Robin Ramsay
Born
EducationRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active1957-2008
FamilyWilliam Ramsay (grandfather)
Tamasin Ramsay (daughter)

Robin Ramsay is an Australian former television, film and stage actor. He appeared in the rural series Bellbird as Charlie Cousins, in which he was best known for the scene in which he falls to his death from a wheat silo.

Early life and education

Ramsay is the grandson of William Ramsay, the founder and manufacturer of the shoe polish firm Kiwi.[1][2]

Ramsay is the disowned son[1] of Thomas Meek Ramsay and Alice née James (1909-2009). His parents divorced, and his mother later married her long-time paramour, the architect Roy Grounds.

Ramsay studied at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1957. He worked briefly for the BBC then returned to Australia.

Personal life

Ramsay is father of Robina Ramsay, an internationally ranked dressage rider,[3] and anthropologist Tamasin Ramsay.

Career

Theatre

After returning to Australia, Ramsay joined the fledgling Union Theatre Company in Melbourne. He starred in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, produced for the first Adelaide Festival in 1960.

He has played roles in theatre locally starting from 1957[4] and then went to the United States in 1961 and joined the Theatre Company of Boston. He then toured the country in The National Repertory Theatre, with Eva Le Gallienne and Faye Emerson.

In 1964, he took the role of Fagin in the hit musical Oliver! on Broadway, a role he played for a further two years in New York, followed by a record-breaking national tour. He shared the bill with the Beatles, singing a song from the musical in a subsequently memorable edition of The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1966, Ramsay recreated his role of Fagin for a West End revival of Oliver!.

Television

Returning to Australia, Ramsay's role as Charlie Cousens in Bellbird, Australia's first successful television soap opera, garnered him considerable public notice. A regular character on the show from August 1967, Ramsay left in May 1968 to take the role of Fagin in a Japanese stage production of Oliver!.

The show's producers decided to kill off his character, with Cousens falling off a wheat silo, staging what has been described as "one of the most-watched and best-remembered moments in Australian TV history",[5] fans wrote letters protesting about his death and even sent flowers to his funeral.

He appeared in the TV movie Wicked City.

Return to stage

Ramsay returned to the theatre playing the controversial priest Daniel Berrigan in the Trial of the Catonsville Nine in Sydney. He went on to play Pontius Pilate in 's original production of Jesus Christ Superstar.[5] He was in the first production at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1972: playing MacHeath in The Threepenny Opera. Ramsay spent the next few years as a leading actor with the Sydney Theatre Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company, and working in film and television. He has twice won the Melbourne Critics Circle Award for Best Actor. He was in Medea, the opening production of the Melbourne Arts Centre, playing opposite Zoe Caldwell.

In 1977, with Rodney Fisher, he developed his first solo show, drawn from the writings of Henry Lawson, The Bastard From The Bush.[6] This refocusing on Lawson as a sophisticated short-story writer and diarist, rather than as a 'bush poet', radically altered Australia's view of their favourite icon. The play toured to Riverside Studios in London, and played extended seasons at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre and the Victorian Arts Centre. The production won the Australian Arts Award

In the early 1980s Ramsay was commissioned to create a new solo show celebrating the life and times of Rabindranath Tagore, India's Nobel Prize-winning poet: titled Borderland. The invitation came from the Indian High Commission in Canberra. The play was performed in Australia, then toured to more than 60 countries, in tandem with The Bastard from the Bush.

Ramsay then formed his own chamber theatre company, "Open Secret", and continued touring internationally, developing new productions, notably Vikram Seth's Beastly Tales from Here and There and incorporating local musicians into the company's presentations. His new solo play The Accidental Mystic, high times on the Indian ashram trail, written by his wife Barbara Bossert, opened at Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre in 1995, after seasons in Sydney and the Edinburgh Festival. The play toured to London and throughout India. Ramsay was nominated for a Melbourne Critics Circle Best Actor Award for his performance.

In 1994 he toured the Tokyo International Theatre Festival with the Playbox Theatre.

Producing and directing

In 2008, he produced and directed the feature film Tao of the Traveller, a spiritual adventure film which won a Best Film Award at the South African International Film Festival in 2008, and was selected for screening at several festivals in 2009, including the British Film Festival in Los Angeles, Egypt International Film Festival, Thailand International Film Festival, and Swansea Bay International Film Festival. In 2008 the film was also invited to the Fallbrook Film Festival in California, and won awards in the Research and Experimental categories at the Accolade Film Festival.

