Thoughts on stars

 A notable thing about Australian TV plays at the ABC was the lack of any sort of star system. Directors tended to rely on small group of experienced, reliable actors - something totally understandable considering the live nature of performance. They needed actors who could hit their marks, remember lines, give good performances. This led to a small pool of actors getting the bulk of the work, as it did in radio.

Exacerbating the situation was there were so few directors. If you were not admired by Will Sterling, Alan Burke, Chris Muir or Ray Menmuir, you would have found it hard to get work (later on there were names like Bill Bain, Patrick Barton, and so on).

It is likely that promoting stars was considered something of an anathema to the ABC. Too broadly commercial or something.

And TV plays on the commercial networks tended not to emphasise stars that much.  Michael Pate came back and did a play - that received a push. So too did Muriel Steinbeck for a play she appeared in.

One wonders, in hindsight, if that was the right approach. US TV routinely used movie stars in TV plays and made no bones about promoting that fact. It did not ensure the quality of the work, or ratings, but it definitely helped raise the profile of the play.

In the 1930s movie producers Frank Thring and Ken G Hall loved to use stars, mostly ones imported from the stage: George Wallace, Bert Bailey, Cecil Kellaway, Will Mahoney, Roy Rene.

Ken Hall once said a key reason why Australian TV drama did not thrive in the 1960s was a lack of stars.

But was this true?

Chips Rafferty is one who springs to mind - famous, a fine actor, high profile, movie connection. He was always looking for work. He guest starred in Whiplash and I'm sure would've loved to appear in a TV play. Didn't make one ABC play. (To be fair he was overseas for some of that time, working in England and LA... but he was home for a lot of it.)

Robert Tudawali made one, Burst of Summer - and headlined publicity. It's a shame he didn't do more. Dark Under the Sun would've seemed a natural for him especially. But I think they were too wary of him.

Graham Kennedy was hugely popular in Melbourne and doesn't seem to have been considered for a TV play. There may have been a contractual restriction but he later proved to be a superb actor. One wonders if Bob Dyer could've worked.

Some people who gained fame in non drama on TV appeared in plays - Lew Luton, Tania Halesworth, Ray Taylor.

Murray Rose appeared in a play.

Grant Taylor was a stage star in the 50s and 60s and he appeared in some TV plays.

So too did visiting British actors like Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray, and Jesse Matthews. And later Keith Michell came back to make The 400 Years and Kain.

As mentioned, Michael Pate returned to Australia to appear in a play. It's a shame other famous Australians couldn't do that - Peter Finch (who made two films here), Rod Taylor (who came back several times for promotional opportunities), Ron Randell (who guest starred in the late 60s), Shirley Ann Richards, Cecil Kellaway, Charles Tingwell (who surely would have if he hadn't moved to England).

I absolutely recognise the difficulty in arranging expats to come back.

But no Chips Rafferty... that feels like a shame.