Rowena Wallace (born 23 August 1947) is an English-born Australian stage and screen actress, most especially in the genre of television soap opera. She is best known for her Gold Logie-winning role as conniving Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton/Morrell/Palmer in Sons and Daughters, being the first soap star to win the Gold Logie.[1] After leaving the series and being replaced in the role by Belinda Giblin, Wallace returned in the final season as Patricia's sister Pamela Hudson.
Rowena Wallace was born in Coventry, West Midlands, England, as an only child. She moved to Australia with her parents when she was five, settling in the state of Queensland. Her father was a pilot for Ansett Airlines. Initially she grew up in Cairns and later moved to Brisbane at the age of 12 years. There, she attended Kedron State High School. After finishing school she became interested in acting and was taken by her mother to dancing lessons at, and was also persuaded to join, the Twelfth Night Theatre under the artistic direction of Joan Whalley.
At age fifteen, having left school and attended a business college at the insistence of her parents, Wallace decided to become an actress. She joined an advertising agency while still performing in the theatre at night.
Career
Early roles
Wallace's first television role was in Brisbane as an entertainer on the variety show Theatre Royal hosted by George Wallace Jnr (no relation). She also presented the afternoon news and weather and a children's show.
While she was working in Brisbane, Barry Creyton persuaded the producers of a new series to fly Wallace down to Sydney to audition for the lead role in their show. As a result Wallace won the role of Margie Harris in You Can't See 'Round Corners in 1967 and moved to Sydney. She would also feature in the 1969 film version.[2]
After completing Round Corners, she went on to star as the juvenile lead in a short run tv series called "The Rovers",meanwhile she also stars in the hit comedy stage production between takes of the 'The Rovers' with John McCallum and Googie Withers. The show, Relatively Speaking, played to packed audiences in Melbourne.[2]
On 12 February 1970, the film Squeeze a Flower had its world premiere in Sydney. Wallace starred in the movie as the female lead, opposite international Italian film star Walter Chiari. By 1972, she had found work intermittently. In 1973 she married George Assang, some 20 years her senior, a Thursday Island-born jazz singer and actor known professionally as Vic Sabrino.[3] The marriage lasted just over a year, and Wallace has had no long-term relationships since then.[citation needed]
"The Rovers" was a production that soon led to the Number 96 smash hit sitcom.. Produced by NLT Productions, executive producer was Bill Harmon and producer Don Cash, who would become famous for creating Number 96. The series was created by Roger Mirams and starred Rowena Wallace, Edward Hepple, Noel Trevarthen and child actor Grant Seiden. The storylines revolve around the adventures of the crew of the ‘Pacific Lady’, an island schooner owned by Captain Sam McGill (or ‘Cap’ for short), played by Hepple, Bob Wild (a freelance photographer) played by Trevarthen and Rusty Collins, a wildlife journalist (played by Wallace).
Number 96 and Prisoner
In the late 1970s she appeared frequently on Australian television, with an ongoing role in the soap opera Number 96 in 1975–1976, followed by a regular role in the police drama Cop Shop, playing policeman's wife Pamela Taylor.[2] After leaving that series she played a mentally unbalanced remand prisoner named Anne Griffin in Prisoner for several weeks in late 1980.
Sons and Daughters
Rowena Wallace's most famous role was in the soap opera Sons and Daughters, in which she played Patricia Dunne/Hamilton/Morrell/Palmer; starting in 1981.[2] Nicknamed Pat the Rat, the character became an immensely popular bitch figure in the series; its most famous character.
In 1984 Wallace won a Gold Logie for the portrayal[2] during an era when Gold Logies were usually won by major television personalities and hosts but not actors. She was the first woman soap actress to win the award since it was opened up to Most Popular Australian Personality.[clarification needed]. She was not the first female to win the Gold Logie, that honour going to Australian actress Lorrae Desmond. Wallace also received 4 Silver Logies.
Wallace left Sons and Daughters after three years, with her final scenes going to air early in 1985 just after her Gold Logie win.[2] Wallace claimed in a reunion documentary that she left due to exhaustion from playing such an intense character. She also claimed she regretted walking away from the role as she did not get the later acting offers she had anticipated. The popularity of her character led to it being recast, with Belinda Giblin assuming the role of a returning Patricia after extensive cosmetic surgery had altered her facial features. Late in the show's run, with ratings in decline, Wallace was returned to the series in an attempt to boost the show's popularity. With Giblin remaining in the show, Wallace now played a new character, that of Patricia's long-lost identical twin sister Pamela. Her return lasted ten weeks but did little to halt the show's dwindling ratings, and the show was cancelled shortly afterwards.
Home and Away and Neighbours
Between years 2000 and 2003 Wallace appeared in the weeknight soap opera Home and Away as June Reynolds.[4]
In August 2010, Wallace was the subject of a Today Tonight special feature on the Seven Network, where she was reportedly nearly broke and on the verge of becoming homeless. The following week, a number of offers to take her in were made by Australians around the country.
