Benita Collings (born 1940) is an Australian theatre, television and film character actress and children's television presenter best known for her role on ABC TV's '' Play School''. Collings has also featured in documentaries and commercials.

Professional career

Theatre, television and film

Collings started her career in 1955 at the

Independent Theatre Independent Theatre, formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd., was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney, Australia. It is also the name given to the building it occupied from 1939 (then known as the ...

under Dame Doris Fitton and also trained in ballet and jazz, under

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. By 1960, she had joined the

Ensemble Theatre The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first performa ...

under producer and director Hayes Gordon, appearing in numerous plays including a production of

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

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, directed by

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and Doctor in the House. Collings is best known for her long-running stint as a presenter for '' Play School'' on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

(ABC) from 1969 until 1999; she was one of the longest-serving presenters after a 30-year tenure, and although is credited with appearing in the most episodes, her tenure on the show was surpassed by

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1941),is an Australian children's television presenter, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He had a long-running role on ''Play School'' on both the Australian version (1968–99) and the United Kingdom ...

, who presented from 1968 until 1999 Collings described her first audition for Play School as awful because she didn't learn her script ahead of time. Two years later, Collings was invited back for a second audition based on her storytelling skills alone and got the part that invited her into the living rooms of thousands of Australian children in 401 episodes. Her time on ''Play School'' saw her educating children by singing songs, making crafts, discussing days of the week, reading stories and famously playing with such toys as Big Ted, Humpty and Jemima. Being an introvert, Collings took some time to accept the fame that ''Play School'' gave her, as she learned to accept compliments from strangers in the street. On working with her occasional on-screen companion,

John Hamblin John Reginald Hamblin (18 March 1935 – 21 September 2022), known affectionately as "Funny John" or "Naughty John", was a British-born Australian children's television presenter and actor of stage and screen who appeared in theatre productions ...

, Collings stated: "He was delicious to work with – wicked and such fun". Big Ted is Collings' favourite ''Play School'' toy Character. In addition to her position as an Australian children's television presenter, Collings has been a screen performer, appearing in many of Australian television dramas, including ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Matlock Police'' '' The Restless Years'', ''

The Sullivans ''The Sullivans'' is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-cla ...

'', ''

The Young Doctors ''The Young Doctors'' is an Australian early-evening soap opera originally broadcast on the Nine Network and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation, it aired from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March 1983. The series is prima ...

'', '' Sons and Daughters'', ''

Rafferty's Rules ''Rafferty's Rules'' is an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1991 on the Seven Network. The producers of the series were Posie Graeme-Evans (1987–1988), and Denis Phelen. The directors were Graham Thorburn, Mike Smit ...

'', ''

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'' and others. Collings has appeared in the feature film '' Knowing'' as the mother of

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

's character. In 2019, Collings took part in a comedy revue about older people and the young people they deal with called ''Senior Moments'', alongside John Wood and

Geoff Harvey Geoffrey John Harvey (6 August 1935 – 30 March 2019) was an English-Australian musician, pianist, conductor, musical director and television personality who worked at the Australian Nine Network for 38 years. Known primarily for his appeara ...

. Collings has expressed her concern with modern children being glued to technology rather than forming a connection with humans.

Filmography

FILM

Television Presenter

References

External links

*
Benita Collings
at Entertain OZ, Australian entertainment directory

article in

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

Benita Collings
at Onya Soapbox talent agent {{DEFAULTSORT:Collings, Benita Living people Australian television actresses Australian film actresses 1940 births Australian children's television presenters Australian women television presenters