Alan Cassell
Alan Cassell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Alan Louis Cassell 16 February 1932 Manchester, England |
| Died | 30 August 2017 (aged 85) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Children | 2 |
Alan Louis Cassell (16 February 1932 – 30 August 2017) was an English Australian actor, on stage, film and television.[1]
Early life
Alan Cassell was born in Manchester, England but grew up in Birmingham.[2] Cassell was of a young age when his mother was admitted to the Rubery Lunatic Asylum after she suffered brain damage following a visit to a dentist.[2] It is believed the dentist had left the gas on for too long which caused the brain damage.[2]
Cassell worked as a motor trimmer in an Austin Motor Company car factory in Birmingham during the 1950s. He also performed national service, although a senior officer convinced him not to volunteer for service in the Korean War.[2] After meeting a woman called Rosina, they married and in 1957 emigrated to Perth in Western Australia as 'Ten Pound Poms', where he continued his work as a motor trimmer before moving to the sales department.[2]
Career
Cassell began working as an actor, when he and his friend signed up for acting classes hosted by the Patch Theatre Company in Western Australia, effectively kicking off his stage career.[2] His first role was a doctor with a two-word speaking part, but he was soon playing the lead in subsequent productions.[2] Cassell became heavily involved with promoting theatre in Perth and helped establish a theatre called The Hole in the Wall.[2] When Edgar Metcalfe was brought out to Australia to run The Playhouse Theatre, he began casting Cassell and the two became good friends.[2]
He won a Best Actor of the Year award for his role in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. He later worked for the Sydney Theatre Company and the Melbourne Theatre Company. Cassell also played Boss Finlay in a 1986 production of Sweet Bird of Youth alongside Lauren Bacall,[3] accepting the role after the actor originally cast in it, Frank Wilson, suffered a heart attack.[1] He was in the original cast of Away, which toured to New York in 1988, together with a production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.[4]
Cassell was one of the actors who worked in Bruce Beresford’s early Australian films after moving to the eastern states to audition for Beresford and Hector Crawford.[2] His film credits included Money Movers,[5] Cathy's Child, Squizzy Taylor, Breaker Morant, Puberty Blues, The Club, The Honourable Wally Norman and Strange Bedfellows.[1][6]
After appearing in the short-lived soap opera Taurus Rising as Ben Drysdale and Network Ten's crime drama Special Squad in 1984, Cassell swore off joining any further long-running series following a run of bad luck with several projects.[7] However, he signed up to play the recurring role of George Young in Neighbours, shortly before learning it too had been cancelled,[7] albeit temporarily. Cassell believed he would have joined the show anyway, as the character was unlike any he had portrayed before.[7] He had become known for his 'tough guy' image from working on Beresford's films, and he hoped the Neighbours role would show producers a different side to him.[7]
Other television roles included The Drifter, Falcon Island, The Flying Doctors, The Power, The Passion, Blue Heelers, SeaChange, Stingers and MDA.[1]
Cassell was recognised with a win at the 1979 Sammy Awards for his role in the film Cathy's Child.[8] He was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1979 Australian Film Institute Awards.[9]
Personal life and death
Cassell was married to wife Rosina and together they emigrated to Perth, Western Australia in 1957[2] and had two sons.[6]
From 1983, Cassell lived in Victoria.[2] He was a prominent member of the Save Albert Park movement, after it was first proposed the Australian Grand Prix would relocate to the area where Cassell would walk his dogs.[2]
In his later years, Cassell was diagnosed with dementia and lived in an aged care facility at Kyneton where he died on 30 August 2017 at the age of 85.[1][10] After Cassell's death, Australian film director Bruce Beresford placed an obituary in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in which he described Cassell as "one of the most gifted actors I have had the privilege to work with – and one of the most charming."[2]
Awards
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968? | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Best Actor of the Year | Won | ||
| 1979 | Cathy's Child | Sammy Awards | Best Film Actor | Won | [8] |
| Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated | [9] |
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Plugg | Herman Cavanagh | |
| The Olive Tree | |||
| 1978 | Money Movers | Detective Sergeant Sammy Ross | |
| 1979 | Cathy's Child | Dick Wordley | |
| 1980 | Harlequin | Mr. Porter | |
| Breaker Morant | Lord Kitchener | ||
| The Club | Gerry Cooper | ||
| 1981 | Puberty Blues | Mr. Vickers | |
| 1982 | The Highest Honor | Lt. Ted Carse | |
| Squizzy Taylor | Det. Brophy | ||
| The Dark Room | Ray Sangster | ||
| 1983 | The Settlement | Lohan | |
| 1986 | The Big Hurt | Blake | |
| 1987 | Belinda | Belinda's father | also known as Midnight Dancer |
| 2003 | The Honourable Wally Norman | Willy Norman | |
| 2004 | Strange Bedfellows | Stan Rogers | Final film role |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Drifter | James Halloran | |