In March 2011, she was the subject of more media coverage, this time because the unit she occupied at subsidised rent in Wonthaggi, Victoria was due for demolition in August 2011 and she feared she would have nowhere to live. The rent in Wonthaggi had doubled or even tripled due to the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant being constructed nearby, but her pension would not even cover her rent.[8]
Herself with 'Sons and Daughters' cast: Tom Richards, Cornelia Frances, Ally Fowler, Noel Hodda, Sarah Kemp, Alyce Platt, Antonia Murphy & Stephen Comey
Patricia Ethell McDonald was an Australian radio actor and actor of stage and television and the daughter of one of Australia's most prominent electric radio engineers and public servants, Arthur Stephen McDonald and his wife, milliner Edith Roseina Ethell. Her grandfather, bootmaker John McDonald, was born in Victoria, and married Eliza Mary Stevenson. Although she was not the first female Gold Logie winner in Australia, which was entertainer and TV host Lorrae Desmond, she was the first female character actor to win for serial Number 96.
Rebecca Catherine Gibney is a New Zealand actress known for her roles on Australian television in The Flying Doctors, Halifax f.p., Packed to the Rafters, Winter and Wanted. She is a Gold Logie winner and has featured in a number of Australian films including Mental and The Dressmaker.
Georgina Parker is an Australian television soap actress and has also appeared in film and theatre. She is a double Gold Logie winner, best known for her acting roles in Australian soap operas; as Lucy Gardiner in A Country Practice; as Theresa "Terri" Sullivan in All Saints; and as Roo Stewart in Home and Away.
Raymond Francis Meagher is an Australian actor, who has appeared in Australian film and television since the mid-1970s. He is notable as the longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, portraying Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the role since the first episode in 1988. Meagher won a Gold Logie Award for his role in Home and Away in 2010 and has currently played the role of Alf for over 35 years.
Kip Gamblin is an Australian ballet dancer and actor. From 2003 until 2005, Gamblin played Scott Hunter in Home and Away. The part earned him the 2004 Logie Award for Most Popular New Male Talent. After moving to the UK, Gamblin was cast as paramedic Greg Fallon in the medical drama series Casualty. Following his move back to Australia, Gamblin starred in All Saints and Dance Academy. In 2013, Gamblin began appearing in Neighbours as Brad Willis, making him the third actor to play the role after Benjamin Grant Mitchell and Scott Michaelson. He made his final appearance in that role on 7 April 2017.
Sons and Daughters is an Australian Logie Award-winning soap opera/drama serial, broadcast by the Seven Network between January 1982 and December 1987 and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation. It was created by executive Reg Watson, and is distributed by Fremantle.
Sue Belinda Giblin professionally billed as Belinda Giblin, is an Australian actress. Prominent in theatre and television soap operas, and several feature films.
Gerard Kennedy is an Australian double Gold Logie award-winning former actor, best known for his roles in early television series, in particular the espionage series including Hunter and the police procedural Division 4. Kennedy also appeared in film roles during a career that spanned 50 years in the industry.
Bridie Carter is an Australian actress best known for her role as the main character of Tess Silverman McLeod on the television drama series McLeod's Daughters.
Nicolle Dickson is an Australian former actress, who was best known for playing the original character of teenage tearaway Bobby Simpson in soap opera Home and Away from 1988 to 1993. She left the acting profession and is now an accountant and bookkeeper.
John Stanton is an Australian actor, who has appeared in many stage, television and film productions throughout his extensive fifty-year career.
Rachael Ann Carpani is an Australian actress best known as Jodi Fountain in McLeod's Daughters.
Jeanne Mitchell, professionally known as Jeanne Little, was an Australian entertainer, comedienne and television personality who won the Gold Logie award in 1977. Her first success on television was on The Mike Walsh Show which earned her the Gold Logie plus two other Logies. Other television of appearances include Midday with Ray Martin and GMA with Bert Newton. She became well known for her flamboyant outfits, over-the-top personality and her trademark catch phrase said in a drawling speech of "Oh Dahling".
Jenni Baird is an Australian actress. Baird was educated at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts from which she graduated in 1999. Upon graduation, Baird appeared in the Australian short film I Promise. Baird has since appeared in several high-profile television series that have been broadcast nationwide in Australia with roles in All Saints, A Place to Call Home and The 4400, and in Australian movies Alien Trespass and Backtrack.
Katherine Louise Stewart is an AACTA and Logie Award-winning Australian actress who has made numerous appearances in television series, movies and on-stage.
Jessica Dominique Marais is a South African-born Australian actress best known for her roles on Australian television in Packed to the Rafters and Love Child. She also co-starred on the American drama series Magic City.
Esther Jackie Anderson is an Australian actress and model, best known for her role as Charlie Buckton on the Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2008 until 2012. She was nominated for two Gold Logie Awards in 2010 and 2012. After leaving Home and Away, Anderson starred in the NBC television drama Siberia and was a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice Australia.
The Rovers was an Australian ocean-based family adventure television show originally screened from 21 August 1969 until 12 June 1970 and was broadcast on the 0-Ten network, the precursor of Network Ten
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
