John Gregg (12 January 1939 – 29 May 2021) was an Australian actor, who worked steadily over six decades.
Early life
Gregg was born on a dairy farm in
Campbell Town, a remote rural district in southern Tasmania. In his early years he milked cows and ploughed fields for neighbouring farms, and was interested in
Aussie Rules football, cricket and rowing.
Gregg auditioned for
NIDA at the age of 18, and started studying with its first intake of students in 1959, alongside
Robyn Nevin
Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. F ...
,
Elspeth Ballantyne
Elspeth Ballantyne (born 1939) is a retired Australian actress, who appeared in theatre, television and film roles over a career that spanned nearly 60 years, a veteran of the industry having started her career as a child actor and becoming a ...
, Elaine Cusack, Teddy Hodgeman and
Peter Couchman.
Career
After graduating from
NIDA, Gregg was chosen to work with the
Elizabethan Theatre Trust. He appeared in ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...
'' with the
John Alden Shakespeare Company in 1961.
From the 1960s, Gregg worked with the newly formed ABC drama department on television series including ''
Contrabandits
''Contrabandits'' is a 1967 Australian TV series about the work of the customs department.
Cast
Main / regular
* John Bonney as Bob Piper
* Denis Quilley as Chief Inspector Ted Hallam
* Janet Kingsbury as Mardi Shiel
* Ben Gabriel as Jim Sh ...
'', ''
Delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...
'' and ''
The Oracle'', while continuing to work in theatre.
In the early 1970s, Gregg headed to London to work successfully in theatre and then television. One of his most notable roles was as Lycett in ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''. On his return to Australia he continued to work both on stage and screen.
Other television appearances included: ''
Grass Roots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
'', ''
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
'', ''
Armchair Thriller
''Armchair Thriller'' is a British television drama series broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980 in two seasons. Taking the form of a sequence of unconnected serials, scripts for ''Armchair Thriller'' were adaptations of published novels and storie ...
'', ''
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their English cricket team in Australia in 1932–33, 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. It was designed to combat the extraordinar ...
'', ''
Heatwave
A heat wave or heatwave, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather generally considered to be at least ''five consecutive days''. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and ...
'', ''
Bootleg'', ''
Captain James Cook
Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...
'', ''
Done Away with It'', and was a featured player in
Frederic Raphael
Frederic Michael Raphael Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (born 14 August 1931) is an American-born British novelist, biographer, journalist and Academy Awards, Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for Darling (1965 fi ...
's semi-autobiographical miniseries ''
The Glittering Prizes '' for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
.
[Vale: John Gregg]
/ref>
Gregg was Chair of the Actors Benevolent Fund (ABF) for six years from 2013, having joined the Committee in 2008. He passed the position on to Bruce Spence
Bruce Robert Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.
Career
Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 197 ...
in 2019 upon his retirement.
Personal life
Gregg met his future wife Jane Seldon on the set of David Hare's 1991 production of '' Racing Demon'' at Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...
, where Jane Seldon was working as Wardrobe Mistress. He had four children, Sophie Gregg (who is also an actor), Alice, Ben and Sam, and eight grandchildren, as well as two stepsons and step-grandchildren through his marriage to Jane.
Death
Gregg died on 29 May 2021, aged 82.(1861)
Filmography
Film
, -
, 2022 , , '' A Stitch in Time'' , , , , Feature film
Television
Theatre
References
External links
*
Sydney Swans Tribute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, John
20th-century Australian male actors
Australian actors
1939 births
2021 deaths
Actors from Tasmania