Nigel Lovell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nigel Tasman Lovell 27 January 1916 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 13 December 2001 (aged 85) |
| Education | Sydney University (1938) |
| Occupations | Actor, producer, director |
| Years active | 1935–1982 |
| Spouse | Patricia Lovell |
| Children | 2 (including Jenny Lovell) |
| Family | Geoff Lovell (nephew) |
Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama.
Lovell was born in Sydney, the son of H(enry) Tasman Lovell, Professor of Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sydney University, living at Honda Road, Neutral Bay. He was educated at 'Shore' (Sydney Church of England Grammar School) and studied law at Sydney University, graduating with a BA in 1938, and was an active member of the Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS), under director May Hollinworth. While with SUDS, he was spotted by the director of drama for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Frank Clewlow, who gave him small roles in several radio plays.
In 1950, Lovell joined Sydney's Metropolitan Theatre under Hollinworth, and when she fell ill he took over production.
In 1951, Lovell won a Commonwealth Jubilee Arts Scholarship in Drama, a travelling scholarship awarded by the British Council to study production in England.
He continued acting for the ABC under producers Eric John and Frank Zeppel in the last decade of Australian radio drama, and in several ABC-TV historical plays.
In 1959, Lovell appeared as the main protagonist in the convict-themed Pardon Miss Westcott, which was the first Australian musical written specially for live television. That same year, he had a small role in feature film The Restless and the Damned.
Lovell was also a regular in Crawford Productions for commercial TV; notably as the avuncular spy chief on late 1960s series Hunter. During the 1970–1972 seasons of Crawfords' long-running Melbourne police series Homicide, he served as a line producer and television dialogue director, before it moved completely into being a fully-filmed program. In 1972 he returned to Sydney, joining the staff of ABC Radio as a producer of education programs.
Lovell was a brother of Dr. Bruce Tasman Lovell (1910 – 19 September 1986) and Guy Tasman Lovell (15 August 1919 – ). Former cricketer Geoff Lovell is a nephew.
Lovell married Sue Dalton in 1941 and had a daughter Catherine Lovell on 1 January 1947. His wife died of a heart condition later that year.
He married again, to Patricia Anna Parr in 1956, having met through work with Sydney's Metropolitan Theatre. They had two children – Simon Lovell, a helicopter pilot, and Jenny Lovell, an actor known for her role in the television series Prisoner. Patricia Lovell had a significant career in radio and film both before and after their divorce.
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | The Valley is Ours | Narrator | Short film | |
| The Bushman Goes Home | Commentator | Short film | ||
| 1949 | Eureka Stockade | Captain Wise | Feature film | |
| 1951 | Wherever She Goes | Will Joyce (father of Eileen Joyce) | Feature film | |
| 1957 | The Shiralee | O’Hara (uncredited) | Feature film | |
| Papua and New Guinea | Commentator | Short film | ||
| 1959 | The Dispossessed (aka L'ambitieuse or The Restless and the Damned) | André Rancourt | Feature film | |
| 1964 | Under Stress | Narrator | Short film | |
| Music in the Making | Commentator | Short film | ||
| 1965 | Army Apprentices | Narrator | Short film | |
| 1970 | Ned Kelly | Captain Standish | Feature film | |
| 1976 | Let the Balloon Go | The Parson | Feature film |
