelly	Dan Kelly	TV movie
1960	Man in a Blue Vase	Aaron	TV movie
1960	The Astronauts	Dave Armstrong	TV movie
1960	Who Killed Kovali?	Jeff Willis	TV movie
1962	The Teeth of the Wind	Frank Andrews	TV movie
1962	She'll Be Alright		TV movie
1962	You Can't Win 'Em All	Feliz	TV movie
1962	Lola Montez	Smith	TV movie
1963	Night Stop	Gary	TV movie
1963	And The Big Men Fly	JJ Forbes	TV movie
1969	The Cheerful Cuckold	Gareth	TV movie
1969	The Torrents		TV movie
1977	The Trial of Ned Kelly	Narrator	TV movie
1979	My Brilliant Career	Father	Feature film
1979	Burn the Butterflies		TV movie
1980	The Blue Lagoon	Captain	Feature film
1980	The Quick Brown Fox	Marley Powers	Short film
1980	The Coast Town Kids	Mick James	TV movie
1980	Pacific Banana	Sir Harry Blandings	Feature film
1981	Roadgames	Lester	Feature film
1982	A Shifting Dreaming		TV movie
1983	A Slice of Life	Dr. Williams	Feature film
1985	Emerging	Tom Birchfield	TV movie
1987	Ground Zero	Commissioner #2	Feature film
1988	Return to Snowy River	Simmons	Feature film
1988	Rikky and Pete	Laughing Uncle	Feature film
1988	A Cry in the Dark (aka Evil Angels)	President Cox	Feature film
1996	Hotel de Love	Ronnie	Feature film
1998	Two Girls and a Baby	Catherine's Dad	Short film
2002	Dalkeith	Mick	Feature film
2004	The Gift	Man on Bus	Short film
2004	Stiff	Herb Gardiner	TV movie
2009	Knowing	Reverend Koestler	Feature film
2011	Magic	Grandfather
2011	The Cup	Grandfather at Football	Feature film
2012	The Game	Charles	Short film
2012	Last Dance	Mr. Nathan	Feature film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
1972–77	Bellbird	Dr. Matthew Reed	TV movie
1973–74	Matlock Police	3 roles -Frank Walsh -Ted Reid -Brian Davis	TV series
1973–1975	Homicide	3 roles -John Ford -Paul Markes -Jim Knight	TV series
1978–80	Cop Shop	2 roles -Doug Bramley -Horrie Gibbs	TV series
1979	Skyways	Edward Fielding	TV series, 2 episodes
1980	All the Green Years	Mr. Reeves	TV series
1981–1985	Prisoner	Wally Wallace	TV series
1986	Sword of Honour	Stuart Rogers	TV miniseries
1986, 2013	Neighbours	Jack Lassiter	TV series
1987	The Petrov Affair	Alan Reid	TV miniseries
1989	The Flying Doctors	Neil Hutton	TV series
1990	Flair	Harris	TV miniseries
1991	A Country Practice	Tom O'Connell	TV series
1992	Good Vibrations	Cec	TV miniseries
1993	Phoenix	Bill Douglas	TV series
1994	Wedlocked	Father Damien	TV series
1994	Law of the Land	Reg Bates	TV series
1995	Snowy River: The McGregor Saga	Gil Tyson	TV series
1997	State Coroner	Keith Summers	TV series
1998	Good Guys, Bad Guys	Judge Moody	TV series
1998	Driven Crazy	Mr. Tuck	TV series
1998–00	The Games	Radio Newreader (voice only), Database Inquiry Questioner	TV series
1999	Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude	Lecturer	TV miniseries
2000–04	Blue Heelers	3 roles -George Ratcliffe QC -Bob Swinburn -Doc Parkinson	TV series
2001	Round the Twist	Cornelius Crenshaw	TV series
2001	Something in the Air	Bill Mackay	TV series
2001	Halifax f.p.	Joshua Lippmann	TV series
2002	The Secret Life of Us	Dr. Morgan	TV series
2002–03	MDA	Dr. Hugo Willard	TV series
2003	Welcher and Welcher	Judge Furphy	TV series
2003	Stingers	Detective Senior Sargeant Bill Skelton	TV series
2003	The Saddle Club	Bud	TV series
2004	Fergus McPhail	Shop Assistant	TV series
2005	Holly's Heroes	Max Peterson	TV series
2007	City Homicide	Harry Mackintosh	TV series
2021	Talking Prisoner	Himself	YouTube special

