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Reginald Thomas Lye (13 October 1912 – 23 March 1987), was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England.


Career

Lye was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at the time, as well as on stage and radio. Lee Robinson called him "one of the best character actors in Australia." After running his own revue company in the
Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
, Lye joined Sydney's New Theatre. His stage credits there included ''How Beautiful With Shoes'' (1946), ''God Bless the Guv'nor'' (1946), ''Enemies'' (1946), ''
Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck. It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant worker, migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California ...
'' (1946), ''Sons of the South'' (1947), ''Woman Bites Dog'', '' Deep Are the Roots'' (1947), ''A Physician in Spite of Himself'' (1947), ''Rocket Range'' (1947) and '' Sky without Birds'' (1952). He directed ''Stove, Sink and View'' in 1948. Lye directed ''Rocket Range'' for the Forbes Society, which won Best Play in a local competition. At the Orange Drama Festival, he won the award for Best Actor as Henry Gow in Noel Coward’s short play ''
Fumed Oak Ammonia fuming is a wood finishing process that darkens wood and brings out the grain pattern. It consists of exposing the wood to fumes from a strong aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide which reacts with the tannins in the wood. The process ...
''. He then played Mr Markham in the radio play ''Mr Markham, Antique Dealer'' which he also co-adapted for the stage. He starred alongside Chips Rafferty in several films, including western ''
Eureka Stockade The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia, during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, wh ...
'' (1949) and ''
King of the Coral Sea ''King of the Coral Sea'' is a 1954 film starring Chips Rafferty and Charles Tingwell, directed by Lee Robinson and shot on location in Thursday Island. It was one of the most commercially successful Australian films of the 1950s and was Rod Tay ...
'' (1953). In 1956 he appeared in the British-American comedy film ''
Smiley A smiley, sometimes called a smiley face, is a basic ideogram representing a Smile, smiling face. Since the 1950s, it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram or as a form of communication, such as em ...
'' and Cecil Holmes’ Australian anthology film '' Three in One''. and ''
Walk into Paradise ''Walk Into Paradise'' (also known as ''Walk Into Hell'') is a 1956 French-Australian international co-production adventure film directed by Lee Robinson and Marcello Pagliero and starring Chips Rafferty and Françoise Christophe. It was sho ...
'' – the latter 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 ...
once more. He then featured in ''
Dust in the Sun Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in hom ...
'' (1958), and French-Australian films ''
Stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other c ...
'' (1958) and ''
The Restless and the Damned ''The Restless and the Damned'' (also known as ''L'Ambitieuse'') is a 1959 French-Australian film co produced by Lee Robinson. It was shot on location in Tahiti and the Tuamotu Islands. There are French and English-language versions. The film's ...
'' (1959). Lye relocated to England in the early 1960s, with a stage production of '' The One Day of the Year'' but after afterwards, found himself unemployed for three months due to an actors’ strike. He took jobs repairing houses, but after a year, he finally found a decent agent. In 1965 he secured a minor role in the Hollywood war film '' King Rat'', Following this, he appeared in numerous television series and films, including police procedural series ''
Z Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...
'', medical drama ''
Dr. Finlay's Casebook ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fiction ...
'',
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 ...
series ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...
'', comedy drama series ''
Mrs Thursday ''Mrs Thursday'' is a British television comedy-drama produced by Associated Television. The series was devised by Ted Willis and featured scripts by Jack Rosenthal. It stars veteran British actress Kathleen Harrison as Alice Thursday, a Cockne ...
'' and ''
The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic ...
''. During this time, he shared an
Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
flat with New Theatre alumni Jerry Wells. Lye returned to Australia when the film industry revived in the 1970s. He starred in the 1975
Australian New Wave The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in the worldwide popularity of the Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began ...
drama film ''
Sunday Too Far Away ''Sunday Too Far Away'' is a 1975 Australian drama film directed by Ken Hannam. It belongs to the Australian Film Renaissance or the "Australian New Wave", which occurred during that decade. The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian o ...
'', opposite Jack Thompson, for which he won an
Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Cinema of Australia, Australian film indu ...
award for Best Supporting Actor for his role. In 1981, he was in political thriller ''
The Killing of Angel Street ''The Killing of Angel Street'' is a 1981 Australian thriller film loosely based on the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) green bans against development in inner Sydney city waterside suburbs. It briefly touches on the real-life disappearance of ...
'', based on the true story of the 1975 disappearance of
Juanita Nielsen Juanita Joan Nielsen (; 22 April 1937 – disappeared 4 July 1975) was an Australian newspaper publisher, urban conservationist, and heiress. She disappeared after attending a meeting at the Carousel nightclub (also called Les Girls) in Kings C ...
during her involvement in the protest of a King's Cross development project. He then appeared in 1982 road movie ''
Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...
'' alongside
Max Cullen Maxwell Phillip Cullen (born 29 April 1940) is an Australian stage and screen actor. He has appeared in many Australian films and television series but is best known for his role in the film '' Spider and Rose'' and the television series '' The ...
,
Chris Haywood Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, lo ...
,
Charles 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 ...
, with the ill-fated Jon Blake in the lead role. The following year, he featured in family film '' Molly'', alongside a young
Claudia Karvan Claudia Karvan (born 19 May 1972) is an Australian actress and producer. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film '' Molly'' (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in ''High Tide'' (1987). She portrayed a teacher in '' The Heartb ...
.


Personal life and death

Lye's first wife was Phyllis Alma (Bessey) Lye, who he married in
Canterbury, New South Wales Canterbury is a suburb of western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Canterbury is located south-west of the Sydney central business district in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown. The former City of Canterbury (New South Wales ...
on 11 February 1935. They were divorced on 1 October 1947.In 1948, Lye married his second wife, Ruth Margaret Clyne in
Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...
, Sydney. By 1951 they were living at Jemalong Weir via
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
, in Sydney's far west. He had a son and two daughters. Lye died on 23 March 1987, age 74 in Hawkesbury District Hospital,
Windsor, New South Wales Windsor is a historic town in north-western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. It is the council Seat of government, seat of the City of Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury Local government in Australia, local government area. The town sits on the Hawkesb ...
.


Filmography


Film


Television


Theatre


As actor


As director


Radio


References


External links

*
Reg Lye
at
National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

Reg Lye
at Theatricalia * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lye, Reg 1912 births 1987 deaths Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Male actors from Sydney 20th-century Australian male actors