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 went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.
Early life and military service
Tingwell was born on 3 January 1923 in the
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
suburb of
Coogee, the son of William Harvey Tingwell and Enid (née Green). William volunteered as a surf lifesaver at
Coogee Surf Life Saving Club where, in 1922, a colleague noticed Enid's pregnancy and asked, 'What's budding there?', and 'Bud' became the nickname for their infant son. As an adolescent, Bud was encouraged by his father to train as an accountant, but Tingwell failed the entrance exam.
While still at school, he became a cadet at Sydney radio station
2CH, soon becoming the youngest radio announcer in Australia.
Second World War
In 1941, aged 18, Tingwell volunteered for war service overseas with the
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...
. Under the
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...
, personnel from
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
air forces formed part of a joint training and assignment system. Consequently, Tingwell trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942. Despite damaging a
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
training aircraft in August, he later qualified as a pilot and was commissioned as a
pilot officer
Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence.
Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...
that December. He was posted to the
Mediterranean Theatre and underwent
operational training with No. 74 Operational Training Unit RAF, in
British Palestine, and qualified to fly the
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
and
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...
.
In January 1944, he was posted to
No. 680 Squadron RAF, a
photo reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of image ...
unit, and flew 75
sortie
A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...
s in
Mosquitos and Spitfires during the
Italian campaign. Other aircraft that Tingwell was qualified to fly included the
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...
,
Martin Baltimore,
Bristol Beaufighter and
Airspeed Oxford
The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd, Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombin ...
. He was promoted to
flying officer
Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence.
Flying officer is immediately ...
in June 1943 and
flight lieutenant in December 1944.
Towards the end of the war, Tingwell was transferred back to Australia. He was posted to
No. 5 Operational Training Unit RAAF as a flying instructor in June 1945, and then in December 1945, after the war had ended, he was posted to
No. 87 Squadron RAAF, flying photo-reconnaissance Mosquitoes, until his demobilisation in March 1946.
Tingwell's war service earned him the
1939–45 Star,
Italy Star,
Defence Medal,
War Medal 1939–1945, and
Australia Service Medal 1939–1945. He remained a reservist into the 1950s.
Post-war life and acting career
Australia
After returning to Australia, Tingwell married his childhood sweetheart, Audrey May Wilson.
[''Sydney Morning Herald'', 16 May 2009 (obituary).] They were to have two children, Christopher and Virginia.
He joined
Doris Fitton's
Independent Theatre company and appeared on stage from the mid-1940s in such classics as ''
The Little Foxes'' by
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, Prose, prose writer, Memoir, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was black ...
and
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 ...
's ''
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 ...
''
In 1946, Tingwell was given his first film role, in ''
Smithy'', cast as an RAAF control tower officer – winning the role since he could supply his own RAAF uniform.
Tingwell had an excellent supporting role in ''
Bitter Springs'' (1950), made by
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...
with
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until he died i ...
; Tingwell played Rafferty's bigoted son. He had a similar role in ''
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
'' (1952), a Hollywood-financed film shot in Australia for
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
. He then appeared in ''
I Found Joe Barton'' (1952), the first TV show filmed in Australia.
Fox liked Tingwell's work in ''Kangaroo'' and invited him to Los Angeles to play the role of Lt. Harry Carstairs in ''
The Desert Rats'', in which he appeared opposite
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until he died i ...
,
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...
and
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor.
Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...
. They offered him a long-term contract but Tingwell turned it down because he wanted to return to Australia.
Tingwell played the lead in ''
King of the Coral Sea'' (1954) alongside Rafferty.
In 1954, he co-starred 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 ...
in ''
Top of the Bill'', the first of the famous satirical revues staged at Sydney's
Phillip Street Theatre.
England
The Australian film and radio industry slumped with the advent of television and Tingwell decided to move to the UK. He used the opportunity of a role in Ealing's ''
The Shiralee'' (1957), which was filmed in Australia and London. Tingwell travelled to England to complete his scenes and decided to stay.
The following year, he took on his first recurring television role, as Australian surgeon Alan Dawson in the live TV serial ''
Emergency Ward 10'' and its film spin-off ''
Life in Emergency Ward 10'' (1959).
He had small roles in Ealing's ''
Dunkirk
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
'' (1958), then ''
Bobbikins'' (1959), ''
Cone of Silence'' (1960), and ''
Tarzan the Magnificent'' (1960).
Tingwell played the role of Inspector Craddock in all four films of the ''
Miss Marple
Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...
'' series, starring
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, film and television.
Rutherford came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's ''Blithe Spirit (1945 f ...
, from 1961 to 1964: ''
Murder, She Said'' (1961), ''
Murder at the Gallop'' (1963), ''
Murder Most Foul'' (1964) and ''
Murder Ahoy!'' (1964). For
Hammer Films he appeared in ''
The Secret of Blood Island'' (1964) and ''
Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966).
He had the lead in a TV series ''
An Enemy of the State'' (1965).
In the late 1960s, he performed various minor voice roles for the
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s production ...
"
Supermarionation
Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", " marionette" and "animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...
" TV series ''
Thunderbirds'' and ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films#Century 21, Centu ...
'', besides appearing in the first series of ''
Catweazle
''Catweazle'' is a British children's fantasy television series, starring Geoffrey Bayldon in the title role, and created by Richard Carpenter for London Weekend Television. The first series, produced and directed in 1969 by Quentin Lawrence ...
