Suzanne Dale Baker (born 1939) is an Australian film producer, print and television journalist, writer, historian and feminist. In 1977, she became the first Australian woman to win an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

, winning for the animated short film ''Leisure'' in the category

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

Career

Baker was born in England in 1939, while her Australian parents were visiting that country.Suzanne Baker, July Lunch-Hour Talk: "Back-to-Front Career", Jessie Street National Women's Library Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 4, November 2006
. Retrieved 14 March 2014 Her parents were New Zealand-born writer and philologist Sidney J. Baker (best known as the author of '' The Australian Language'', a work that was highly praised by America's H. L. Mencken in ''

The American Language ''The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States'', first published in 1919, is H. L. Mencken's book about the English language as spoken in the United States. Origins and concept Mencken was inspired by ...

'') and his first wife Sally Baker (née Eena Dale Young),State Library of New South Wales, Record Details: Suzanne Baker
Retrieved 14 March 2014 who separated when Baker was seven and divorced when she was eleven. She has a younger sister, Stephanie.''Australian Dictionary of Biography'': Sidney John Baker
Retrieved 14 March 2014 When she was twelve, her mother married Lindsay Clinch, a newspaper editor. Her father also twice remarried. Baker attended

Sydney Girls High School , motto_translation = Work Conquers All , location = Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney#New South Wales#Australia , established = , type = Governmen ...

but left school at age 15. When her stepfather was appointed to run the New York office of John Fairfax and Sons, Baker accompanied him and studied television production at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

and worked for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

. On return to Australia, she worked as a journalist for the ABC and was a producer for Bob Sanders' ''People''. Her career then took her to the United Kingdom, where she worked for Thames TV, and then back to Australia in 1971 to work with the '' Sydney Morning Herald'', where she modernised the women's section called ''Look!'' In 1972, Baker was a founding member of the Media Women's Action Group. In 1973, Baker joined

Film Australia Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under diff ...

as its first female film producer. In this capacity, she was nominated for, and won, the

for the animated film ''Leisure'', directed by

Bruce Petty Bruce Leslie Petty, born 23 November 1929 at Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's best known political satirists and cartoonists.IMdB: ''Leisure''
Retrieved 14 March 2014 at the

49th Academy Awards The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. '' Network'' and '' Al ...

, presented in 1977. This made her the first Australian woman to win an Academy Award. She did not attend the ceremony, as Film Australia had a limited budget for overseas travel and she was not expected to win.Richard Jinman, "She's still got it … and memories of a brilliant career", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 15 March 2003
Retrieved 14 March 2014 The award was accepted on her behalf by the presenter,

Marty Feldman Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for his prominent, misaligned eyes. He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on the ITV sitcom ''Bootsi ...

. In 1978, Baker led a television crew to China to make the five-part documentary series ''The Human Face of China'', which was released worldwide in 1980. She also wrote the accompanying book. Her interest in film making having waned, Baker left Film Australia in 1984 and entered the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

Richard Jinman, "What Oscar did next", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 15 March 2003
Retrieved 14 March 2014 as a mature age student, completing an honours degree in history in 2006. Her thesis, titled "Realising an Absent Presence", sought to recognise the influence of women on Australian literature, an influence that had long been neglected in Australian literature studies, including in her own father's work, ''The Australian Language'' (1945). In 2011, Baker published ''Beethoven and the Zipper: The Astonishing Story of Musica Viva'', which detailed how an Austrian immigrant to Australia,

Richard Goldner Richard Goldner (23 June 1908 – 27 September 1991) was a Romanian-born, Viennese-trained Australian violist, pedagogue and inventor. He founded Musica Viva Australia in 1945, which became the world's largest entrepreneurial chamber music organis ...

, invented and patented a zip fastener for the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

, and used the proceeds to establish

Musica Viva Australia Musica Viva was founded in 1945 by Romanian-born violinist Richard Goldner, with the aim of bringing chamber music to Australia. The co-founder was a German-born musicologist, Walter Dullo. At its inception, Musica Viva was a string ensemble p ...

in 1945, which went on to become the world's largest entrepreneurial chamber music organisation. The book was optioned for a movie by Tree Productions (producer Brian Rosen). The screenplay (working title ''The Musician'') is by Joan Sauers and the movie is slated for release in later 2020, the year of the 75th anniversary of Musica Viva.

Personal and recent professional life

Baker lives in Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia For the writing of ''Due Recognition'' (2018), Baker made her personal life an open book and a template for 150 years of key feminist moments in Australia's social history. Of her book one reader says: "It is a terrific documenting of the slow but inexorable shift in the possibilities for women over the decades and a very sober exposé of the underlying power lines and actions that ensure feminism is not an easy movement."

Filmography

* 1965: ''On Being a Sheila'' * 1967: ''A Bird's Eye View'' * 1975: ''Sister, If You Only Knew'' * 1975: ''A Say in Your Community with the Australian Assistance plan'' * 1976: ''

Leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leis ...

'' * 1976: ''

Seeing Red and Feeling Blue Seeing may refer to: * Visual perception * Astronomical seeing, the blurring effects of air turbulence in the atmosphere * In the occult seeing refers to "the sight" or the ability to see auras or to predict the future; see fortune-telling * ''Se ...

'' * 1979: ''

The Human Face of China ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (five-part documentary series) * 1979: ''Saturday'' * 1983: ''

The Weekly's War ''The Weekly's War'' is a 1983 TV movie about Dorothy Drain, a writer on ''The Australian Women's Weekly''. She works under Les Haylen, Esme Fenston and Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Austra ...

'' * 1984: ''After the Flood'' * 1986: '' Land of Hope'' (10-part TV series)IMdB: ''Land of Hope''
Retrieved 14 March 2014

Awards

* 1977: Academy Award, Best Animated Short Film, for ''Leisure'' * 1980:

Henry Lawson Award Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

for ''

'' * 2019: Member of the Order of Australia, an AM, on Queen's birthday,2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Suzanne 1939 births Living people Australian women journalists Australian television journalists Australian film producers Australian feminist writers 20th-century Australian historians People educated at Sydney Girls High School Tisch School of the Arts alumni University of Sydney alumni Australian women historians Members of the Order of Australia Producers who won the Best Animated Short Academy Award The Sydney Morning Herald people 21st-century Australian historians