John McTernan | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1971–2014 |
| Known for | Cop Shop G.P. |
John McTernan is an Australian actor, known for several theatre and television roles.
A former sailor, McTernan emigrated to Australia from the United States in 1968. [1] After graduating from university with an Economics degree, he began studying at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre. [2]
McTernan's first job was singing and dancing in cabaret shows. One of his earliest professional jobs was in a vocal comedy act with friend Timothy Bean, both writing and performing their material. He went on to work in theatre for seven years in Sydney, performing "everything from Godspell to Shakespeare". [1]
He has appeared with all of Australia's major theatre companies. His Sydney Theatre Company credits include The Sunny South and The Caucasian Chalk Circle . His work at the Melbourne Theatre Company includes Born Yesterday , Twelfth Night , Into the Woods , Assassins , The Glass Menagerie , The Real Thing , Serious Money , High Society , Art , Take Me Out and Boy Gets Girl . Plays for Nimrod Theatre Company include Young Mo, Volpone , Inside the Island, The Orestia , Clouds, Romeo and Juliet , Henry IV and Comedy of Errors . He has also appeared in several productions at Ensemble Theatre, including Lovers , The Comedians , Boy Meets Girl , 6 Rms Riv Vu , Sonny and Same Difference and more recently, Wrong Turn at Lungfish in 2008. [3] [4]
In 2014, McTernan took over the lead role of Shelley Levine at the last minute in a Melbourne Theatre Company production of Glengarry Glen Ross , after Steve Bisley had to relinquish the role during the play's opening week, due to illness. [5] [6]
McTernan is also well known for his work in musical theatre. He performed in a Harry M. Miller production of Grease at Melbourne's Metro Theatre, in 1972, just three months after its Broadway debut. [6] In 1975, he took on the task of the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , in a production that featured Mark Holden in the titular role of Joseph. [7] In 1979, he appeared in two-act musical comedy The Venetian Twins , for the inaugural season of the Sydney Theatre Company, which premiered at the Sydney Opera House. The production went on to tour throughout 1981 to Canberra, Adelaide, Melbourne and Geelong. [8]
In 1986, McTernan played Benny Southstreet in an Adelaide Festival Centre production of Guys and Dolls , alongside Anthony Warlow, which was consistently met with standing ovations and rave reviews in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. He reprised the role in a fundraiser concert spectacular at Melbourne Concert Hall in 1990, and then again for The Production Company in 2000. [9] More recently, McTernan has appeared as Grandfather in a 2019 staging of Ragtime , once again for The Production Company. [10]
McTernan's other musical credits include Godspell , Sunset Boulevard , The History of Australia , Shout , Into the Woods , and Assassins , She Loves Me, Gypsy and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . [3] [4]
McTernan is best known to television audiences for his roles in popular Australian drama series and soap operas. He played the regular role of Rob Forsyth, a gay man, later revealed to be a psychopathic blackmailer, in soap opera Number 96 in 1977. He took on a recurring guest role as prison teacher, Tom Lucas in Prisoner in 1986. The same year, he portrayed music promoter Lee Gordon in two-part biographical miniseries Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe , about the life of musician O’Keefe (played by Terry Serio). [11]
McTernan's long-running series credits included a role in long-running police drama Cop Shop , as Irish Detective Sergeant John Shannon from 1981 to 1994, [1] and a main role in medical drama G.P. as Dr Robert Sharp, who ran a suburban medical practice together with his uncle William Sharp (played by Michael Craig) in its first four seasons from 1989 to 1992. [12] He won Logie Awards for his roles in both series. [13] [1] In 2005, he played a main role as villain Mackenna in children's drama series Scooter: Secret Agent . [14]