| 1981 | Falcon Island | Jack Brady | Series regular |
| 1982 | Taurus Rising | Ben Drysdale | Series regular |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Det. Insp. Don Anderson | Series regular |
| 1985 | Neighbours | George Young | Recurring role |
| 1987 | The Flying Doctors | Robert Freeman | Episode: "The Unluckiest Boy in Town" |
| 1989 | The Power, The Passion | Dr Andrew Edmonds | Series regular |
| 1997 | Blue Heelers | Henry Biggins | Episodes: "Sisterly Love" and "The Civil Dead" |
| 1998–2000 | SeaChange | Harold Fitzwalter | Seasons 1-3, series regular |
| 2001 | Halifax f.p. | Doctor Wallace | Episode: "Playing God" |
| 2003 | Stingers | George Lyndon | Episode: "Your Cheating Heart" |
| MDA | Dr. Oscar Ricketson | Episode: "A Reasonable Passion" |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | All My Sons | George Deever | Patch Theatre, Perth |
| 1962 | A Taste of Honey | Playhouse, Perth with Theatre 62, & National Theatre | |
| 1963 | The Member of the Wedding | Honey Camden Brown | Playhouse, Perth with National Theatre |
| 1964 | Send Me No Flowers | ||
| 1965 | Rattle of a Simple Man | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth | |
| 1966 | Woman in a Dressing Gown | ||
| 1967 | The Homecoming | ||
| 1968 | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | ||
| 1970 | You Can't Take It With You | Author | |
| 1971 | The Procurer | ||
| 1972 | Mirage | Octagon Theatre, Perth with National Theatre | |
| 1973 | It's All in the Mind | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth | |
| 1975 | Bedfellows | ||
| 1976 | A Man for All Seasons | Playhouse, Perth with National Theatre | |
| The Gentle Hook | |||
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Western Australian Theatre Company | ||
| Mixed Doubles | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth | ||
| 1977 | How Does Your Garden Grow? | Sam | |
| The Miser | Valere | Playhouse, Perth with National Theatre | |
| The Department | Robby | ||
| Absent Friends | Colin | ||
| Otherwise Engaged | Stephen Hench | ||
| Yesterday's News | Roche | Greenroom Theatre, Perth | |
| Going Home | Jim | Greenroom Theatre, Perth with National Theatre | |
| Bastardy / Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act | |||
| Martello Towers | Anthony Martello | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth with National Theatre | |
| Of Mice and Men | Carlson | Playhouse, Perth with National Theatre | |
| The Brass Hat | Lt Col Guy Holden | ||
| 1978 | Richard II | Henry Bolingbroke | |
| Miss Julie | Jean | Greenroom Theatre, Perth with National Theatre | |
| California Suite | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth | ||
| 1979 | No W.A.Y. | ||
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | R P McMurphy | ||
| Night and Day | Dick Wagner | Playhouse, Perth with National Theatre | |
| The Three Sisters | Alexandr Vershinin | ||
| Suddenly at Home | Sam Blaine | ||
| No Man's Land | Briggs | ||
| The Little Foxes | Horace Giddens | ||
| 1980 | Betrayal | Jerry | |
| The Same Square of Dust | Keith Anderson | ||
| Oliver! | Bill Sykes | ||
| 1981 | Stage Struck | Robert | Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth |
| Bodies | Mervyn | ||
| Court Napping | Writer | ||
| 1983 | Gossip from the Forest | Matthias Erzberger | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1986 | Sweet Bird of Youth | Boss Finlay | Australian tour with Davis Morley |
| Heartbreak House | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC | ||
| 1986–1987 | Away | Studio Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre, Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 1987 | A Month of Sundays | Playhouse, Perth with Western Australian Theatre Company | |
| 1988 | Summer of the Seventeenth Doll & Away | Pepsico Summerfare, New York with STC | |
| 1991 | Educating Rita | Subiaco Theatre Centre, Perth with Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth | |
| 1992 | Othello | Gratiano | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 1994 | The Gift of the Gorgon | Jarvis, Helen's father | Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC |
Source:[11]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Knox, David (5 September 2017). "Vale: Alan Cassell". TV Tonight. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Jones, Irene (12 October 2017). "'£10 pom' became star of stage and screen". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- ↑ "Sweet Bird of Youth". AusStage. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Summer of the 17th Doll & Away". AusStage. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "The Fluffer gets hot for The Money Movers". FilmInk. 1 December 2025. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
- 1 2 Flynn, Greg; Adams, Clay (1 September 1982). "Meet the stars of 'Taurus Rising'". The Australian Women's Weekly. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- 1 2 3 4 Cooney, Jenny (7 September 1985). "Jinxed!". TV Week. p. 27.
- 1 2 "Hines, Walsh awarded gold Sammys". The Canberra Times. 18 October 1979. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- 1 2 "Film-award finalists". The Canberra Times. 29 August 1979. p. 19. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ "Alan Cassell". The Age. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ↑ "Alan Cassell". AusStage. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
External links
- Alan Cassell at IMDb