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | A Fourth for Bridge | Air Force Type | TV movie | |
| 1959 | One Bright Day | Arthur Mitchell | TV movie | |
| The Bodgie | Robert Manning MP | TV movie | ||
| Pardon Miss Westcott | Colonel Patterson | Episode of Shell Presents | ||
| 1960 | Stormy Petrel | Major General George Johnston | 8 episodes | |
| The Grey Nurse Said Nothing | Reverend Light | Episode of The General Motors Hour | ||
| 1961 | The Sergeant from Burralee | Defence Counsel | TV movie | |
| Whiplash | Josie / Edwin Regnor / Wilfred Swan | 3 episodes | ||
| 1962 | Off Centre | Joe Hunter | TV movie | |
| Consider Your Verdict | Harold Rees | 2 episodes | ||
| The Patriots | Dr Robert Wardell | Miniseries, 10 episodes | ||
| Jonah | 1 episode | |||
| 1963 | Smugglers Beware | Miniseries | ||
| The Hungry Ones | Surgeon John White | 9 episodes | ||
| Time Out | Louis de Rougemont | 1 episode | ||
| The Land That Waited | Narrator | TV movie | ||
| 1964 | The Stranger | Group Captain Ponsonby | Miniseries, 1 episode | |
| Tribunal | Bartolomeo Vanzetti | 1 episode | ||
| A Sound of Trumpets | Geoff | TV movie | ||
| 1965 | The Big Killing | Charles Barcher | TV movie | |
| Adventure Unlimited | 1 episode | |||
| 1965–1973 | Homicide | John Simpson / Supt. Tilley / Refinery Security Officer / Stranger / Senator Russell Watson / Thomas Burke / Graham Boyce / Prosecuting Counsel | 8 episodes | |
| 1966 | Point of Departure | Clark | TV movie | |
| The Nice Widow at Quinto | Episode of Australian Playhouse | |||
| 1967 | Nice 'n' Juicy | Mackay | 1 episode | |
| Divorce Court | 210 episodes | |||
| 1967–1969 | Hunter | Charles Blake | 65 episodes | |
| 1968 | The Battlers | Magistrate | 1 episode | |
| Skippy the Bush Kangaroo | Dr Martin | 1 episode | ||
| 1969 | Riptide | Inspector | 1 episode | |
| 1969; 1970 | Delta | Ronnie / Major Brunning | 2 episodes | |
| 1969–1971 | Division 4 | Judge / Ken Frost / Carl Glass on / Henry Morgan / Will Smyth | 5 episodes | |
| 1970 | Woobinda, Animal Doctor | 1 episode | ||
| The Rovers | The Bank Manager / Dr Henry Micklejohn | 2 episodes | ||
| Strange Holiday | TV movie | |||
| 1972 | The Lady and the Law | TV movie | ||
| The Spoiler | Richards | |||
| 1972–1973 | Over There | Captain Balfour | 5 episodes | |
| 1973 | Matlock Police | Ted Jackson | 1 episode | |
| Seven Little Australians | The Doctor | Miniseries, 1 episode | ||
| 1974 | Behind the Legend | John Flynn | 1 episode | |
| 1975 | Last Rites | Beecham | TV movie | |
| 1976 | Alvin Purple | Dad | 1 episode | |
| 1977 | Born to Run (aka Harness Fever) | Cantrell | TV movie | |
| 1978 | Case for the Defence | The Judge | 1 episode | |
| 1982 | A Country Practice | Bluey Ashdown | 2 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970–1972 | Homicide | Producer | 18 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | As You Like It | Adam | Savoy Theatre, Sydney with SUDS | |
| 1936 | Don Juan | Lord Frantingham (and the statue) | SUDS | |
| 1938 | Hotel Universe | |||
| Tuttifäntchen | The Puppet Master | Collegium Musicum Sydney | ||
| Death Takes a Holiday | Corrado | University of Sydney with SUDS | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | Bassanio | |||
| Lucrece | Tarquin | |||
| 1939 | Laughter in Court | Edward Cruickshank | ||
| By Wire | Detective Inspector Denwood | |||
| Hotel Universe | Lyceum Club, Sydney | |||
| 1940 | The School for Scandal | University of Sydney with SUDS | ||
| French Without Tears | Minerva Theatre, Sydney | |||
| 1941 | Mr Smart Guy | Rex Albion | ||
| 1950 | Raymond, Lord of Milan | Raymond Della Torre | Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Oberon | |||
