Cornelia Frances Zulver, known professionally as Cornelia Frances was born on the 7th of April 1941 in Liverpool. She was educated at a Catholic convent in Surrey where her earliest performances were limited to annual Nativity plays. From the convent she went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She landed her very first role, albeit uncredited, in the controversial horror thriller 'Peeping Tom' (1960) and followed that up with another uncredited part in 'The Queen's Guards' (1961) with her uncle Michael Powell directing both films. She also had a small speaking role in Herbert Ross' film adaptation of 'Goodbye, Mr Chips' and appeared in various theatre productions, like 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde'. Throughout the remainder of the 60s, however, Cornelia had difficulty landing more film and TV work in England and eager to give her fledgling acting career an extra push she followed her boyfriend (later to be her husband) to Australia in 1965. She returned to England to get married before emigrating to Australia permanently in 1970 with her husband Michael Eastland and worked at the Playhouse Theatre in Perth where her acting career flourished. She worked as an announcer on Perth television before appearing in 'Henry IV Parts I and 2' (1967) directed by Edgar Metcalfe; 'Mary Mary' which toured regional Western Australia, and also played a season at the Playhouse. She appeared nightly on television as the host of Channel 9's 'Tom's TV Bingo'; Tom's was a supermarket in Perth. She landed a number of roles on Australian TV shows and in 1970 starred in one of her first TV acting roles on her return as fashion model Georgina Clausen in two episodes of 'Dynasty'. Following guest roles in 'Boney', 'Ryan' and 'Silent Number' she then had a lead role in 'The Box', the 1975 film adaptation of the sex-comedy soap opera of the same name and the role of Mrs Quinn in 'The Lost Islands' in 1976, but she became well known across Australia for her long-running role of the strict and acidic Sister Grace Scott in the daily soap opera 'The Young Doctors', a role which was to become one to define her career. After leaving that series to move to Melbourne with her husband, who had been transferred there, she worked as a television reporter on "light" stories for Peter Couchman's 'Melbourne', a current affairs program hosted by Peter Couchman. In April 1980, she made a guest appearance as lawyer Carmel Saunders on 'Prisoner: Cell Block H' and later acted in guest-starring television roles, before taking another well-remembered role, that of Barbara Armstrong (later Hamilton) in 'Sons and Daughters', a role she played from 1982 until 1986.
On the 7th of June 1988, she made her first appearance on 'Home and Away' as Morag Bellingham, a judge and sister of Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), whom she always clashed with, as well as the sister of Celia Stewart (Fiona Spence) and half-sister of, much to her dislike, Colleen Smart (Lyn Collingwood), both of whom she always shared comic banter with. Cornelia played the recurring role of Morag for twenty-nine years, from June 1988 until April 2017. The six-time Logie nominee had expressed a desire to play Morag full-time on the show, and admitted that she did not like the coming-and-going as it was "very unsettling."
From 1997 to 1998, she provided the voice of Tortoise on the Australian/Chinese children's series 'Magic Mountain'. Her harsh hosting role on gameshow 'The Weakest Link' (2001–2002) also gave her notoriety as, no stranger to playing stern characters, she took on the role of quizmaster, the year after it was shown in England. Put downs of under performing or over-confident contestants led to the famous catchphrase, as losing contestants were escorted out: "You are the Weakest Link… goodbye!" In the early 2000s, she worked for a winery in the Hunter Valley when she could not get acting work. Her autobiography 'And What Have You Done Lately?' was published in 2003. Her later career involved voice acting in 'Milly,Molly' and a main role in the Australian stage production of 'Calendar Girls'. Her final television appearance was in a 2017 episode of 'Home and Away'.
On the 26th of January 2019, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). A longtime ambassador for The Orangutan Project, whose key mission includes protecting endangered wild orangutan species. She had travelled to Borneo in 2011 with The Orangutan Project and inspired many to join the cause and raised much needed awareness about the perilous situation facing orangutans. Cornelia was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2016, and although she underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the cancer spread to her hip and spine. She died on the 28th of May 2018 in Sydney, New South Wales from bladder cancer. A spokeswoman for Channel Seven, which broadcast many of the programs Frances appeared in, said she had "inspired a generation of actor. This gift was coupled with an ability to bring a sense of dignity and presence into each room she entered. Her energy and character will be missed."
see also : - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/11/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians.html
No comments:
Post a Comment