EXCLUSIVE:
For almost six a long time Maggie Dence has been a presence on Australian tv screens.
Famously because the title character in The Mavis Bramston Present she seemingly has seen a resurgence lately in Heartbreak Excessive, The Misplaced Flowers of Alice Hart, Queen of Oz, The Messenger.
Besides that isn’t fairly true -Dence has been working each decade since 1966. Not unhealthy for a younger woman who entered enterprise faculty after leaving college on the age of 15.
“I used to be born in Chatswood on the North Shore, and I lived most of my life in Killara, till I acquired married. So I’m a North Shore woman, as we are saying in Sydney,” she tells TV Tonight.
“We didn’t have tv, however my mother and father beloved going to ‘the photographs’, at all times on a Friday evening. The place I lived there have been six cinemas inside shut proximity.
“I used to be so younger that generally I’d simply go to sleep. I’ve a reminiscence of my father, carrying me to the automotive.”
“It was a little bit of a flea pit, nevertheless it had a rare historical past.”
The movies had been an enormous affect, with Dence writing a letter to Australian star Chips Rafferty who beneficial two performing faculties one in every of which was was the Impartial Theatre.
“Doris Sitton ran the Impartial Theatre at North Sydney. (The constructing is) nonetheless there, owned by Winona College, and it’s been fantastically restored. Once we all labored there it was a little bit of a flea pit, nevertheless it had a rare historical past. Doris was sensible in that she managed to get the rights to a number of performs that actually weren’t going to be performed by industrial administration. We had been doing Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and all of that. So it was an amazing coaching floor, actually.”
She studied alongside Leonard Teale, Diana Perryman (Jill Perryman’s sister) and Ruth Cracknell earlier than roles at Phillip Avenue Theatre, first because the Depraved Witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
“Then I auditioned for a brand new faces revue known as What’s New?, the place I met Barry Creighton and Noeline Brown. But it surely was a flop. One of many critics mentioned, ‘We’ll by no means see any of those individuals once more.’ However we didn’t take that on board.”
After a 12 months in England, Dence returned to Australia the place Channel Seven invited her to interchange Noelene Brown because the face of The Mavis Bramston Present, a satire created by Carol Raye.
“I actually had no thought what I used to be placing my hand up for, however I used to be arriving again with no work and wanted a job. So I mentioned, sure. Initially, Channel Seven weren’t going to hassle with the Mavis character. They felt they didn’t actually need it as a result of Noeline had performed three appearances, and the joke was that she was to return to England,” Dence explains.
“However Ampol, the petrol firm, had been the primary sponsors and so they wished Mavis. In order that’s why I acquired a contract.”
She describes the Mavis character as “excessive, flamboyant, completely devoid of any actual expertise, egomaniac. She believed in herself and was bigger than life. Loopy, excessive camp, actually. The gimmick was that she had her personal present in Australia, as a result of we went via a interval the place individuals could be introduced out to star in exhibits, and they’d be third rung of the ladder. They weren’t the celebrities of the West Finish or Broadway, however they’d be fobbed off on us.
“I can keep in mind there was an election, and Mavis ‘ran’, I can’t keep in mind what for. Individuals had been writing on the poll papers, ‘I’d relatively vote for Mavis.’”
Ampol’s determination to retain the Mavis character paid off large time, with Dence travelling throughout Australia to open new petrol stations.
“Ampol was so sensible. I used to be the face that launched a thousand petrol bowsers!” she laughs.
“I used to be informed that I couldn’t transfer across the set as a result of I used to be too tall”
Subsequent roles included Wake in Fright and exhibits corresponding to Division 4, Bony, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Murder.
“I didn’t benefit from the Murder that I did, as a result of I used to be taking part in the spouse of the person who’d been murdered, and the cops got here to interrupt the information to me. It was fairly an emotional scene and I used to be informed that I couldn’t transfer across the set as a result of I used to be too tall, and the cops (had been shorter),” she recollects.
“I did need to stroll at one level, and so they mentioned, ‘You’ve acquired to bend your knees.’ And I simply thought, ‘Oh, God, I seem like John Wayne or somebody.’ I perched myself on a chair and wept over my husband’s dying.”
By 1976 she was solid alongside Michael Caton as Aunty Rose on Crawford Productions’ The Sullivans, a well-liked supporting soapie couple till Dence bored with the journey from Sydney to Melbourne.
“I simply mentioned, ‘I don’t I don’t wish to keep.’ They provided me six months off with TB and I mentioned, ‘No, no, I’m going.’ So my nostril was a bit out of joint, and I realised they had been really going to kill me.”
It might be a brutal, tragic scene with Aunty Rose discovered floating within the Yarra River following a household picnic, devastating viewers who had watched so loyally.
“I’m nicely conscious there was a delicate spot for Uncle Harry and Aunty Rose”
“I’m nicely conscious there was a delicate spot for Uncle Harry and Aunty Rose…. I didn’t wish to come again, however a dying scene is by some means so everlasting!” she exclaims.