As writer

Year	Title	Role	Type
1963	And the Big Men Fly	Writer	TV movie
1964	Barley Charlie	Writer	TV series, season 1 (7 episodes)
1967	Bellbird	Writer	TV series
1968	The World of Seekers	Writer	TV movie
1969	The Cheerful Cuckold	Writer	TV movie (from Australian Plays)
1973	The Barry Crocker Comedy Hour	Writer	TV special
1973	Alvin Purple	Screenplay	Feature film
1974	And the Big Men Fly	Writer	TV series, season 1 (6 episodes)
1974	Alvin Rides Again	Screenplay	Feature film
1975	The True Story of Eskimo Nell	Writer	Feature film
1976	Alvin Purple	Writer / creator	TV series, season 1 (13 episodes)
1979	Gulpilil: Man of Two Worlds	Writer	TV movie
1979	The Prophecies of Nostradamus	Writer	Feature film
1980	The Quick Brown Fox	Writer	Short film
1981	The Man Who Saw Tomorrow	Screenplay	Feature film
1981	And Here Comes Bucknuckle	Writer	TV series, season 1 (6 episodes)
1981	Pacific Banana	Screenplay	Feature film
1981	The Cliffhanger	Writer	Short TV movie
1981	The Bush Bunch: 1.1 the Cliffhanger	Writer	TV movie
1982	Breakfast in Paris	Screenplay (credited as Morris Dalton)	Feature film
1982	Prisoner	Writer	TV series, season 4 (1 episode)
1983	A Slice of Life	Screenplay	Feature film
1985	Fountain of Youth	Writer	TV movie
1985	From Opera with Love	Writer	TV movie
1988–91	The Flying Doctors	Writer	TV series, seasons 3-5 & 9 (6 episodes)
1989	Sugar and Spice	Writer	TV series, season 1 (8 episodes)
1989–91	Pugwall	Scriptwriter	TV series, seasons 1 & 2 (42 episodes)
1990	Flair	Writer	TV miniseries (2 episodes)
1991	Chances	Writer	TV series, season 1 (3 episodes)
1994	Blue Heelers	Writer	TV series, season 1 (1 episodes)
1998–01	Neighbours	Writer	TV series, seasons 14–17 (22 episodes)

