Anne Phelan
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Anne Mary Phelan (2 August 1948 – 27 October 2019) was an
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
actress of stage and screen who appeared in many theatre, television and film productions as well as radio and voice-over. Her television soap opera roles she was likely best known internationally for her role as prison inmate and top dog Myra Desmond in ''
Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...
'' (1980–1985), post-Prisoner she appeared in the 1988 miniseries ''
Poor Man's Orange ''Poor Man's Orange'' is a novel by New Zealand born Australian author Ruth Park. Published in 1949, the book is the sequel to '' The Harp in the South'' (1948) and continues the story of the Darcy family, living in the Surry Hills area of Syd ...
'' in which she won the 1988 AFL Award. Phelan won the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama in 2000 for her role in the ABC series '' Something n the Air'' as Monica Taylor. She was awarded the Equity Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. She was an activist for humanitarian causes.


Early life

Phelan was raised in
Fitzroy, Victoria Fitzroy is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, northeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Yarra Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. Fitzroy recorded a population ...
. She was reported as saying that she had no formal study or qualifications for acting or singing, but instead had trained through 15 years work in amateur theatre. At age 16, she became pregnant and gave her daughter up for adoption, seeing her again for the first time 50 years later.


Career

Phelan began her television career in 1968. She had an ongoing role in the local soap opera '' Bellbird'' as Kate Ashwood in the early 1970s. In the late 1970s, she played guest roles in ''
Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...
''. She took the role of Officer Manson, appearing in one episode of the series in 1979. This character had the sole purpose of threatening to resign over the favourable treatment afforded to prisoner Barbara Davidson in episode 17. Later in 1979, Phelan reappeared in the series, this time playing the role of dopey prisoner Bernadette in a number of episodes. She first appeared in ''Prisoner'' on a recurring basis as Myra Desmond between 1980 and 1983; Myra was then reintroduced to the series in early 1984 as a regular character and Phelan continued in the role for a further 18 months. Phelan's other soap roles included ''
Starting Out ''Starting Out'' is an Australian television soap opera made for the Nine Network by the Reg Grundy Organisation in 1983. Background The five-night-a-week series was created by Reg Watson as the network's replacement for the long-running s ...
'' (1983), '' Family and Friends'' (1990) and '' Something in the Air'' (2000–2002). She made guest starring appearances in many drama series, including ''
The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. ...
'' and ''
Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted th ...
''. She was also a regular on ''
Marshall Law ''Marshall Law'' is an Australian television series, which aired on the Seven Network in 2002, starring Lisa McCune and Alison Whyte as lawyers and sisters. History The show was originally conceived as a legal drama mixed with ''Ally McBeal' ...
'' and appeared in the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
comedy ''
Mother and Son ''Mother and Son'' is an Australian television sitcom that was broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from 16 January 1984 until 21 March 1994. The show stars Ruth Cracknell, Garry McDonald, Henri Szeps and Judy Morris. ...
'' playing the role of a social worker who befriends Maggie Beare. She also made two guest appearances in ''
Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
''. The first, in 1997, was as the character of Claudia Harvey and the second, in 2004, was as Doreen "Peace Dove" Cassidy. In 2007, Phelan appeared in episode 6 of '' The Librarians'' as a prisoner with the ''Prisoner'' theme song. In 2012, Phelan joined the cast of comedy drama '' Winners & Losers'' in the ongoing role of Dot Gross. ''Winners & Losers'' marked her first regular role in 10 years. Prior to this, she had appeared in several theatre productions and made various television guest appearances.


Community work

Phelan was a public speaker and a recipient of Regional Arts Victoria's Don Mackay Award (2006) for Outstanding Achievement in Regional Touring. From 2000, she was the patron of Positive Women (Victoria), a support and advocacy group run by and for women living with HIV. She received the Oz Showbiz Cares / Equity Fights AIDS 2002 Activist of the Year Award for outstanding contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS. She performed and sang with the Choir of Hard Knocks on Melbourne's streets in 2006, busking to raise money for a performance at the
Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Town Hall, often referred to as simply Town Hall, is the administrative seat of the local municipality of the City of Melbourne and the primary offices of the Lord Mayor and city councillors of Melbourne. Located on the northeast co ...
. She was a member of Actors For Refugees, a group of performers who volunteer their time and talent to tell the stories of Australia's refugees and asylum seekers. She was an ambassador for Alzheimer's Australia Vic, educators, advocates and spokespeople for those living with dementia, their families and friends and those who support them.


Death

Phelan died of natural causes on 27 October 2019. She was 71 at her time of death, although, some sources have stated her age as 75. She was privately cremated.


Filmography


Film


Television


Television variety specials


Stage


Other work

;Radio and voice * ABC Book readings include: ''Down by the Dockside'' and ''The Harp in the South'' * Serials and plays including the production of the one-woman-play ''Dream Kitchen'' * Narrator for ''Visions of Yankalilla'', a documentary for Flaming Star Pictures and the documentary series ''Grey Voyagers,'' for SBS * TV monologue – ''The Agony and the Ecstasy'', for the ABC ;Theatre restaurant, live variety, revue * Cinderella – An Adult Pantomime (Capers Dinner Theatre) * Sweet Fanny Adams * Tikki and John's Theatre Restaurant * The Glitter Sisters (original 14-month Melbourne season) ;Corporate * Anti-Cancer Council ''Breast Health'' Video


Awards and honours


Honours

*Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2007
Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...
list for service to the arts as an actress, and to the community, particularly through support for women living with the
HIV virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the imm ...
and for
asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...
and
refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
. *Inducted into the
Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...
in 2008. *Included in ''
Who's Who in Australia The pronoun ''who'', in English language, English, is an English interrogative words, interrogative pronoun and a English relative words, relative pronoun, used primarily to refer to persons. Unmarked, ''who'' is the pronoun's subjective form; ...
'' since 2006.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phelan, Anne 1948 births 2019 deaths AACTA Award winners Australian film actresses Australian radio actresses Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses Actresses from Melbourne Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses People from Fitzroy, Victoria