“However to be related to a present that was a very elegant cleaning soap….. I do know some solid members say it wasn’t a cleaning soap, however I don’t look upon that as a derogatory time period. It seemed nice, it was nicely solid, everyone was very obsessive about getting the look of it and the interval proper. It was a terrific present, and it ran for 5 years. What extra are you able to say?”
Comedy got here calling within the type of UK comedy Physician Down Beneath and Seven sitcom Kingswood Nation, with Dence solid as Merle Bullpitt, sister to Ross Higgins’ cantankerous, misogynistic, racist ocker, Ted.
“I beloved taking part in Merle. She was so frightful and so they had been an amazing solid to work with at RS Productions. It was vastly profitable. It’s nonetheless well-liked. I imply, it in all probability could be so frowned upon by an enormous share of the inhabitants, however there’s additionally a mob of individuals on the market which have nice affection for Kingswood,” she insists.
“Ross Higgins performed such a tragic character, and so humorous. Judi Farr was great as Thelma. It was an amazing crew, I used to be fortunate.”
Following a short however memorable position in Prisoner, Dence was solid as college principal Dorothy Burke in Neighbours.
“It’s extraordinary that Prisoner nonetheless crops up. I used to be barely in it, nevertheless it was, I do know, a really savage character, a bit like Silence of the Lambs. Who may overlook these kind of characters?” she asks.
“I used to be actually grateful to get Dorothy Burke in Neighbours. I did keep it up for 3 years, after which they determined to retire the character. In order that labored out nicely. But it surely was a godsend, as a result of, issues had been a bit lean, and that was a very nice alternative. My husband was very busy directing E Avenue, and we simply had been in a position to contribute to our superannuation fund in no unsure phrases.
“I beloved working with Kristian Schmid and Ben Guerens and Annie Charleston. In hindsight it was an odd job, as a result of there have been, I feel, 21 common characters, and so there have been 10 individuals I by no means labored with. I’d by no means struck that earlier than. I don’t assume I ever did a scene with Stefan Dennis, who’s terrific in that present.”
“I really feel I used to be in on the bottom ground of a really well-known romance!”
One other position in 1995 in ABC’s Correlli noticed her starring alongside Deborra-Lee Furness and a younger Hugh Jackman.
“I’d labored with Deborra-Lee on Skyways or Flying Medical doctors or one thing. I keep in mind being within the automotive together with her, and she or he was speaking on her cell, after which she mentioned, ‘Oh, that was my buddy, he’s cooking dinner for me tonight,’” she teases.
“Sadly, I didn’t get to work with Hugh. All my scenes had been with Deborra, she was terrific. However I really feel I used to be in on the bottom ground of a really well-known romance!”
Extra roles would are available in Small Claims, All Saints, Wonderland, Out of the Blue, Black Comedy, A Place to Name Residence, Rake, Frayed, The Messenger, Queen of Oz and The Misplaced Flowers of Alice Hart.
“It was only a privilege to be within the presence of Sigourney Weaver, a serious movie star and a incredible actor, simply to have the ability to watch her work. Leah Purcell was there, after all, too. In order that was heaven on a stick.”
“These younger actors which might be in it are extraordinary”
The breakout success of Heartbreak Excessive, (Dence was additionally within the 1997 unique) by which she performed Nan drew extra acclaim, now seen by new generations of viewers. It’s a degree not misplaced on her.
“Heartbreak Excessive was such a such a present. I imply, that was a tremendous success, thank God and people younger actors which might be in it are extraordinary. To be driving alongside on their coattails was incredible. They’re immensely proficient younger solid,” she assures.
“I labored primarily with Will and James. Will McDonald had performed Residence and Away and James I’d seen in FanGirls. However they’re so sensible, these youngsters. I don’t assume an amazing wealth of expertise is any assure of something. I simply assume expertise is expertise. It’s like Will McKenna in The Messenger. He’s simply leapt onto the scene, and he’s had a few good credit underneath his belt. However he’s simply such a pure, marvellous expertise.”
“I don’t know why I grew to become an actor”
For her wonderful physique of labor, Dence has an Order of Australia and an MEAA Lifetime Achievement. But if there are any plans to decelerate, it’s not one Dence has mapped out. She stays a jobbing actor, transferring with the instances and exhibiting an acute understanding of the trade in 2024.
“I suppose it’s what I’ve performed all my grownup life. I don’t know why I grew to become an actor. It’s one thing that got here into my head at a really early age, and I simply aimed for it. The instances that we had been working within the 60s, 70s and 80s was a really busy time, there have been incredible tv alternatives.
“They don’t exist now. There’s no Crawfords, no Grundys doing 4 exhibits every week. There’s work, and a few of it’s incredible. The excellent news is a number of these individuals, like Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett are having incredible careers.
“We didn’t have that type of alternative, however we did have the enjoyment of getting a number of work.”
TOMORROW: Extremely-regarded actress who first hit our screens within the Eighties.
Photographs: Nationwide Movie & Sound Archive, Netflix.
