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Drew Forsythe | |
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| Born | August 23, 1949 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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| Family | Abe Forsythe (son) |
Drew Forsythe (born 23 August 1949) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage, and television, as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programs.
Born in New South Wales to newsagent parents, [1] Forsythe attended Atherton Primary School, far north Queensland. [ citation needed ]. He caught the acting bug when The Young Elizabethan Players performed Hamlet (featuring Kirrily Nolan as Ophelia) at his Charters Towers high school. [1] Forsythe went on to study acting at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 1969. [2]
The title roles of the heroic Tonino and the foolish Zanetto in the Nick Enright/Terence Clarke musical, The Venetian Twins , were written for Forsythe. He originated these dual roles for Nimrod Theatre Company in the first Sydney Theatre Company season in 1979, and subsequently in two revivals.
Playwright David Williamson wrote Flatfoot for Forsythe, in which he played eleven different characters and a parrot. [2]
Together with Jonathan Biggins and Phillip Scott, Forsythe was a creator, writer, and performer of Three Men and a Baby Grand which started at the Tilbury Hotel in Woolloomooloo. It went on to tour Australia-wide, at the Edinburgh Festival, and with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and was also adapted as a television series for the ABC. The same team went on to create the Wharf Revue for the Sydney Theatre Company. [3]
Other stage appearances include the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado for Essgee Entertainment, receiving a Melbourne Green Room Award as Ko-Ko in The Mikado in 1995.
Forsythe appeared in the films Stone , Caddie , Newsfront , Annie's Coming Out , Ginger Meggs , Burke & Wills , Travelling North and Billy's Holiday . He featured as the narrator in the film Ned , which was written and directed by and starred his son, Abe Forsythe.
He received the 1976 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his role in Caddie .
Forsythe has featured in television roles on The Miraculous Mellops , The Dingo Principle and Hotel Bordemer. He has also made guest appearances on a number of popular television series, including Cop Shop , A Country Practice , G.P. , BackBerner , All Saints , and Packed to the Rafters .
He provided the anonymous, uncredited voice of David Tench, an animated host on Network Ten's short-lived comedy talk show David Tench Tonight . Likewise, he also voiced several characters on the Australian award-winning animated series I Got a Rocket , [4] as well as characters on Fairy Tale Police Department and The Adventures of Blinky Bill .
Forsythe is credited with singing the theme song for the ABC's long-running Sunday morning radio program, Australia All Over , hosted by Ian McNamara. For more than thirty years, when over 2 million listeners spanning every corner of Australia tune in from 5.30 am on Sunday mornings to listen to 'Macca' they are greeted by Forsythe singing - "Macca on a Sunday Morning".
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Taming of the Shrew | Teleplay | |
| 1973 | How Could You Believe Me When I Said I'd Be Your Valet When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life? | Teleplay | |
| 1974 | Stone | Fred | Feature film |
| 1974 | Essington | TV movie | |
| 1975 | They Don't Clap Losers | Priest | TV movie |
| 1976 | Caddie | Sonny | Feature film |
| 1976 | Deathcheaters | Battle Scene Director | Feature film |
| 1978 | Newsfront | Bruce | Feature film |
| 1979 | The Hero | Auditionee | Short film |
| 1981 | Around the World with Dot | Danny the Swagman (live) / Santa Claus (voice) | Animated TV film |
| 1981 | Doctors and Nurses | Katz | Feature film |
| 1982 | Ginger Meggs | Tiger Kelly | Feature film |
| 1983 | Dot and the Bunny | Koala (voice) | Animated TV film |
| 1984 | Annie's Coming Out | David Lewis | Feature film |
| 1985 | Burke & Wills | William Brahe | Feature film |
| 1986 | The Movers | John | TV movie |
| 1987 | Travelling North | Martin | Feature film |
| 1989 | Minnamurra (aka Outback or Wrangler) | Henry Iverson | Feature film |
| 1993 | The Nostradamus Kid | 'General Booth Enters Heaven' Strolling Player | Feature film |
| 1995 | Billy's Holiday | Sid Banks | Feature film |
| 1996 | The Mikado | Ko-Ko | TV movie |
| 1997 | H.M.S. Pinafore | The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B. | TV movie |
| 2002 | Six Days Straight | Arthur | Short film |
| 2003 | Ned | Narrator | Feature film |
| 2006 | The Last Chip | Pit Boss Trevor | Short film |
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Three Men of the City | Ken Styles | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1974 | Behind the Legend | Ted Baxter | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1975 | The Company Men | Ken Elliott | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1976 | The Emigrants | Peter | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 1981 | Cop Shop | Sid Moody / Murray Paxton | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1984 | Breakout | Host | Documentary |
| 1984-91 | A Country Practice | Noel Lewis / Phil Pratt | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1985 | Runaway Island | Bloat | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Land of Hope | Old Frank Quinn | TV miniseries |
