Bud Tingwell

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Charles 'Bud' Tingwell
Born	Charles William Tingwell 3 January 1923(1923-01-03) Coogee, New South Wales, Australia
Died	15 May 2009 (aged 86) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Radio announcer, aviator, actor.
Years active	1941-2009
Spouse(s)	Audrey Tingwell
Official website

Charles William "Bud" Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009)^[1][2] was an Australian film, television theatre and radio actor. Tingwell was one of the veterans of Australian film. He acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and appeared in over 100 films and numerous television programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.

Contents 1 Early life and military service 2 Marriage 3 Acting career 4 Death 4.1 Tribute 5 Selected filmography 6 Memoir 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early life and military service

Tingwell was born in the Sydney suburb of Coogee. As an adolescent he was encouraged by his father to be an accountant but failed the entrance exam. While still at school he became a cadet at Sydney radio station 2CH, soon becoming the youngest radio announcer in Australia.^[1]

In 1941, aged only 18, he volunteered for the Royal Australian Air Force. He trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942 under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Despite damaging a Harvard trainer in August 1942, he qualified as a Pilot Officer in December 1942. He served with No.74 Operational Conversion Unit in British Palestine and qualified to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire.

Tingwell was posted to a photo reconnaissance unit, No. 680 Squadron RAF and flew 75 sorties in Hurricanes and Spitfires during the North African Campaign and Allied invasion of Sicily. He was also type qualified on the Bristol Blenheim, Martin Baltimore, Bristol Beaufighter, de Havilland Mosquito and Airspeed Oxford.

He was promoted to Flying Officer in June 1943 and Flight Lieutenant in December 1944.^[3]

Towards the end of the war, Tingwell was transferred to Australia and served with No. 87 Squadron RAAF, flying photo reconnaissance Mosquitoes over the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

On demobilisation in 1946, he was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Italy Star and Defence Medal. He remained a reservist into the 1950s.

[edit] Marriage

After returning to Australia he married his childhood sweetheart, Audrey. He also began to seriously consider a career in film, which had been a passion of his before the war.

[edit] Acting career

In 1946, Tingwell won his first film role, as a control tower officer in the film Smithy. He took on several roles over the next few years, increasing in stature, until he caught the attention of Hollywood in 1952, and won the part of Lt. Harry Carstairs in The Desert Rats (film), alongside Chips Rafferty, James Mason and Richard Burton.

After filming The Desert Rats, Tingwell stayed in Australia for three years, making three films, including King of the Coral Sea, which also featured Rafferty. In 1956, Tingwell moved to England. The following year, he took on his first recurring television role, playing Australian surgeon Alan Dawson in the live television serial Emergency - Ward 10. He also won the role of Inspector Craddock in all four films of the Miss Marple film series starring Margaret Rutherford, between 1961 and 1964.

In the later 1960s, he performed various minor voice roles for the Gerry Anderson shows Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet as well as appearing in the first series of cult television show Catweazle.

Tingwell made numerous other films while in England, spending a total of 16 years as a 'London Aussie',^[4] but in 1973, returned to Australia with his wife and children, and soon after, won the role of Inspector Reg Lawson on the long-running series Homicide. This was followed by small roles in a number of major Australian films, such as Breaker Morant, Puberty Blues and All The Rivers Run.

His career went through a quiet period throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, until he took on the role of 'Gramps' in recurring segment Charlie the Wonderdog, in the satirical series The Late Show in 1993. He was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame in 1994. His role in The Late Show was later to win him a major role as lawyer Lawrence Hammill in the major 1997 film The Castle. He later said that this role helped him recover from the death of his wife not long before.

After the success of The Castle, Tingwell's career underwent a revival during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This saw him take on small roles in commercial films The Craic and The Dish, the mini-series Changi, as well as the lead in the romance Innocence.

Tingwell had a recurring guest role in the soap opera Neighbours in 2000 and 2003, playing Henry O'Rourke. He appeared as John Conroy in the musical theatre production The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular, which toured Australian capital cities twice during 2002.

In 2006, he successfully launched his own website with over 500 registered users in just over a week. On 5 October 2006, he launched his first blog. Bud encouraged fans to visit the site and share their thoughts on his life and career.

Up until his death, Tingwell was still acting regularly, in a number of films and television programs that are in production. Most recently, he hosted ratings winners Celebrity Circus, and 20 to 1. He appeared on a Celebrity special of Temptation with his daughter, Virginia.

[edit] Death

Tingwell died in Melbourne from prostate cancer, at the age of 86, at 8.15 a.m. on the morning of 15 May 2009.^[5][6]

[edit] Tribute

Tingwell's status in Australian culture is signified by his being granted a state funeral which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne on Wednesday, 20 May, 2009.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

[edit] Selected filmography

• The Desert Rats (1953) Lt. Harry Carstairs
• King of the Coral Sea (1953) Peter Merriman
• The Shiralee (1957) Jim Muldoon
• Murder She Said (1961) Inspector Craddock
• Murder at the Gallop (1963) Inspector Craddock
• Murder Most Foul (1964) Inspector Craddock
• Murder Ahoy! (1964) Inspector Craddock
• Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) Dr Tony Grant (voice)
• The Avengers (1967) Dr Neville
• Breaker Morant (1980) Lt. Col. Denny (President of Court Martial)
• Puberty Blues (1981) The Headmaster
• The Castle (1997) Lawrence Hammill QC
• The Wog Boy (2000) Mr Walker
• Innocence (2000) Andreas Borg
• The Dish (2000) Reverend Loftus
• Neighbours (TV series) (2000, 2003) Henry O'Rourke
• Changi (TV series) (2001) David Colins (in old age)
• Menzies and Churchill at War (Docu-drama) (2008) Sir Winston Churchill^[15]

[edit] Memoir

• Bud: A Life (2004)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Charles 'Bud' Tingwell at the Internet Movie Database
• Bud Tingwell's official website
• Bud Tingwell's official blog
• Tingwell takes off, Royal Australian Air Force news
• Charles 'Bud' Tingwell at the National Film and Sound Archive

v • d • e Miss Marple Murder films with Margaret Rutherford
Films Murder, She Said | Murder at the Gallop | Murder Most Foul | Murder Ahoy! Cameo: The Alphabet Murders Based on the Agatha Christie novels 4.50 from Paddington | After the Funeral | Mrs. McGinty's Dead	Cast Margaret Rutherford | Stringer Davis | Bud Tingwell Crew George Pollock | Ron Goodwin