Theatre

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Type
1947	Saint Joan		Playhouse, Hobart
1953	Slaves of Duty		Puckapunyal Army Base
1953	The Shoemaker's Holiday	Lord Mayor of London	University of Melbourne
1956	Of Mice and Men	George	University of Melbourne
1956	The Madwoman of Chaillot	The Rag Picker	University of Melbourne
1956	Golden Boy		University of Melbourne
1956	The Troublemakers		University of Melbourne
1956	Thieves' Carnival	Harlequin	University of Melbourne
1957	Much Ado About Nothing		University of Melbourne
1957	Arsenic and Old Lace	Lieutenant Rooney	University of Melbourne
1957	A View from the Bridge	First Officer / Neighbour	University of Melbourne
1957	Speak of the Devil		University of Melbourne
1958	The Making of Moo	William	University of Melbourne
1958	A Hatful of Rain	Polo Pope	University of Melbourne
1958	Lola Montez	Smith	University of Melbourne, Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, Elizabethan Theatre
1958	The Threepenny Opera	Smith	University of Melbourne
1958	Look Back in Anger	Cliff Lewis	Elizabethan Theatre
1959	Marcus		University of Melbourne with The Marlowe Society
1960	Long Day's Journey into Night	Edmund Tyrone	St Martins Theatre
1961	Stop Press		Phillip Street Theatre
1962	The Fantasticks	Narrator	Russell Street Theatre
1963	The Man Who Came to Dinner	Banjo	Russell Street Theatre
1963-65	And the Big Men Fly	J.J. Forbes	Russell Street Theatre, Arts Theatre Adelaide, Wangaratta Town Hall, Broken Hill Town Hall, Playhouse Perth, Albury, Theatre Royal Hobart, Twelfth Night Theatre
1964	After the Fall	Quentin	Russell Street Theatre
1964	Night of the Auk		University of Melbourne
1965	Entertaining Mr Sloane		Russell Street Theatre
1965	Bandicoot on a Burnt Ridge		Russell Street Theatre
1965	Tiny Alice	Butler	University of Melbourne
1965	Inadmissible Evidence		University of Melbourne
1965	The Homecoming	Lenny	University of Melbourne
1966	A Break in the Music	Derek	Playhouse Theatre Perth
1966	The Owl and the Pussycat		Russell Street Theatre
1967	The Servant of Two Masters	Truffaldino	Russell Street Theatre
1968	The Crucible	Giles Corey	Russell Street Theatre, Canberra Theatre, Tasmania
1968	Three Sisters	Captain Solyony	Russell Street Theatre
1968	Everything in the Garden		Russell Street Theatre
1969	Henry IV, Part 1	Poins	Octagon Theatre Perth, Murdoch Court Melbourne
1986	A Kind of Justice		Masonic Hall, Perth
1993-94	Emperor of the Ghetto	Rumkowski	Fairfax Studio Melbourne, Lion Theatre Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1995	It's My Party (And I'll Die if I Want To)		Arts Theatre Adelaide
1997	For Better, for Worse	Des	Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2007	Four Funerals in One Day	Clarrie	Bay Street Productions
2007-08	Visiting Mr. Green	Mr Green	Whitehorse Centre, Drum Theatre Dandenong, Kingston Arts Centre Moorabbin, Clocktower Centre Moonee Ponds
2008	The Peppercorn Tree	Jonah
2008	Never Too Old	Fred	Monash University, Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2012	Hear Me	Doctor	International Incident Disclosure Conference with Bay Street Productions
2017	Never Too Old	Fred	at ACMI, Federation Square for Melbourne International Comedy Festival with Bay Street Productions
2019	Never Too Old	Fred	Glen Eira Town Hall for Glen Eira Storytelling Festival with Bay Street Productions
2020	The Carer	George Parker	Online with The Sugden Society with Bay Street Productions