| 1986 | Whose Baby? | Bill Morrison | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1987 | The Dingo Principle | Various characters | TV series |
| 1989-93 | G.P. | Leon Winters | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1990 | The Party Machine | Various characters | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1991-92 | The Miraculous Mellops | Ralph | TV series, 26 episodes |
| 1994 | Three Men and a Baby Grand | Various characters | TV series |
| 1998 | Driven Crazy | Sidney Drayton Mousechap | TV series, season 1, episode 12: "Mousechap" |
| 2001-05 | Fairy Tale Police Department | Chief Horace White (voice) | Animated TV series, 26 episodes |
| 2002 | BackBerner | Martin | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002-07 | All Saints | Ray McCarthy / Dale Caulder | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2004 | The Adventures of Blinky Bill | Voice | Animated TV series, season 3 |
| 2005 | Hotel Bordemer | TV series, 19 episodes | |
| 2006 | Staines Down Drains | Dr Drain | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2006-07 | David Tench Tonight | David Tench (voice) | TV series |
| 2006-07 | I Got a Rocket! | Ma Ducky / Biffo Ducky / Scuds Ducky / Captain O'Cheese / Pirate (voices) | Animated TV series, 23 episodes |
| 2007 | Chandon Pictures | Graham Tucker | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2008 | Packed to the Rafters | Fred Mackie | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2011 | At Home with Julia | Bob Katter | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2012 | Devil’s Dust | Bob Carr | Animated TV series, 2 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Dingo Principle | Writer | TV series |
| 1990 | The Party Machine | Writer | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1994 | Three Men and a Baby Grand | Writer | TV series |
| 1996 | The Mikado | Additional material | TV movie |
| 1997 | H.M.S. Pinafore | Additional material | TV movie |
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Wharf Revue : The End of the Wharf as We Know It | Writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2000 | Wharf Revue : Sunday in Iraq with George: A Shock 'n' Awe-full Show | Writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2001 | Wharf Revue : Free Petrol! | Writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2001 | Wharf Revue : Free Petrol Too | Writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2002 | Wharf Revue : Much Revue About Nothing | Creator / writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2004 | The Republic of Myopia | Creator / writer | Roslyn Packer Theatre with STC |
| 2005 | Concert for Tax Relief | Writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2006-08 | Wharf Revue : Revue Sans Frontieres | Writer | Lennox Theatre, Parramatta & Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2007-08 | Wharf Revue : Beware of the Dogma | Creator / writer | STC |
| 2008 | Wharf Revue : Waiting for Garnaut | Creator / writer | Casula Powerhouse & Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2009-10 | Wharf Revue : Pennies from Kevin | Creator / writer | Australian national tour with STC |
| 2010 | Wharf Revue : Not Quite Out of the Woods | Creator / writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2011-12 | Wharf Revue : Debt Defying Acts | Creator / writer | Australian national tour with STC |
| 2013 | Wharf Revue : Whoops! | Creator / writer | Dame Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, Casula Powerhouse, Glen Street Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre & Wharf Theatre, with STC |
| 2014 | Wharf Revue : Open for Business | Creator / writer | Dame Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, Casula Powerhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, Glen Street Theatre & Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2015-20 | Wharf Revue : Celebrating 15 Years | Creator / writer | Australian national tour & online with STC |
| 2016 | Wharf Revue : Back to Bite You | Creator / writer | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2017 | Wharf Revue : The Patriotic Rag | Creator / writer | Canberra Theatre Centre & Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2018 | Wharf Revue : Deja Revue | Creator / writer | IMB Theatre, Wollongong with STC |
| 2019 | Wharf Revue : Unr-Dact-D | Creator / writer | Roslyn Packer Theatre with STC |
| 2020 | Wharf Revue : Good Night and Good Luck | Creator / co-director | Roslyn Packer Theatre, Majestic Cinemas, Sydney & Riverside Theatres Parramatta with STC |
| 2022 | Wharf Revue : Looking for Albanese | Creator / writer | Canberra Theatre Centre & Seymour Centre with STC [9] |
| 2022 | Wharf Revue : Can of Worms | Creator / writer | Canberra Theatre Centre & Seymour Centre with STC [10] |
| 2024 | Wharf Revue : Pride in Prejudice | Writer / Co-director | Dunstan Playhouse & The Round, Melbourne [11] |
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Caddie | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Won |
| The Venetian Twins | Variety Awards | Best Actor in a Musical | Won [13] | |
| 1987 | Whose Baby | Penguin Awards | Best Actor in a Mini-Series | Won [13] |
| 1995 | The Mikado | Green Room Awards | Male Actor in a Leading Role (Music Theatre) | Won |
| 2019 | Wharf Revue team | Sydney Theatre Awards | Award for services to laughter, satire and sanity above and beyond the call of duty | Won [14] |
Forsythe's son, Abe Forsythe, is an actor and director.
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