McTernan's numerous other television credits have included The Young Doctors , The Flying Doctors , City Homicide , All Saints , Blue Heelers , Stingers , Something in the Air , Good Guys, Bad Guys , MDA and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries . [3]
McTernan's work in feature films and made-for-television movies has included The Understudy (1977), ABC feature Fuzzy (1984), The Brown Out Murders (1988), The Four Minute Mile (1988) and Evil Never Dies (2003). [3]
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Brown Out Murders | Philippe Mora | |
| 2002 | Guru Wayne | Professor Barret | |
| 2007 | Pension Day | The Pensioner | Short film |
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | The Toy Factory | Sustaining Lead | |
| 1976 | The Understudy | TV movie | |
| 1977 | Number 96 | Rob Forsyth | 36 episodes |
| 1978 | Barnaby and Me (aka Fuzzy) | Secretary | TV movie |
| The Young Doctors | |||
| The Oracle | Co-lead | ||
| 1981–1983 | Cop Shop | Detective Tom Shannon | 282 episodes |
| 1984 | Five Mile Creek | Father Jenkins | 1 episode |
| The Last Bastion | Colonel Willoughby | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
| 1985 | Special Squad | Ted | Episode 22: "Mates" |
| Zoo Family | Mr Macleod | 1 episode | |
| 1986 | Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe | Lee Gordon | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| Death of a Soldier | Colonel Williams | TV movie | |
| 1987 | Prisoner | Tom Lucas | 6 episodes |
| The Flying Doctors | Jim Brett | 1 episode | |
| Nancy Wake | Antoine | Miniseries, 2 episodes | |
| 1988 | The Four Minute Mile | Dave Garroway | TV movie |
| 1989–1991 | G.P. | Dr Robert Sharp | 123 episodes |
| 1995 | The Feds: Abduction | Alan Guinnane | Miniseries, 1 episode |
| Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (aka The Man from Snowy River) | Connor O'Shea | 1 episode | |
| 1995; 2000 | Blue Heelers | Peter Carlson / Father Michael Carlyle | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Good Guys, Bad Guys | Chief Commissioner Fuller | 1 episode |
| 1999 | All Saints | Geoff Cavendish | 1 episode |
| 2000–2003 | Stingers | Jim Duncan / Prosecutor / Dr Dan Fraser | 10 episodes |
| 2001 | Something in the Air | Owen Young | 5 episodes |
| 2002 | MDA | Dr Michael Forsythe | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | Evil Never Dies | Dr Calvert | TV movie |
| 2005 | Scooter: Secret Agent | Mackenna | 26 episodes |
| 2006–2007 | City Homicide | Assistant Commissioner Bill Mulholland | 5 episodes |
| 2010 | Killing Time | Justice Shepherd / Ian Watson | 1 episode |
| Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey | Parish Priest | 1 episode | |
| 2013 | Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Larry Dunn | 1 episode |
Source: [3]
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Lovers | Joe | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney |
| Same Difference | St Martins Theatre, Melbourne, Ensemble Theatre, Sydney | ||
| 1972 | Grease | Kenickie | Harry M. Miller Productions |
| 1973 | Godspell | Canberra Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Princess Theatre, Launceston, Theatre Royal, Hobart with J. C. Williamson's | |
| 1974 | What Did We Do Wrong? | Marian St Theatre, Sydney | |
| Scandals of '74 | Macleay Theatre | ||
| 6 Rms Riv Vu | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney | ||
| Sonny | |||
| 1974–1975 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Narrator | York Theatre, Sydney with Paradine Productions |
| 1976 | It's Called the Sugarplum | Wallace Zuckerman | Bankstown Town Hall, AMP Theatrette, Sydney with Q Theatre |
| A Who's Who of Flapland | AMP Theatrette, Sydney with Q Theatre | ||
| Comedians | Gethin Price | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1977 | Boy Meets Girl | Robert Law | |
| Young Mo | Barman / Lawyer | Nimrod Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1978 | Stubble | ||
| Marxisms | |||
| Everyman | |||
| 1979 | The Comedy of Errors | Dromio of Ephyesus | |
| Henry IV | Gower / Silence / Peto / Edmund Mortimer | ||
| The Amazing Optissimo's Revue | Tasmanian Theatre Company | ||
