Ellis became a popular playwright, usually working in collaboration. In 1970 he and Michael Boddy (1934–2014) co-wrote The Legend of King O'Malley, a musical play based on the life of King O'Malley. From 1975 to 1986 he and Brooksbank also owned the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, during which time it became home to the Griffin Theatre Company.[5] They sold it in 1986 for $200,000.[6]
In 1980 Ellis signed a contract with the New South Wales Film Corporation to write ten feature film scripts over two years for $7,000 for each script, with a payment of $12,000 for the second draft if they wanted to make the movie. Ellis says he presented them with 33 ideas, they chose five and he chose five.[7]
Ellis also directed several films, including The Nostradamus Kid (1992), Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train (1988), Unfinished Business (1985) and Run Rabbit, Run (2007).[8][9]
Ellis's writing for television included the miniseriesTrue Believers (with co-author Matt Carroll) and Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal (2008), with co-author Geoff Burton, made for Film Australia.[10]
Regarding Ellis's speech writing, Beazley said on the 7.30 Report that if he had used any of Ellis's speeches he would have been out of politics.[citation needed]
Ellis's 2011 book Suddenly, Last Winter – An Election Diary created headlines for its criticism of the Labor Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and praise for the Liberal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott. He described Gillard as "not well informed" and "sudden, firm and wrong" in everything she does. He also said "She has no power, no influence, no friends, no learning. There's not much there", while describing Abbott as having "good manners", being "formidable" and possessing a "first-class mind".[16]
Ellis wrote speeches for South Australian Premier Mike Rann for a number of years.[17]
Death
On 18 July 2015, Ellis reported on his blog that he would be attending hospital for what he called "ominous" tests on his liver. The next day he announced "The news is very bad", and that the tests had revealed he had advanced liver cancer with a prognosis that he had months, if not weeks, to live.[18]
Ellis died on 3 April 2016, at his home in Sydney's Northern Beaches.[19]
Controversy
In June 2018, Kate and Rozanna Lilley, daughters of celebrated playwright Dorothy Hewett, alleged that they had engaged in consensual sex at the ages of 15 and 14 with Ellis.[20] Ellis was castigated by feminists including Delaney and Maley.[21][22]
Writings
Ellis wrote two books, Goodbye Jerusalem and Goodbye Babylon, on his experiences of the Labor Party. The first edition of Goodbye Jerusalem was pulped following a successful defamation case brought by two Liberal cabinet ministers, Tony Abbott and Peter Costello, and their wives. At issue was the single sentence where Ellis quoted politician Rodney Cavalier as having said, "Abbott and Costello...they're both in the Right wing of the Labour [sic] Party till the one woman fucked both of them and married one of them and inducted them into the Young Liberals". The publisher, Random House, accepted that the disputed content was a falsehood and the book was removed from sale. ACT Supreme Court Justice Higgins awarded the two politicians and their wives a total of $277,000 damages. A new edition of the book was published three months later which omitted the defamatory passage.[23][24]
In 1998 Penguin Books Australia published Ellis's First Abolish the Customer – 202 Arguments Against Economic Rationalism, then Ellis's The Capitalism Delusion – How Global Economics Wrecked Everything and What To Do About It in 2009, One Hundred Days of Summer in 2010, and The Ellis Laws in 2014.
Robert James Lee Hawke was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1969 to 1980 and president of the Labor Party national executive from 1973 to 1978.
Joseph Benedict Chifley was an Australian politician and train driver who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the treasurer of Australia under Prime Minister John Curtin and later himself from 1941 to 1949. He was notable for defining Australia's post-war reconstruction efforts.
William John Hunter was an Australian actor of film, stage and television, who was also prominent as a voice-over artist. He appeared in more than 60 films and won two AFI Awards. He was also a recipient of the Centenary Medal.