''.
In 1969 until the end of the play's run, he appeared as
Robert Danvers
Robert Danvers also Wright, Howard and Villiers (19 October 1624 – 1674) was an English soldier and landowner who briefly sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and 1660. The illegitimate child of a notorious liaison, Danvers had at least fo ...
in the long running farce ''
There's a Girl in My Soup
''There's a Girl in My Soup'' is a 1970 British romantic comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. Terence Frisby wrote the screenplay based on his 1966 stage play of the same name.
Plot
Robert Danve ...
'' at the Comedy Theatre, London.
He was the recurring character of motel manager Kevin McArthur in ''
Crossroads'' in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (
Vincent Ball
Vincent Martin Ball, (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired actor of film, theatre and radio active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain starting in the late 1940s and then his native Australia ...
played McArthur in 1970–1973). He had a small role in ''
Nobody Runs Forever'' (1968) with
Rod Taylor.
Return to Australia
Tingwell appeared in many other films during his time in Britain, spending a total of 16 years as a "London
Aussie". In 1973, he returned to Australia with his wife and children, and shortly after won the role of Inspector Reg Lawson in the long-running TV series ''
Homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
''. This was followed by small roles in a number of major Australian films, such as ''
Breaker Morant
Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902) was an English horseman, bush balladist, military officer, and war criminal who was convicted and executed for murdering nine prisoners-of-war ...
'' (1980), ''
Puberty Blues'' (1981) and ''
All the Rivers Run'' (1983). He also played the recurring role of farmer Ted Campbell in the soap ''
A Country Practice'' in the late 1980s and early 1990s and as the Narrator from ''The Flying Scotsman in Australia''
Revival in popularity
Tingwell's career went through a quiet period during the late 1980s and early 1990s, until he took on the role of 'Gramps' in "Charlie the Wonderdog", a recurring segment on ''
The Late Show'', in 1993. His role in ''
The Late Show'' was later to win him a major role as lawyer Lawrence Hammill in the film ''
The Castle'' (1997). He later stated that this role helped him to recover from the death of his wife the previous year.
After the success of ''The Castle'', Tingwell's career underwent a revival during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This saw him take on small roles in the commercial films ''
The Craic'' (1999) and ''
The Dish
''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical drama, historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It wa ...
'' (2000), and in the TV mini-series ''
Changi
Changi ( ) is a planning area located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah in the East Region of Singapore. Sharing borders with Pasir Ris and Tampines to the west, Changi Bay to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east and the ...
'', as well as the lead role in the romantic drama film ''
Innocence'' (2000). He would also appear on sketch show ''
Totally Full Frontal,'' playing himself, as well as a recurring guest role in the soap opera ''
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 ...
'' from 2000 to 2003, playing
Henry O'Rourke. He had previously appeared in the soap in 1993 as
Bert Willis. He appeared as John Conroy in the musical theatre production ''
The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular'', which toured Australian capital cities twice during 2002.
In 2004, Tingwell published a memoir, ''Bud: A Life''. In 2006, he launched his own website, which attracted 500 registered users in just over a week. On 5 October that year, he created his first blog. He continued to act regularly until his death, in a number of films and TV programmes including eight episodes of ''
Bed of Roses
Bed of roses is an English expression that represents a carefree life. This idiomatic expression is still popular.
In the thirteenth-century work Le Roman de la Rose (called "The French Iliad" in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable), a L ...
'' that aired in 2010. Among his last appearances, he hosted both ''
Celebrity Circus'' and ''
20 to 1
''20 to One'' (known as ''20 to 1'' before 2016) is an Australian television series on the Nine Network from 2005, that counts down an undefined "top 20" of elements or events of popular culture, such as films, songs, or sporting scandals. The ...
'' and appeared on a celebrity special of ''
Temptation
Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
'' with his daughter, Virginia.
Accolades

Tingwell was inducted into the
Logie Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2008, he was inducted into
Australian Film Walk of Fame in honour of his career and achievements in film and television.
Tingwell was appointed a
Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
in the
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 ...
of June 1999.
Honours, awards and nominations
Death
Audrey Tingwell died in 1996.
Bud Tingwell died in
Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, thirteen years later, after a long battle with
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
, on 15 May 2009. He was 86. He was given a
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
, which was held at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
, Melbourne, on 20 May.
Filmography
Film
Television
Radio (partial)
Theatre
As actor
As writer / director
Discography
Charting singles
Publications
References
External links
*
Bud Tingwellat the National Film and Sound Archive
Royal Australian Air Force News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tingwell, Bud
1923 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Australian male actors
20th-century Australian male singers
21st-century Australian male actors
21st-century Australian male singers
Australian expatriate male actors in the United Kingdom
Australian male film actors
Australian male musical theatre actors
Australian male soap opera actors
Australian male stage actors
Australian male voice actors
Australian radio personalities
Australian World War II pilots
Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state)
Deaths from prostate cancer in Australia
Logie Award winners
Male actors from Melbourne
Male actors from Sydney
Members of the Order of Australia
Military personnel from New South Wales
People educated at Sydney Grammar School
People from the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney)
Radio and television announcers
Royal Australian Air Force officers
Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II