Noel Ferrier

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Noel Ferrier AM 20 December 1930 in Melbourne 16 October 1997 in Sydney was an Australian television personality stage and film actor raconteur and theatrical producer Ferrier had an extensive Australian theatre career which spanned over fifty years  A member of the first Australian professional repertory company the Union Theatre Repertory Company he created the role of Roo in the original production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at the Union Theatre of the University of Melbourne He appeared in numerous films and television productions A contemporary of Barry Humphries in 1956 he was the interviewer of the first onstage appearance of a certain Mrs Norm Everidge later known universally as Dame Edna   To ease the workload on Graham Kennedy he was invited by GTV9 to host a Friday night version of In Melbourne Tonight from 1963 to 1965 This was stylistically different to that of Kennedys IMT dyed in the wool IMT viewers switched off in their droves  Noel Ferriers In Melbourne Tonight as it was known garnered a separate and loyal audience resulting in a Logie for Most Popular Program in Victoria in 1964  Following this success the network decided to relay the show in Sydney on TCN9 but in the early hours of the following morning after live telecasts of World Championship Wrestling After his period on IMT finished in 1965 he started a morning radio show in Melbourne on 3UZ with Mary Hardy called The Noel and Mary Show which contained a riotously funny serial known as The House on the Hill featuring Sir Lady Ernest Snatchbull set in a mythical Government House and loosely based on the viceregal column in The Age the real Governor of Victoria of the time was a reputedly devoted fan whereas his wife was said to have abhorred it   He developed a reputation as a reliable television character actor appearances occurred in Riptide 1969 Skippy 1970 as well as a numerous characters in the Crawfords stable of productions including Homicide 1969 Division 4 1970 1971 1975 and Matlock Police 19731974 1975 In 1971 he won the award for Best Australian Comedy with Noel Ferriers Australia AZ  He was a regular panelist in Graham Kennedys popular game show Blankety Blanks  His movie credits include Alvin Purple Eliza Fraser Turkey Shoot and The Year of Living Dangerously His final movie role was in Paradise Road Description above from the Wikipedia article Noel Ferrier licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia