Ben Apfelbaum

GEORGE OGILVIE AND ARTHUR DIGNAM : TWO GREAT THESPIANS LEAVE THE STAGE

Two giants of Australian stage and screen have died within a month of each other, namely George Ogilvie and Arthur Dignam.

George Ogilvie was born In Goulburn along with a twin.brother Jim.

He had a long directing career in. all mediums, ballet, opera, theatre, television and film .

Ogilvie began as an actor with the Canberra Rep Theatre before moving to the United Kingdom and returning to Australia in 1965.

He became Associate Director with the Melbourne Theatre Company where he directed 23 plays. It was followed b y four years (1972-1975) as Artistic Director of the South Australian Theatre Company and later as a freelance director working with the Australian Opera , the Australian Ballet and various Australian Theatre Companies as well as teaching at NIDA and the Actor’s Centre.

For the small screen he directed ‘The Dismissal’ (in which he also played Senator Jim McLelland), ‘Bodyline’, ‘The Shiralee’, ‘The Feds’, ‘The Last Of The Ryans’, ‘Touch the Sun’, ‘Blue Heelers’, and films such as ‘The Crossing’, ‘The Place at the Coast’ and ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ which he codirected with George Miller. Ogilvie last appeared on screen in 2014 in ‘The Water Diviner’  directed by Russell Crowe.

In 1983 he was made a Member of the Order Of Australia for his services to the Performing Arts.

George Ogilvie died peacefully at Braidwood Hospital aged 89.

Russell Crowe credits him with starting his career and praised him as ‘a gifted teacher, in art, theatre and life’.

Veteran actor Arthur Dignam, best known for The Devil’s Playground, We of the Never Never and The Dismissal, has died, aged 80.

Son and actor Nicholas Gledhill confirmed he died following a heart attack on Saturday.

Arthur Dignam’s credits on stage and screen stem back to 1961. He has a long list of stage credits with Belvoir Street Theatre, Nimrod, The Hole in the Wall, Sydney Theatre Co., Melbourne Theatre Co., Stables Theatre and the original Australian productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Films included Libido, Petersen, The Devil’s Playground, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Cathy’s Child, We of the Never Never, The Return of Captain Invincible, Burke & Wills, The Nostradamus Kid, Dating the Enemy, Paradise Road, Gods and Monsters, Moulin Rouge!, Australia and The Great Gatsby.

TV credits included The New Avengers, Water Under the Bridge, The Dismissal, Five Mile Creek, Special Squad, Bodyline, The Flying Doctors. Minder, Escape from Jupiter, Pacific Drive, Heartbreak High and All Saints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.