As writer / director / crew

Year	Title	Role	Type
1957	Beauty and the Beast	Stage manager	University of Melbourne
1959	Marcus	Playwright	University of Melbourne
1961	Stop Press	Lyricist	Phillip Street Theatre
1963-65	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Russell Street Theatre, Arts Theatre Adelaide, Wangaratta Town Hall, Broken Hill Town Hall, Playhouse Perth, Albury, Theatre Royal Hobart, Twelfth Night Theatre
1964	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Russell Street Theatre
1965-66	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Burnley Theatre Richmond, Camberwell
1966	Private Yuk Objects	Playwright	Mildura, Russell Street Theatre, Phillip Theatre, Mildura Arts Centre
1967	Terribly Terribly		University of California
1967	Monkey Tricks	Playwright	Playhouse Canberra
1967	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Playhouse Canberra
1967-68	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Pymble Community Hall, Adelaide Teachers College, Twelfth Night Theatre
1970	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Scott Theatre, Adelaide
1973	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	La Boite Theatre
1974	Terribly Terribly	Playwright	Monash University
1976	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	SGIO Theatre
1977	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Mountview Theatre Macedon, Arts Theatre Brisbane
1980-83	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Victorian country tour, Arts Theatre Brisbane, Arts Theatre Adelaide, Tilley Recreation Park Adelaide, Brown's Mart Theatre Darwin with Bay Street Productions
1982	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Nerang, Newcastle
1986	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women; Out of the Frying Pan; A Kind of Justice	Playwright	Masonic Hall Perth
1988	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Russell Street Theatre with Bay Street Productions
1970	Ritual	Playwright	Majestic Cinemas Sydney
1992	Petrov: The Musical	PlaywrIght	Melbourne Concert Hall
1993-94	Emperor of The Ghetto	Adaptor	Fairfax Studio Melbourne, Lion Theatre Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1994	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Theatre 62, Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1997	For Better for Worse	Playwright	Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
1998	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Harbour Theatre, Shellharbour
2001	The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women	Playwright	Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural Centre
2002	And the Big Men Fly	Playwright	Tower Arts Centre, Adelaide with Bay Street Productions
1999-2004	The Carer	Playwright	Australian national tour with Bay Street Productions
2005	Six Degrees of Diabetes	Playwright	Bay Street Productions
2005	Red Dust Diva - the Musical	Writer	Chapel Off Chapel
2006	A Pill, a Pump and a Needle	Playwright	Bay Street Productions
2005-07	Weary - the Story of Sir Edward Dunlop	Playwright	Australian national tour
2007	Four Funerals in One Day	Playwright	Bay Street Productions
2008	Never Too Old	Director / Playwright	Monash University, Chapel Off Chapel with Bay Street Productions
2008	Wicked Widows	Director / Playwright	Monash University, Chapel Off Chapel
2009	My Dog Has Stripes	Playwright	Fortyfivedownstairs with Bay Street Productions
2011	The Empty Chair	Playwright	Bay Street Productions
2012	Hear Me	Playwright	Bay Street Productions
2014	Do You Know Me	Playwright	Bay Street Productions

^[13]^[8]^[14]

References

↑ AustLit, The Resource of Australian Literature
↑ "Alan Hopgood theatre roles". AusStage.
↑ "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.
1 2 Entertainoz Archived 29 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Talking Prisoner Cell Block H EP 25 Interview with Alan Hopgood (Wally Wallace)". YouTube. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
↑ Health Play Archived 24 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
1 2 https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/10456049
↑ "Surviving prostate cancer : one man's journey". Trove. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
↑ "Surviving Prostate Cancer by Alan Hopgood". www.penguin.com.au. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
↑ Acting icon Alan Hopgood, 87, passes away
↑ Knox, David (22 March 2022). "Vale: Alan Hopgood". TV Tonight. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
↑ https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/1369
↑ https://creativerep.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/HOPGOOD-Alan-CV.pdf

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] AustLit, The Resource of Australian Literature

[AusStage-2] "Alan Hopgood theatre roles". AusStage.

[3] "Jack Lassiter returns to Erinsborough". Neighbours.com.au. Eleven. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.

[4] "A Cry in the Dark (1988) – Release dates". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 June 2012.

[Entertainoz-5] 1 2 Entertainoz Archived 29 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine

[6] "Talking Prisoner Cell Block H EP 25 Interview with Alan Hopgood (Wally Wallace)". YouTube. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.

[7] Health Play Archived 24 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[austlit.edu.au-8] 1 2 https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/10456049

[9] "Surviving prostate cancer : one man's journey". Trove. Retrieved 2 January 2024.

[10] "Surviving Prostate Cancer by Alan Hopgood". www.penguin.com.au. Retrieved 2 January 2024.

[HS-11] Acting icon Alan Hopgood, 87, passes away

[12] Knox, David (22 March 2022). "Vale: Alan Hopgood". TV Tonight. Retrieved 17 May 2022.

[13] ttps://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/1369

[14] ttps://creativerep.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/HOPGOOD-Alan-CV.pdf

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