Elizabeth Alexander (actress)

Elizabeth Alexander
Born (1952-08-21) 21 August 1952 (age 72)[1]
Other namesLiz Alexander
Occupations
  • Actress
  • director
  • teacher
Years active1967–current

Elizabeth Alexander (sometimes credited as Liz Alexander; born 21 August 1952) is an Australian actress, director and teacher.

Personal life

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Alexander was born in Adelaide, South Australia, but now lives in Sydney. She attended All Hallows' School in Brisbane. She was married to actor George Spartels from 1984 to 2006 and has two daughters. She currently works at Queenwood School for Girls as a dramatic arts teacher.[2]

Career

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Alexanders' acting career began early with a part in the series Bellbird in 1967. However, it was straight from graduating at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) that she got her big break with the part of Esther Wolcott in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) series Seven Little Australians. Allegedly the producers had all but given up on the show, because they did not feel that they had found a suitable actress for the part, until they discovered Alexander. She was actually younger than actress Barbara Llewellyn, who played her stepdaughter Meg in the series, but producers and audiences felt that they were both convincing in their roles.

The ten-part series delivered huge ratings when it was broadcast in 1973, and was also the first ABC series to enjoy international acclaim. It went on to win three Australian Film Institute Awards and four Penguins, including best drama series and the 1974 George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent for Alexander as the sweet-tempered Esther. The series is now available on DVD.

Alexander had a recurring guest role in the high rating Australian medical drama All Saints as the viper-like Dr. Alison Newell, ex-wife of Dr. Frank Campion, played by John Howard. She was not initially written as his ex-wife, as her character appeared before Howard joined the cast. Apparently, it was the sharp onscreen dynamic between Alexander and Howard in their early scenes together that made the writers decide to write this history into Alexander's character.

Other television credits include: Home and Away (she played Christine Jones, the overprotective conservative mother of Melody Jones), Silent Number, Special Squad, Chopper Squad, Farscape, Murder Call, Seven Deadly Sins (Pride), Salem's Lot and Time Trax, a science fiction series in which she starred as a computer hologram alongside Dale Midkiff.

Her film work includes: the lead role in The Killing of Angel Street (which won an award at the Berlin Film Festival) opposite John Hargreaves, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Summerfield with Nick Tate and John Waters, Sebastian and the Sparrow and The Journalist with Sam Neill. 2010 saw her appear in a thriller called The Clinic and in 2011 she made an appearance in Fred Schepisi's The Eye of the Storm.

Her theatre credits are also numerous and include: Hermione in The Winter's Tale, Portia in The Merchant of Venice for which she received glowing reviews, Martha in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for which she again received extremely positive reviews, Kate in another STC production of Harold Pinter's Old Times and many more. She also played anthropologist Margaret Mead in David Williamson's play Heretic. The play, based on Mead's life and work, was the subject of much debate and controversy due to the very public row between the writer, Williamson, and the director Wayne Harrison over the play's production.[2][3][4]

Alexander has also directed a number of plays and written several screenplays, including a short film titled Memento (which was sold to Village Roadshow) which she also directed, about the emotional problems caused by the return of a father to his family, a young boy and his mother. She also directed a feature film, A Spy in the Family. Alongside this she also does voiceover work.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Type
1975 Ride a Wild Pony (aka Born to Run or Harness Fever) Miss Hildebrand (teacher) Feature film
1977 Summerfield Jenny Abbott Feature film
1978 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Petra Graf Feature film
1979 The Journalist Liz Corbett Feature film
1981 The Killing of Angel Street Jessica Feature film
1981 The Coming Role unknown Short film
1982 Memento Director Short film
1983 One Last Chance Role unknown Short film
1983 A Spy in the Family Director Short film
1988 Sebastian and the Sparrow Jenny Thornbury Feature film
1988 Two Brothers Running Barbara Borstein Feature film
2010 The Clinic Ms Shepard (as Liz Alexander) Feature film
2011 The Eye of the Storm Cherry Cheeseman (as Liz Alexander) Feature film
2022 Blueback Older Dora (as Liz Alexander) Feature film