| The Rivals | Sir Anthony | |||
| 1957 | The Big Knife | Clifford Odets | Independent Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1965 | Two Plays in Rehearsal | |||
| My Life with an Interval for Asprin | ||||
| The Business of Good Government | Assembly Hall, Sydney with Q Theatre | |||
| 1966 | A Walk Among the Wheeneys | AMP Theatrette, Sydney with Q Theatre | ||
| A Far Country | Independent Theatre, Sydney |
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Raymond, Lord of Milan | Director | Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney | |
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Director | |||
| The Rivals | Director | |||
| 1951 | A Masked Ball | Director | Princess Theatre, Melbourne with NSW Opera / National Opera Company | |
| 1953 | The Flying Dutchman | |||
| 1954 | Il trovatore | Director | Victoria Theatre, Newcastle, Empire Theatre for the National Opera of Australia | |
| Faust | Producer | Empire Theatre, Sydney | ||
| 1955 | Winter Journey | Producer | Independent Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1956 | Sāvitri & Prima Donna | Producer | University of Sydney | |
| 1957 | The Big Knife | Director | Independent Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1958 | Curly on the Rack | Director | Elizabethan Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1964 | Hullabaloo Belay | Director | St James Playhouse, Sydney | |
| 1965 | You Can't Take it with You | Producer | Independent Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1970 | 95 Men and a Nannygoat | Director | UNSW Old Tote Parade Theatre, Sydney |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | The Wild Ass's Skin | Honoré de Balzac play | ||
| 1939 | Hands Across the Table | Play on Lux Radio Theatre | ||
| Those We Love | Serial on 2CH | |||
| Magnificent Obsession | Play on Lux Radio Theatre | |||
| 1940 | Smilin' Thru | Serial on 2KY | ||
| Four Daughters | Harry Dearth's Radio Theatre | |||
| 1940s | Judge Marshall's Family | Pan Marshall | Serial on 2UW, 2GB | |
| Strange Destiny | Serial on 2UW | |||
| 1940s–1950s | Drama of Medicine | |||
| 1944–1949 | The Lawsons | Serial on ABC Radio | ||
| 1946 | Big Sister | Frank Hill | Serial on 2UW | |
| 1946–1947 | Crossroads of Life | Larry Halstead | Serial on 2KO, 2UW | |
| 1946–1948 | Danger Unlimited | Jeffery Blackburn | Serial on 2UE, 3UZ, 4BC, including episode: "The Adventure of the Queen's Bracelet" | |
| 1948 | Perfect Strangers | Clemence Dane play | ||
| 1949 | A Bill of Divorcement | Clemence Dane play | ||
| 1952 | The General Motors Hour | Serial on 2GB | ||
| 1953 | The Cure for Love | Walter Greenwood play | ||
| The Quiet Stranger | Red Williams | Serial | ||
| 1954– | Tarzan | Serial on 2GB | ||
| 1955 | Yellow Jack | Major Reed | Play on 2BL-NC-CN, 4QR | |
| 1957 | The Explorers | King | Play on ABC Radio | |
| 1960 | Passage of the Tangmar | Dirk Kendall | Serial | |
| 1961 | Cattleman | Ben | Serial on 2GB, 2UE, 2AD, 4LM | |
| 1965 | Concord of Sweet Sounds | Gerhmann | BBC | |
| Beyond the Rainbow | Storm Hannaford | Serial | ||
| 1960s | No Rainbow in the Sky | Storm Hannaford | Serial | |
| Big City | Serial | |||
| Blue Hills | Serial on ABC Radio | |||
| Count Down | Kevin Miles | Serial | ||
| Nyal Radio Playhouse | Serial |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954– | Tarzan | Producer | 2GB | |
| 1959– | Woman in the Mirror | Producer | 2UW, 5AD | |
| 1963– | North from Thursday | Producer | ||
| Night Must Fall | Producer | Macquarie Theatre on 2GB | ||
| 1970s | A Place in the Sun | Director | 4BU |