Patricia Kennedy (actress)

Patricia Carmel Stewart Kennedy OBE (17 March 1916 – 10 December 2012) was an Australian actress with a long career in theatre, radio, film and television. According to one writer she was "sometimes called the first lady of Melbourne radio and theatre."[1]

For the socialite, see Patricia Kennedy Lawford.

Patricia Kennedy
OBE
Born
Patricia Carmel Stewart Kennedy

(1916-03-17)17 March 1916
Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia
Died10 December 2012(2012-12-10) (aged 96)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
EducationTeacher
OccupationActress
Years active1943-?

Early life

Kennedy was born in Queenscliff, Victoria on St Patrick's Day, 1916.[2] (Many sources give her year of birth as 1917.) She was raised, and remained, a practising Catholic.[3]

She trained as a school teacher before winning the Colac Amateur Festival around 1938, which sparked a passion for acting. She started her stage career in 1943.[4]

In 1972–1973 she worked as a consultant to the Australia Council for the Arts.[5]

Honours

Kennedy was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours, for service to the performing arts.[6]

Personal life

She remained single, very private and very independent. Even in her 80s, although she owned a house in Melbourne, she preferred to live alone in a hut without electricity, on the edge of a state forest near Bega in southern New South Wales. This was 5–6 hours drive by road from Melbourne, where she would travel for theatre commitments. In the 1990s, she was involved in founding the Four Winds Festival in Bermagui.[7]

Kennedy died on 10 December 2012, aged 96.[2] A private funeral was held on 19 December.[8]

Theatre

Patricia Kennedy was noted for her range – from high drama to comedy. She was mainly based in Melbourne, and had a strong association with the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), but she also performed in England with the Bristol Old Vic Company's 1969–1970 season.[5]

She appeared in plays such as Jay Presson Allen's adaptation of Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968),[9] Ibsen's Ghosts (1969: Mrs Alving), Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, The Man Who Shot the Albatross (1972),[5] and Some of My Best Friends are Women (1976).[10]

Her portrayal of Mary in the South Australian Theatre Company's Melbourne production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night was described as "the best female performance on the Melbourne stage in 1973", and that production is considered one of the landmark productions in Australian theatre, largely due to Patricia Kennedy's involvement.[11]

Plays written for her included the single-hander The Rain by Daniel Keene.[3]

She appeared alongside Zoe Caldwell in the MTC's production of Euripides' Medea, the first production at the Arts Centre Melbourne's Playhouse Theatre in 1984.[12]

In 1991–92, Kennedy appeared in a one-woman stage adaptation of Elizabeth Jolley's novel The Newspaper of Claremont Street staged by the Playbox Theatre Company at a number of venues in Victoria.[13]

She was still active with the MTC well into her 80s.[14]

Radio

In 1946, Kennedy shared the title role in Crawford Productions' radio drama The Melba Story with singer Glenda Raymond (later to become Hector Crawford's wife),[15]

She played Miss Crump on the long-running ABC radio program The Village Glee Club (1942–71).[16]

She also appeared in episodes of the Caltex Theatre.[17]

Selected credits

Film and television

Patricia Kennedy's film roles included:

Her television appearances included The Flying Doctors, A Country Practice, G.P., Five Mile Creek, Return to Eden, Holiday Island, The Sullivans and Prisoner.[18]

References
  1. Philp, Peter (2016). Drama in Silent Rooms: A History of Radio Drama in Australia from 1920s to 1970s. Eureka Media Communications. p. 473. ISBN 9780646943251. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  2. "The Age Death Notices - Melbourne, Victoria". tributes.theage.com.au.
  3. Elliott, Helen (June 1999). "Why People Write Plays for Her" (PDF). Coalition ’99 (Archived webpage) (10 ed.). Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Trove.
  4. "Patricia Kennedy". AusStage. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  5. Arts Centre, Melbourne
  6. "It's an Honour". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  7. "Four Winds History (Archived copy)". Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  8. "Patricia Kennedy Death Notice - Melbourne, Victoria". tributes.theage.com.au. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  9. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". www.ausstage.edu.au. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  10. "Some of My Best Friends are Women". www.ausstage.edu.au. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  11. Murphy, Brenda (20 September 2001). O'Neill: Long Day's Journey Into Night. Cambridge University Press. p. 62. ISBN 9780521665759. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  12. Fairfax, Vicki (26 January 2002). A Place Across the River: They Aspired to Create the Victorian Arts Centre. Macmillan Education AU. p. 266. ISBN 9781876832131. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Google Books.
  13. "Adaptations of Works by Elizabeth Jolley" (PDF). john.curtin.edu.au. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  14. Kemp, Peter (30 September 1997). "Roger Hodgman Unveils His Final Season at Melbourne Theatre Company". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  15. Colligan, Mimi. Crawford, Dorothy Muriel (1911–1988). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  16. Colligan, Mimi. Darbyshire, Phillip Arthur (Phil) (1898–1969). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 26 January 2021 – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  17. "The Caltex Theater - Scrooge The Miser (Christmas) 1953". Blubrry Podcasting - Podcast Hosting, Statistics, WordPress Hosting, Syndication Tools and Directory.
  18. "Patricia Kennedy". IMDb.
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