Ramsay became interested in Eastern spiritual matters in the 1960s and studied Taoism and Buddhism and many of the mystical poets such as Rumi, Tagore and Hafiz. During the 1980s, he came across the teachings of Brother Lekhraj Kripalani, now formalised as the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, while still performing with Open Secret. From 2003 to 2006 he was coordinator of a Brahma Kumaris retreat centre near Wilton New South Wales. Ramsay was invited to recreate his Tagore show Borderland in London, for the Lord Mayor of London's "India Now" celebrations.

In 2008, Ramsay was asked by BK management to make a film on the history of the Brahma Kumaris. After research in the British and New York public libraries, it became apparent that the group's history had been seriously compromised in its statements and publications. Ramsay's subsequent film on the group, was banned from being screened to stakeholders by BK management. BK management held a poll among those who had attended the screening, claiming the audience had strongly disapproved of the film. This turned out to be false, and management apologised.

Curator

Since 2009, Ramsay has been a curator of the forest retreat "Sanctuary Australia" in northern New South Wales. The retreat is run on Brahma Kumaris principles, while embracing a cruelty-free diet and lifestyle.

Filmography

Films

Year Film Role Type
1959 Till Death Do Us Part TV movie
1960 No Picnic Tomorrow Tony TV movie
1969 The Cheerful Cuckold Tony Champion TV movie
1972 Jesus Christ Superstar Pontius Pilate TV movie
How Could You Believe Me When I Said I'd Be Your Valet When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life? Truffalino TV movie
1975 The Box Bruce Madigan Feature film
1976 Mad Dog Morgan Roget Feature film
Oz Glynn the Good Fairy Feature film
1980 Bedfellows Feature film
1981 The Mesmerist TV movie
1982 Running on Empty Dad Feature film
Oliver Twist Voice Animated film
1984 Conferenceville TV movie
1985 A Street to Die Tom Feature film
1987 Dear Cardholder Hec Harris Feature film
1991 Requiem Short film
1996 Cosi Minister for Health Feature film
2015 Force of Destiny Surgeon Feature film

Television

Year Film Role Type
1967 Love and War Mercutio Miniseries, 1 episode
1967-68 Bellbird Charlie Cousens TV series, 82 episodes
1970 Music on 2 Percy Grainger TV series, 1 episode
1973 Ryan Mario TV series, 1 episode
1974 This Love Affair TV series, 1 episode
1975 Behind the Legend Marcus Clarke TV series, 1 episode
Shannon's Mob Andrew Blake TV series
1976 Tandarra Dexter Miniseries, 1 episode
1978 Tickled Pink Richard TV series, 1 episode
Chopper Squad Murray TV series, 1 episode
1981 The Willow Bend Mystery Adrian TV series, 5 episodes
1983 Silent Reach Father Bridges Miniseries, 2 episodes
1984 Carson's Law Jeremy Forbes TV series, 2 episodes
1984 Special Squad Massini TV series, 1 episode
1986 Return to Eden Sheik Amahl TV series
1988 The Flying Doctors Lloyd Greenway TV series, 1 episode
Dadah Is Death Wilf Barlow Miniseries
1990 Embassy Alex TV series, 1 episode
1994 The Damnation of Harvey McHugh Father Nillson TV series
1995 Mercury Simon Hayes Miniseries, 1 episode

