Maggie Millar

Maggie Millar (born 6 January 1941) is an Australian actress, artist and writer. She has a distinguished acting career in theatre – appearing onstage with the Old Vic Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company and others – and in television, with roles in Prisoner and Neighbours, among many.^[1][2]

Millar was born in Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia. She was an adopted child,^[1][3] though not aware of the fact until she was 17.^[4]

After winning a scholarship to a small drama school in Sydney, Millar toured Australia with a professional theatre company. In 1961, she joined the English Old Vic Company when they toured Australia with Vivien Leigh.^[5][6] Moving to London, England, Millar won a scholarship to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[7] She won the Gertrude Lawrence award in her graduation year at RADA,^[2] and the Erik Award (an annual drama critics' award for professional theatre in Melbourne) for Best Actress in 1967.^[8]

Millar is best-known for playing tough, long-term inmate Marie Winter in Prisoner (1981–84), and Reverend Rosie Hoyland in Neighbours (2002–03).^[7] Other long-term roles are Dr Georgia Moorhouse in Bellbird (1972-77), and Elizabeth Bradley in The Sullivans (1981).^[9] She has appeared in numerous Australian television dramas; among them: Hunter (1968-69), Matlock Police (1972-75), Division 4 (1973), Cop Shop (1978-80), A Country Practice (1991), and Blue Heelers (2003).

Millar won the 1976 Logie Award for Best Individual Performance by an Actress^[10][5] for Homicide episode "The Life and Times of Tina Kennedy".^[11]. The same performance earned her the 1976 Sammy Award for Best Actress in a Single Television Performance.^[4]

The BBC reported in 2002 that more than 700 people backed a campaign to keep Millar's character Rosie Hoyland in Neighbours after producers announced the character was to be written out.^[12]

In addition to her TV work, Millar has been a part of many ABC Radio programmes.^[2]

Millar appears in several Australian feature films. Her first, in 1977, was The Mango Tree, with Geraldine Fitzgerald and Robert Helpmann.^[13] Others include racehorse biopic Phar Lap (1983),^[14] and Evil Angels (1988; a.k.a. A Cry in the Dark),^[15] the story of Lindy Chamberlain starring Meryl Streep.

TV films include unconventional murder drama Pieta (1987),^[16] and Nicole Kidman comedy The Bit Part (1988).^[17]

Millar has been married twice. Her first husband was from Germany. Together they had a son, Benjamin. After divorcing in 1976, Millar met theatre critic-turned-primary school teacher Ian Robinson,^[18] and they married in 1984.^[19]

A 1981 magazine article reported that Millar at one stage quit showbusiness to work for Jigsaw – an organisation that aims to reunite natural parents with their adopted offspring^[20] – the organisation having enabled her to make contact with her own birth mother.^[4]

In 2000, Millar held a first art exhibition of her pastel works at Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne.^[2]

In 2001, Millar was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The diagnosis prompted her to approach writer and actor Alan Hopgood (her on-screen husband in Bellbird) with a storyline about diabetes, which Hopgood turned into a play titled A Pill, A Pump and A Needle.^[21][22]

Millar was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2007. Alongside her acting career, Millar's community and campaigning contributions were recognised. Her experience of being an adopted child led her in adult life to take an active part in a long campaign to change the law in Australia to give adoptees access to their birth records. She did volunteer work at a support system for young drug addicts, and she served for several years on advisory committees in NSW and Victoria with the aim of helping women experiencing difficulties with body image and ageing.^[1] Millar has published articles about issues connected with her community work.^[23][24]

• Official Website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 November 2010)
• Maggie Millar at IMDb
• Talking Prisoner: interview with Maggie Millar (Marie Winter)
• Acting highlights 1
• Acting highlights 2