Robyn Nevin
| Robyn Nevin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 September 1942 Melbourne, Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Jim McNeil (divorced) |
| Partner(s) | Nicholas Hammond (current) |
Robyn Anne Nevin AM (25 September 1942), is an Australian actress, director and former head of the Sydney Theatre Company.[1]
Biography
Early life
Robyn Nevin was born 25 September 1942, in Melbourne, to William George Nevin and Josephine Pauline Casey. She was educated at Genazzano Convent until the age of 11, when she moved with her family moved to Hobart, Tasmania, and was enrolled at the Fahan School, a non-denominational school for girls.[2] While there, she played the lead in the school's production of Snow White at the Theatre Royal. Her parents were conservative and conventional, her father the managing director of Dunlop Australia, her mother a housewife, so to enter the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the age of 16 in the very first intake in 1959 was a brave step, in which she was fully supported by her parents.[1]
Professional life
At the outset of her career, she had a variety of roles in radio and television, working mainly at the Australian Broadcasting Commission, including current affairs, music, chat shows and children's shows throughout the early 1960s. With the Old Tote Theatre Company she acted in The Legend of King O'Malley by Bob Ellis and Michael Boddy in 1970. She gravitated back to theatre, where she has been a constant presence for the last 40 years.
Although theatre has been her home ground she has also been a reliable talent in Australian films and mini-series, landing many credits for strong supporting roles. She made one foray into directing in the little-noticed The More Things Change... (1986).[3]
In 1996 she became Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company, a position which she held with varying levels of success until 1999, when she took over the position of Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, where she was Artistic Director until the end of 2007.[4]
Nevin has performed in a range of roles at the Sydney Theatre Company, beginning in 1979 as Miss Docker in A Cheery Soul by Patrick White (reprised in 2001); and also including as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1981; as Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov in 2005; and as Mrs Venable in Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams in 2015.[5]
Awards and honours
Nominated for several awards, Nevin has thrice won the Sydney Critics' Circle Award for her theatre work.
In 1981 she won the TV Logie award in the 'Best Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Telemovie' category for her role as Shasta in Water Under The Bridge on the Ten Network. She had already won Logies as 'Most Popular Female'[6][7] in Tasmania in 1965 and 1967 during her stint at the ABC.
On 8 June 1981, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the performing arts.
In 1999 she was awarded an honorary doctorate[8] from the University of Tasmania.
On 21 January 2004 she gave the Australia Day Address.[9]
Personal life
Nevin has been married twice, most notably to 'prison playwright' Jim McNeil. She currently lives with her partner, the US-born actor and screenwriter Nicholas Hammond. They met when they starred in Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind at the STC in 1987. She has a daughter Emily Russell who is also an actor, also an 18-year-old grandson Sam Dawe.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Tread Softly | ||
| 1962 | Consider Your Verdict | Judith Harper | TV series |
| 1967 | Bellbird | ||
| 1973 | Libido | Sister Caroline | |
| 1973 | President Wilson in Paris | Mrs Wilson | |
| 1973 | One Man in the Company | Miss Healey | 1 episode: 'Let Women Go Free' |
| 1974 | Matlock Police | Sue Palmer | 1 episode: 'Dancing Class' |
| 1974 | Ryan | Susan Davis | 1 episode: 'Negative Proof' |
| 1975 | Ben Hall | ||
| 1976 | Fourth Wish, TheThe Fourth Wish | Connie | |
| 1976 | Caddie | Black Eye | |
| 1978 | Father, Dear Father in Australia | Mrs. Webster | 1 episode: 'Novel Exercise' |
| 1978 | Temperament Unsuited | ||
| 1978 | Irishman, TheThe Irishman | Jenny Doolan | |
| 1978 | Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, TheThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | Mrs. McCready | |
| 1979 | Letting Go | ||
| 1980 | Water Under the Bridge | Shasta | TV film |
| 1980 | Toast to Melba, AA Toast to Melba | TV film | |
| 1980–1982 | Spring & Fall | Anne/Mary | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | Fighting Back | Mary | |
| 1983 | Dismissal, TheThe Dismissal | Lady Kerr | TV mini-series |
| 1983 | Goodbye Paradise | Kate | |
| 1983 | Careful, He Might Hear You | Lila | |
| 1984 | Conferenceville | TV film | |
| 1984 | For Love or Money | TV film | |
| 1984 | Coolangatta Gold, TheThe Coolangatta Gold | Robyn Lukas | |
| 1985 | Hanlon | TV series | |
| 1986 | The More Things Change... | Director | |
| 1988 | Emerald City | Kate Rogers | |
| 1990 | Ham Funeral, TheThe Ham Funeral | TV film | |
| 1990 | Shadows of the Heart | Mrs. Hanlon | TV mini-series |
| 1992 | Resistance | Wiley | |
| 1992 | Greenkeeping | Mum | |
| 1993 | Seven Deadly Sins | Sloth | TV mini-series |
| 1994 | Halifax f.p: The Feeding | Angela Halifax | TV film |
| 1994 | Lucky Break | Anne-Marie LePine | |
| 1995 | Angel Baby | Dr. Norberg | |
| 1996 | Halifax f.p: Cradle and All | Angela Halifax | TV film |
| 1997 | Castle, TheThe Castle | Federal Court Judge | |
| 1998 | Halifax f.p: A Murder of Crows | Angela Halifax | TV film |
| 2003 | Matrix Reloaded, TheThe Matrix Reloaded | Councillor Dillard | |
| 2003 | Enter the Matrix | Councillor Dillard (voice) | Video game |
| 2003 | Bad Eggs | Eleanor Poulgrain | |
| 2003 | Matrix Revolutions, TheThe Matrix Revolutions | Councillor Dillard | |
| 2011 | Eye of the Storm, TheThe Eye of the Storm | Lal | |
| 2013 | Top of the Lake | Jude | Miniseries |
| 2013 | The Turning | ||
| 2013–14 | Upper Middle Bogan | Margaret Denyar | Main role |
| 2014 | The Broken Shore | TV film | |
| 2016 | Gods of Egypt | Sharifa | |
References
- 1 2 "Robyn Nevin: she who must be obeyed". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 February 2006.
- ↑ Suzannah Pearce, ed. (2007). "Nevin, Robyn". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
- ↑ The More Things Change... at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ "Sydney Theatre Company". Sydneytheatre.com.au. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- ↑ "STC Magazine Archive: Robyn Nevin". Sydney Theatre Company. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ↑ "1962–1965 Logie Awards". Australian Television. 30 October 1998. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- ↑ "1966–1969 Logie Awards". Australian Television. 30 October 1998. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- ↑ "Home – Events & Protocol – University of Tasmania, Australia" (PDF). Utas.edu.au. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- ↑ "What's On". Australia Day. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
External links
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