Theatre

Year Title Role Company/Venue
1957 The Matchmaker Union Theatre
Tonight in Samarkand Union Theatre
Ring Round the Moon Union Theatre
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Union Theatre
Arsenic and Old Lace Union Theatre
A View from the Bridge Union Theatre
Speak of the Devil Union Theatre
Beauty and the Beast Union Theatre
A Hatful of Rain Union Theatre
1958 Lola Montez Union Theatre
A Streetcar Named Desire Union Theatre
Hotel Paradiso Union Theatre
The Knight of the Burning Pestle Union Theatre
Blood Wedding Union Theatre
The Threepenny Opera Union Theatre
Lysistrata Union Theatre
1959 Moby Dick Union Theatre & Elizabethan Theatre
1960 Moon on a Rainbow Shawl MTC at Union Hall for Adelaide Festival
1964-66 Oliver! Fagin Broadway & West End
1966 The Knack Russell Street Theatre
1967 A Flea in Her Ear Russell Street Theatre & Canberra Theatre
The Servant of Two Masters Russell Street Theatre
Incident at Vichy Russell Street Theatre
1968 Everything in the Garden Russell Street Theatre
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Russell Street Theatre, Theatre Royal, Hobart & The Little Theatre Launceston
1969 Henry IV, Part 1 Octagon Theatre & Keith Murdoch Court, Melbourne
The Country Wife Russell Street Theatre & Canberra Theatre
Loot Russell Street Theatre
The Soldiers Russell Street Theatre & Canberra Theatre
A Long View Russell Street Theatre
1970 Trial of the Catonsville Nine Pitt Street Congregational Church
Day of Glory Russell Street Theatre
The Devils Russell Street Theatre
Son of Man' Russell Street Theatre
1970-71 All's Well That Ends Well Princess Theatre (Melbourne), Canberra Theatre & Octagon Theatre
1971 The Government Inspector Russell Street Theatre
1972 How Could You Believe Me When I Said I'd Be Your Valet When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life? Canberra Theatre
1972-73 The Threepenny Opera MacHeath Sydney Opera House
Jesus Christ Superstar Pontius Pilate Jim Sharman production at Festival Hall (Melbourne), Kings Park Perth, Princess Theatre, Launceston, Hobart City Hall, Palais Theatre, Capitol Theatre
1974 Pericles, Prince of Tyre Russell Street Theatre
1975 The Taming of the Shrew SGIO Theatre
Absurd Person Singular St Martins Theatre, Melbourne
When Voyaging Playhouse Adelaide
1976 The Wolf Parade Theatre, University of NSW
Martello Towers Nimrod
1977 Yamashita Playhouse Canberra
The Merchant of Venice Athenaeum Theatre
The Bastard from the Bush Rodney Fisher Belvoir Street Theatre, Russell Street Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Riverside Studios London & Nimrod
1978 Rock-Ola Nimrod & Scott Theatre, Adelaide
1979 P.S. Your Cat Is Dead The Space Adelaide & Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1980 The Sunny South Eli Grupp Sydney Opera House
Cyrano de Bergerac Sydney Opera House
The Merry Wives of Windsor Sydney Opera House
1980-81 The Magic Pudding Sydney Opera House, Victorian country tour, Western Australian tour, The Playhouse Adelaide
1982 Macbeth Sydney Opera House
The Butterflies of Kalimantan Stables Theatre
1982-83 Trafford Tanzi Seymour Centre, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1983 On Our Selection Athenaeum Theatre
1983-84 The Bastard from the Bush (double bill with Borderland) Arts Centre ANU, Seymour Centre, Playhouse Newcastle & International tour
1984 Medea Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse Melbourne
1985 The Dance of Death Wharf Theatre
1986 Hamlet & The Marriage Sydney Opera House
1987 A Chorus of Disapproval Playhouse Melbourne, Canberra Theatre
1988 Faces in the Street Seymour Centre
1991 Racing Demon Wharf Theatre
Hay Fever Playhouse Melbourne
Beastly Tales from Here and There Open Secret (Ramsay’s chamber theatre company)
1994 The Bastard from the Bush Fairfax Studio Melbourne, Seymour Centre
1995 The Accidental Mystic Solo play Open Secret at Ensemble Theatre, Theatre 3 Acton, Malthouse Theatre, Lion Theatre Adelaide, Seymour Centre, Edinburgh Festival, Malthouse Theatre, London & India
The Head of Mary The Small Theatre - Tokyo International Arts Space & Malthouse Theatre
1996 Heretic Derek Freeman Sydney Opera House, Subiaco Theatre Centre, Canberra Theatre, Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Goldfields Arts Centre Kalgoorlie & Playhouse Melbourne
2003-06 Borderland Open Secret at Lord Mayor of London's India Now celebrations, London

References

  1. 1 2 "John Olday's Memoirs: The Australian Period - Bob James". Takver's Initiatives. 2 February 1998. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  2. "Activities of the Foundation in 1995". Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Accessed 27 July 2007.
  3. Robina Ramsay Becomes a Bride. 17 September 1989. Accessed 27 July 2007.
  4. "Robi eRamsay".
  5. 1 2 Superstar: The Australian Production at MilesAgo: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 Accessed 5 November 2012
  6. at Cameron's agency. Accessed 5 November 2012.
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