Television

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Year Title Role Type
1967 Bellbird TV series, 1 episode
1973 Seven Little Australians Esther Wolcott TV miniseries, 10 episodes
1974 Behind the Legend Guest lead role: Elizabeth Kenny TV series, 1 episode: Elizabeth Kenny
1974 This Love Affair TV series, episode 6: Seven-Tenths of a Second
1974-1975 Silent Number Regular role: Jean Hamilton TV series, 38 episodes
1975 Ben Hall Regular role: Angela Mitchell TV series, 8 episodes
1976 King's Men TV series, 1 episode
1978 Chopper Squad Francis Carter TV series, episode 5: Psychotic Lady
1978 Case for the Defence Jean TV series, episode 9: A Plea of Insanity
1978 The Scalp Merchant TV film
1979 Golden Soak Regular role: Janet Garrety TV miniseries, 6 episodes
1980; 1981 Cop Shop Guest roles: Virginia Kingston / Sue McGregor TV series, 4 episodes
1981 A Sporting Chance TV series, episode 4: The Name of the Game
1984 Singles Regular role: Alison Kirk TV series, 5 episodes
1984 Special Squad Edith TV series, episode 8: The Wurzburg Link
1986 Ivanhoe Voice (as Liz Alexander) Animated TV film
1987 Rafferty's Rules TV series, 1 episode
1987 Willing and Abel TV series, 1 episode
1991 About Face Nightingale Ward Sister TV series, 1 episode
1991 G.P. Carmen Gailey TV series, 1 episode
1993 Seven Deadly Sins Jill Pascoe TV film series, episode 2: Pride
1993 Bonjour la Classe Nurse TV series, 1 episode
1993-1994 Time Trax Regular role: Selma / Kit TV series US/Australia, 43 episodes
1998 Murder Call Hilary Windsor TV series, season 2, episode 12: Something Fishy
1999 Alien Cargo Rojean Page, Explorer Dolphin TV film, US
1999 The Lost World Mrs. Krux TV series US/Canada/Australia/New Zealand, 1 episode
2000 The Thing About Vince Mrs. Rogers TV miniseries UK, 1 episode
2002 Farscape Vella TV series, 1 episode
2003-2006 All Saints Recurring role: Dr. Alison Newell (as Liz Alexander) TV series, 23 episodes
2003 Page to Stage Performance Director Film documentary
2004 Salem's Lot Ann Norton (as Liz Alexander) TV miniseries, 2 episodes
2008; 2019 Home and Away Recurring role: Christine Jones TV series, 20 episodes
2010 Lost Girl Kala (as Liz Alexander) TV series, 1 episode
2011 Snobs Helena TV film
2012 Fatal Honeymoon Cindy Thomas (as Liz Alexander) TV film Australia/US
2013 In Your Dreams Magistrate (as Liz Alexander) TV series Germany/Australia, 1 episode
2019 Home and Away Judge TV series, 2 episodes
2020 The Secrets She Keeps Recurring role: Renee Cole (as Liz Alexander) TV series, 6 episodes
2021 Clickbait Regular role: Andrea Brewer (as Liz Alexander) TV series US/Australia, 7 episodes

Television (as self)

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Year Title Role Type
1974 The 16th Annual TV Week Logie Awards Herself TV special
1977 The Making of Summerfield Herself / Jenny Abbott TV special
1981 Sammy Awards Herself TV special
1982 The 1982 Australian Film Institute Awards Presenter with Garry McDonald ABC TV Special
1984 The Mike Walsh Show Guest - Herself (with Wendy Hughes & Angela Punch McGregor) TV series, 1 episode
2005 Secrets of Summerfield: The Making of 'Summerfield Herself (as Liz Alexander) Video

Theatre

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Director

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  • The Maids at MTC
  • Shorts at STC
  • Memento (1982) (writer/director) short film
  • A Spy in the Family (1983) feature film
  • Emmett Stone (1985) (writer/director) TV film

Producer

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  • Foursome (short film)

Quote

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If fame just means 540 people a night then that's what it is, for the time being. Next week it could be millions of people and the week after that it could be none. That's what life is, you have to accept what you choose to do.[2]

References

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  1. ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0018399/ IMDB [user-generated source]
  2. ^ a b c Browne, Sheila (22 May 1996). "Liz seeks peace from the storms of the stage". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 31.
  3. ^ Williamson, David (8 April 1996). "Some Like It Hot – But I Don't". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 13.
  4. ^ Bennie, Angela (1 April 1996). "Question of belief as writer, director split over Heretic". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3.
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