Martin Kevin Vaughan (5 June 1931 – October 2022) was an Australian stage, television and film actor and musician. He is best known for appearing in the film ''

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...

'' as trainer Harry Telford and the lead role in the award-winning 26-part 1976 television miniseries '' Power Without Glory''.

Career

Vaughan was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, to a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

comedian father in 1931. Moving to

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 ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. at age 17, he was employed in a number of occupations including steam presser, tram conductor, postman, customs clerk and bassoon player. After taking theatre production classes, Vaughan landed his first stage role in 1963 when he was 32.''North Shore Times'', 24 July 2011
Vaughan moved into television in 1967 and in 1975 won the Hoyts Prize for Best Performance by an Actor at the AFI Awards, for his role of Australian prime minister

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

ABC Television, ''Billy Hughes's Family Secret''
/ref> in ''

Billy and Percy ''Billy and Percy'' is a 1974 Australian docudrama based on the relationship between Prime Minister Billy Hughes and his private secretary Percy Deane during World War I. It was based primarily on Deane's diaries.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on ...

''. This was a tied result with Jack Thompson's role in '' Sunday Too Far Away''. His continuing interest in Billy Hughes led some years later to the revelation that Hughes's daughter Helen had died in childbirth in London; in 2004 he presented an ABC program on the story. Vaughan's big break came in 1976, when he was chosen to play the lead role of John West in the ABC's 26-part television adaptation of Frank Hardy's novel '' Power Without Glory''. In 1977 he won the

Logie Award for Most Popular Actor The Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor is an award presented annually at the Australian TV Week Logie Awards. The award recognises the popularity of an actor in an Australian program. It was first awarded at the 19th Annual TV Week Logie Awa ...

for this role. He has since appeared in such television programs as '' The Dismissal'' (1983 miniseries; as Senator Albert Field), '' Come In Spinner'' (1989–90 miniseries), '' Water Rats'', ''

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 ...

'', '' All Saints'', '' The Flying Doctors'', ''

Heartbreak High ''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian television programme created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with som ...

'', '' Salem's Lot'' (2004 miniseries) and ''

headLand A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

''. His feature films include '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975)
''Letters from Poland'' (1978)
'' We of the Never Never'' (1982), ''Phar Lap'' (1983), '' The Man Who Sued God'' (2001) and ''

Australian Rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

''. He has also appeared in over 60 stage plays.

Later years

Vaughan completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Film at the age of 63 at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. He was mainly retired, but occasionally agreed to take part in theatre roles that interested him, such as "Brian" in ''The Seed''. Vaughan died in October 2022, aged 91.

Award and nominations

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Martin 1931 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Australian male actors Male actors from Sydney Australian male stage actors Australian male television actors Australian male film actors Australian classical bassoonists Best Actor AACTA Award winners Logie Award winners Musicians from Sydney