| Romeo and Juliet | Peter | Octagon Theatre, Perth, Nimrod Theatre, Sydney | |
| The Caucasian Chalk Circle | Galinski Delegate / Doctor / Old Man, Jussup / Irakli the Bandit / Old Man | Sydney Opera House with STC / NIDA | |
| The Venetian Twins | Arlecchino | Sydney Opera House with STC / Nimrod Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1980 | The Sunny South | Johnny Jinks | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| Clouds | Angel | Nimrod Theatre, Sydney | |
| The Orestia | Watchman / Aegisthus / Old Person of Aros – Agamemnon / Aegisthus – Elektra / Fury – Orestes | ||
| Inside the Island | Peter Blackwood | ||
| Volpone | Corbaccio | ||
| 1981 | The Venetian Twins | Arlecchino | Festival Theatre, Adelaide with Nimrod Theatre Company |
| 1983 | The Real Thing | Max | Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC |
| 1984 | Pax Americana | The Journalist / Actor V | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| The Glass Menagerie | Tom | ||
| 1986 | The Norman Conquests | Simon Hopkinson | MTC |
| 1986–1987 | Guys and Dolls | Benny Southstreet | Adelaide Festival Centre & National Theatre of Great Britain |
| 1987 | Twelfth Night | Feste | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| The Common Pursuit | Humphrey | Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC | |
| Wet and Dry | George | ||
| 1988 | Manning Clark's History of Australia – The Musical | Captain Cook / Captain Bligh / Henry Parkes / Peter the Possum | Princess Theatre, Melbourne |
| Serious Money | Durkfeld / Greville / Duckett / Goat / Gleeson | Wharf Theatre, Sydney, Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC | |
| 1990 | Gershwin – The Musical | Ira Gershwin | Melbourne Concert Hall with Victorian Arts Centre |
| Guys and Dolls | Benny Southstreet | Melbourne Concert Hall fundraiser concert [9] | |
| 1992–1993 | High Society | C.K. Dexter Haven | Australian tour with QTC / MTC |
| 1993 | A Rare Jewel | Perce | Civic Theatre, Newcastle with Hunter Valley Theatre Company |
| 1994 | Oleanna | John | Subiaco Theatre Centre, Perth with Swy Theatre Company & Theatre West |
| 1995 | Assassins | Guiteau | Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC |
| Sanctuary | Bob King | Playhouse, Perth with New England Theatre Company | |
| 1996–1997 | Sunset Boulevard | Manfred | Regent Theatre, Melbourne with Really Useful Productions |
| 1998 | Into the Woods | Baker | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 1999 | Born Yesterday | Ed Devery | |
| Shark Fin Soup | Frank Harrow | Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC | |
| She Loves Me | Ladislav Sipos | Melbourne Concert Hall with The Production Company | |
| 2000 | Gypsy | Herbie | State Theatre, Melbourne with The Production Company |
| Guys and Dolls | Benny Southstreet | ||
| 2001 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Twimble / TV Announcer | |
| The Irish and How They | Ciaran O’ | International Concert Attractions | |
| Shout! The Musical! | Lee Gordon | Jacobsen Entertainment | |
| 2002–2003 | Art | Australian tour with MTC | |
| 2004 | Take Me Out | Skipper / Danziger / Reporter | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 2005 | Boy Gets Girl | Howard Siegel | Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC |
| 2008 | Wrong Turn at Lungfish | Peter Ravenswaal | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney |
| 2011 | Xanadu | Danny Maguire / Zeus | Grand Xanadu Marquee, Melbourne |
| 2013 | The Crucible | Giles Corey | Southbank Theatre, Melbourne with MTC |
| 2014 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Shelly Levene | |
| 2019 | Ragtime | Grandfather | State Theatre, Melbourne with The Production Company |
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Cop Shop | Logie Awards | Best Lead Actor in a Series | Won | [13] [3] |
| 1983 | Won | [13] [3] | |||
| 1987 | Twelfth Night | Green Room Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won | [3] |
| 1990 | G.P. | Logie Awards | Best Lead Actor in a Series | Nominated | [3] |
| 1991 | Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor | Nominated | [3] | ||
| 1992 | Won | [1] [3] |