Barbara Joan Brunton Gibb (13 October 1927 – 29 June 2014), known professionally as Barbara Brunton, was an Australian actress of stage and radio, active between 1940 and 1952.

History

Brunton was born in 1927, the daughter of actress Ethel Lang and theatre impresario, teacher and actor

James Brunton Gibb James Brunton Gibb LTCL (13 January 1897 – 28 June 1968) was a prominent Australian performer of radio and stage, theatre impresario and teacher of elocution. Biography He was born James Thomas Gibb, but adopted his mother's maiden name as his ...

. Barbara was brought up at Lenore Street,

Five Dock Five Dock is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Five Dock is located 10 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Location Fi ...

, Sydney, educated at

Fort Street High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, New South Wales government run, Mixed-sex school, co-educational, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective, secondary school, secondary day school, ...

, before starting an entertainment career as a radio and stage actress, associated with

Doris Fitton Dame Doratea Alice Lucy Walkden Fitton (3 November 18972 April 1985) was an Australian actress and pioneering theatre entrepreneur, and theatrical director and producer who became best known for establishing with 19 other actors The Independent ...

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 t ...

and the

Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also r ...

professionally under the name Barbara Brunton. In 1950,

Michael Pate Michael Pate Order of Australia, OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked prolifically as a supporting actor in Hollywood films and Ameri ...

and his wife,

Bud Tingwell Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and we ...

and Brunton had ideas of forming a film production company, but nothing came of it. She was engaged to Tingwell in December 1950, but nothing more was heard of that engagement either. Brunton left Australia in October 1952 and married journalist Stuart Lindsay Revill (1929–2019)on Long Island, New York in December 1952. He was for four years head of the ABC's American office in New York, then head of the ABC's Europe office, London. Actress Kate Revill was a daughter. Brunton died on 29 June 2014, aged 86. Her sister, Judith Wendy Brunton Gibb (15 October 1925 – ), known as Wendy Gibb, and brother Peter Brunton Gibb (1924–2011) were juvenile leads with the BSA Players in the 1930s.

Selected appearances

;Stage *''Housemaster'' by Ian Hay at Minerva Theatre 1940 *as Wendy in ''Peter Pan'' at Minerva Theatre 1946 *''

Black Chiffon ''Black Chiffon'' is a play in two acts written by Lesley Storm. Starring Flora Robson, the play premiered at the Westminster Theatre in London's West End on 3 May 1949, running for over 400 performances. The play debuted on Broadway on 27 Septem ...

'' by

Lesley Storm Lesley Storm was the pen-name of Mabel Cowie (1898–1975), also known by her married name of Mabel Clark. She was a Scottish writer, who wrote a number of plays, some of which were filmed. '' Black Chiffon'' and '' Roar Like a Dove'' were m ...

at the

1952 *''The Witch'' by

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

at the

;Radio *in ''My Favorite Wife'' Lux Radio Theatre starring Jack Davey prod. Harry Dearth 1940 *as bigot's daughter in ''Deep are the Roots'' by James Gow and

Arnaud d'Usseau Arnaud d'Usseau (April 18, 1916 – January 29, 1990) was a playwright and B-movie screenwriter who is perhaps best remembered today for his collaboration with Dorothy Parker on the play '' The Ladies of the Corridor''. Career D'Usseau was bor ...

1947 *as Anne Ridd in ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by R. D. Blackmore, first published in three volumes in London in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particu ...

'' serial on ABC radio 1949 *regular in "Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories" series ("Aunt Jenny" was her mother, Ethel Lang) *as Sheila in ''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a modern morality play and drawing room play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's ...

'' radio serial *as Bernadette in an adaptation of '' The Song of Bernadette'' by

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

in Lux Radio Theatre 1949 *''The Queen's Husband'' Caltex Theatre 1949 *as June in ''

Funny Face ''Funny Face'' is a 1957 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and written by Leonard Gershe, containing assorted songs by George and Ira Gershwin. Although having the same title as the 1927 Broadway musical ''Funny ...

'' George Gershwin 1950 *''Quiet Weekend'' *''Who Lies There'' by

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

with

Gordon Chater Gordon Maitland Chater AM (6 April 1922 – 12 December 1999) was an English Australian comedian and actor, and recipient of the Gold Logie, he appeared in revue, theatre, radio, television and film, with a career spanning almost 50 years. B ...

, Nancye Stewart in Lux Radio Theatre 1950 *''Rosemary'' by

Elaine Sterne Carrington Elaine Sterne Carrington (June 14, 1891 – May 4, 1958) was an American screenwriter, playwright, novelist and short story author who found her greatest success writing for Old-time radio, radio. Carrington originated radio soap opera in 1932, ...

*''

The Madwoman of Chaillot ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (, ) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woman who lives in Paris and ...

'' by

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

*''Front Page Girl'' by William Morum and William Dinner 1951 *''Night Beat'' Saturday night drama series *''Mine Own Executioner'' 1952 *''The Adventures of Rocky Starr'' Sci-fi serial on 3DB *''The Blue Lamp'' Caltex Theatre *'' Blue Hills'', long running ABC serial, as "Sally"; succeeded in 1952 by

June Salter June Marie Salter AM (22 June 193215 September 2001) was an Australian actress and author prominent in theatre and television. She is best known for her character roles, in particular as schoolteacher Elizabeth McKenzie in the soap opera ''Th ...

. Connection, if any, between Barbara and her fellow actress Dorothy Brunton (1890–1977) has not yet been found. Dorothy's father was John Brunton (c. 1848– 22 July 1909), born in Scotland. Barbara's grandfather was James Gibb ( –c. 1949) and married Mary Brunton ( –1952) on 4 July 1891. Barbara's father James Gibb (13 January 1897 – 28 June 1968) changed his name to James Brunton Gibb before he married Ethel Isabel Lang (1902 – November 1995) on 1 September 1923.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunton, Barbara Australian radio actresses 1927 births 2014 deaths People educated at Fort Street High School Actresses from Sydney