Chuck Faulkner

Charles Stephen Faulkner (21 October 19224 December 2000), professionally Chuck Faulkner, was a Northern Irish–born Australian actor and US radio talk show host. He was best known for his role as Detective Senior Sergeant Keith Vickers in the Australian television police drama ''Division 4''.

Early life

Faulkner was born on 21 October 1922 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was named 'Charles Stephen' after his father, but his mother started called him 'Chuck' from an early age, and it stuck.

He migrated to Australia with his parents in 1927, at the age of four, growing up in Chippendale, Sydney, alongside his two sisters. He lived in Australia for nearly 20 years, before relocating to the States with his wife Essie, after both of his sisters married American servicemen.

Initially, Faulkner wanted to become a jockey, but after entertaining the forces in a concert party, show business beckoned. He garnered years of experience in the United States, attending and graduating from television school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he learned to erect and paint scenery, and operate production equipment. Then he attended drama school.

Career

Faulkner was Australian television's first news presenter and weatherman at the Nine Network with studio TCN from 1956 to 1964. He also hosted the Australian version of the game show ''Name That Tune'' in 1956, '' Meet Me at Bebarfalds'' in 1958 and ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' from 1960 to 1964. He also undertook photographic modelling work during this time, some of which was for cigarette advertisements.

He first appeared in an acting role in 1961, in an episode of '' Whiplash'', an outback western series starring American actor Peter Graves.

Throughout the 1960s, he also appeared in stage productions at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre, including ''Baby Want a Kiss'', ''Generation'' and ''The Porcelain Year''.

Faulkner then hosted the television game show ''Snakes and Ladders'', alongside Margaret Britton from 1965 to 1966. However, the show was cancelled when Faulkner was arrested and charged, following an armed robbery. Although he was later acquitted, Faulkner was outcast from the industry for a brief period, landing only minor guest appearances in series such as ''Homicide'' and '' Skippy''.

He later resumed his television career, making guest appearances in the Crawford Productions cult police series, ''Homicide'' in 1967, before landing a leading role as Detective Sergeant Keith Vickers in another Crawfords police drama ''Division 4'', from 1969 to 1975, for 301 episodes. The role won him a 1970 Penguin Award for Best Actor.

He later featured as Chief Warder Sharpley in ''The Bluestone Boys'' (1976). and as Captain Doug Daly in '' Bellbird'' (1977). He also made his big screen debut as Sergeant Montford in the 1976 Ozploitation film ''Mad Dog Morgan'', followed by a role in the TV movie '' Me & Mr Thorne'' that same year.

Faulkner then moved to the United States in the late 1970s and became a talk show host on radio station WNIS in Norfolk, Virginia until the mid-1980s. He returned to Australia to appear in the 1988 Fred Schepisi film '' Evil Angels'' alongside Meryl Streep, which was based on the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain at Uluṟu in August 1980. That same year, he also appeared in the TV movie '' The Four Minute Mile'', but ultimately returned to the States, where he retired.

Personal life and death

Faulkner married his first wife, Essie Jacobson, in Australia, before relocating to the United States, where their two children were born. Essie often called him by the diminutive, 'Steve'. They were divorced in 1966. His second wife was Julie Faulkner, with whom he was married from 1971, until his death.

In May 1966, at the age of 43, Faulkner was charged as being complicit in the $8,276 armed robbery at Channel 10 in March of the same year. Police alleged that Faulkner took $1,400 as his share of the robbery, in order to pay for his divorce proceedings. Faulkner denied the allegations. It was found that the robber, Kevin Harry Whittaker, was a house guest of Faulkner’s and had used Faulkner’s car for the crime. Faulkner was later fully acquitted.

He died on 4 December 2000, age 78, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Chuck
Male television actors from Northern Ireland
Male actors from Belfast
1922 births
2000 deaths
20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland
Emigrants from Northern Ireland to Australia