Wendy Hughes was an Australian actress known for her work in theatre, film and television. Her career spanned more than 40 years and established her reputation as one of Australia's finest and most prolific actors. In her later career she acted in Happy New Year along with stars Peter Falk and Charles Durning. In 1993 she played Dr. Carol Blythe, M. E. in Homicide: Life on the Street. In the late 1990s, she starred in State Coroner and Paradise Road.
Newsfront is a 1978 Australian drama film directed by Phillip Noyce, and starring Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood and Bryan Brown. The screenplay is written by David Elfick, Bob Ellis, Philippe Mora, and Noyce. The original music score is composed by William Motzing. Shot on location in Sydney, Australia, the film is shot in black and white, and colour, incorporating actual newsreel footage.
The Nostradamus Kid is a 1992 Australian feature film written and directed by Bob Ellis.
Peter Francis Cox AO was a politician in New South Wales, Australia.
Stanley Kerin Amour was an Australian politician. Born in Hamilton, New South Wales, he was educated at Catholic schools before becoming an insurance agent. He served in the military from 1915–1917. In 1937, he was elected to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for New South Wales. He was selected largely because his surname began with A, as did the other three candidates, Bill Ashley, John Armstrong and Tom Arthur. After leaving the ALP briefly for the Langite Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), Amour served in the Senate for over 20 years, retiring in 1965. He died in 1979.
Goodbye Paradise is a 1983 Australian film directed by Carl Schultz. The plot centres on Queensland's Gold Coast in the early 1980s, when a disgraced former cop, Michael Stacey, writes a book exposing police corruption, does an investigation resulting in two murders, exposes a religious cult and watches the army begin a military coup.
Tony Barry was an Australian actor and activist best known for his television and film roles.
Edham Nurredin "Ed" Husic is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Industry and Science since 2022. Husic is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, elected to represent the seat of Chifley in western Sydney for the Australian Labor Party at the 2010 federal election. He is the first Muslim to be elected to federal parliament, as well as the first Muslim to be made a Minister in the Australian Government.
John Hepworth was an Australian author and journalist, best known for his "Outsight" column in Nation Review magazine, which he edited for several years.
Anne Mary Brooksbank is an Australian writer. She has written a number of novels as well as scripts for film and TV.
True Believers is a 1988 Australian miniseries which looks at the history of the Australian Labor Party from the end of World War II up to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.
Howard William Rubie was an Australian director.
Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal is a 2008 Australian documentary about the 1949 Australian coal strike. It combines documentary footage with dramatised re-enactments.
Down Under is a 1975 Australian play by Bob Ellis and Anne Brooksbank.
A Very Good Year is a 1980 Australian play by Bob Ellis. It was set in the last two weeks of the 1970s and Ellis called it his farewell to "the Whitlam decade".
A Local Man is a 2004 Australian play by Bob Ellis and Robin McLachlan about Ben Chifley. It is a one man show.
Simon Chilvers is an English-born, Australia-based television actor.
↑ Richard Brennan, 'Bob Ellis, Cinema Papers, Oct–Nov 1980 p 386
↑ David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p186
↑ Andrew L. Urban, "Bob Ellis' The Nostradamus Kid", Cinema Papers, January 1992 p15
Further reading
Ann Atkinson, Linsay Knight, Margaret McPhee (Ed.) (1996). The dictionary of performing arts in Australia. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN1-86448-005-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Brian McFarlane, Geoff Mayer, Ina Bertrand (Ed.) (1999). The Oxford companion to Australian film. Melbourne; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-553797-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Philip Parsons, Victoria Chance (Ed.) (1995). Companion to theatre in Australia. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-86819-357-7.
Leser, David "The two of us: Bob Ellis & Anne Brooksbank" The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Weekend) 16 August 1997 p.12
Arts news "Arts community to help Bob Ellis, after recent house fire" The Sydney Morning Herald 24 April 1993 p.46
King, Noel "Abbott and Costello. View From The Couch" The Sydney Morning Herald (Good Weekend) 21 November 1998 p.94
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