Arthur Dignam obit

Arthur Dignam Has Died

Veteran actor, best known for The Devil's Playground, We of the Never Never & The Dismissal, has died.

 

He was not on the list.

Veteran actor Arthur Dignam, best known for The Devil’s Playground, We of the Never Never and The Dismissal, has died, aged 80.

Son and actor Nicholas Gledhill confirmed he died following a heart attack onSaturday.

Dignam’s credits on stage and screen stem back to 1961. He has a long list of stage credits with Belvoir Street Theatre, Nimrod, The Hole in the Wall, Sydney Theatre Co., Melbourne Theatre Co., Stables Theatre and the original Australian productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Films included Libido, Petersen, The Devil’s Playground, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Cathy’s Child, We of the Never Never, The Return of Captain Invincible, Burke & Wills, The Nostradamus Kid, Dating the Enemy, Paradise Road, Gods and Monsters, Moulin Rouge!, Australia and The Great Gatsby.

TV credits included The New Avengers, Water Under the Bridge, The Dismissal, Five Mile Creek, Special Squad, Bodyline, The Flying Doctors. Minder, Escape from Jupiter, Pacific Drive, Heartbreak High and All Saints.

 

Theatre

As actor

Year     Title            Role            Venue / Company

1961    'Tis Pity She's a Whore              University of Sydney

1962    The Dumb Waiter and A Slight Ache    Gus / Edward            Old Dolphin Theatre, Perth & University of Sydney

1962            Coriolanus                   University of Sydney

1963    Romeo and Juliet            Romeo            University of Sydney

1966    The Royal Hunt of the Sun             University of Adelaide

1968    War and Peace                    New Theatre, Sydney with Melbourne Theatre Company

1969            Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead            Guildenstern            Octagon Theatre, Perth

1969    The Man of Mode               Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    The Pope's Wedding                      Old Dolphin Theatre, Perth

1970    You Can't Take It with You                      Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth

1970    The Haunted House / Black Comedy            Callidamates / Brindsley Miller            Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    Twelfth Night, or What You Will            Orsino            Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    Othello            Cassio            Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    Brecht on Brecht                     Old Dolphin Theatre, Perth

1970    The Seagull             Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    Hadrian the Seventh                   Octagon Theatre, Perth

1970    Narrow Road to the Deep North                  Old Dolphin Theatre, Perth

1970    What the Butler Saw              Playhouse Theatre, Perth

1971    The Recruiting Officer              Southern Highlands Festival Theatre

1971    Doctor Faustus             Southern Highlands Festival Theatre

1971            Macbeth                      Nimrod Street Theatre

1971    An Evening of Victorian Music Hall                  Paddington Town Hall with Nimrod Theatre Company

1972            Trelawny of the 'Wells'                        UNSW with Old Tote Theatre

1972    The Good Man of Setzuan                        UNSW with Old Tote Theatre

1972    Jesus Christ Superstar            Pontius Pilate    Capitol Theatre, Sydney

1972    Julius Caesar             UNSW with Old Tote Theatre

1973    Hamlet             Nimrod Street Theatre & Playhouse, Canberra

1973    Kabul               UNSW with Old Tote Theatre

1973    The Threepenny Opera              Sydney Opera House with Old Tote Theatre

1974    Antony and Cleopatra            Antony            New Fortune Theatre for Perth Festival

1974    The Rocky Horror Show            Narrator           New Art Cinema, Sydney

1975            Berenice                      Sydney Opera House with Old Tote Theatre

1975    Scapin              Sydney Opera House with Old Tote Theatre

1975    Waiting for Godot                     Octagon Theatre, Perth

1975    Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat            Potiphar / Simeon            Seymour Centre

1976    T.Zee            The Beast    Royal Court Theatre, London

1977    Big Toys     Ritchie Bousanquet            UNSW, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne & Canberra Theatre with Old Tote Theatre

1977-78            Ned Kelly            Superintendent Hare            Adelaide Festival Centre & Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney

1978            Pandora's Cross            The Goose  Paris Theatre, Sydney

1979    The Lady of the Camellias            Baron de Varville            Sydney Opera House with Sydney Theatre Company

1979    Hedda Gabler  Judge Brack   SGIO Theatre with QTC (left before opening night)

1979    Life of Galileo            Cardinal Barberini            Nimrod Upstairs

1980    The Two Gentlemen of Verona            Launce / Lucetta / Host / Outlaw            Seymour Centre

1980            Measure for Measure            Duke of Vienna            Seymour Centre

1986    Hedda Gabler              Wharf Theatre with Sydney Theatre Company

1993            Mesmerized                 Stables Theatre

1993-94            The Temple Sir Thomas Burchett / Henry / Freddie Arrow  Wharf Theatre with Sydney Theatre Company

1994    The Crucible            Judge Hathorn            His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, Monash University

1994    Sixteen Words for Water               Subiaco Theatre Centre

1997    The Governor's Family              Belvoir St Theatre

2005    Julius Caesar Julius Caesar Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Sydney Theatre Company

2008    The Women of Troy            Menelaus         Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Sydney Theatre Company & Merlyn Theatre

[9]

 

As producer

Year     Title            Role            Venue / Company

1964            Victimes du Devoir            Producer            University of Melbourne

 

Filmography

Film

Year     Title            Role            Type

1962    Lend Me Your Stable              

1973    Libido            Father Burn     Feature film, segment: The Priest

1974            Petersen          Prof. Charles Kent            Feature film

1974            Between Wars Peter Avante Feature film Oz Movies

1976    The Devil's Playground            Brother Francine            Feature film[10]

1976            Summer of Secrets            Doctor Beverley Adams Feature film

1977    The Duellists            Captain with Eyepatch            Feature film

1978    The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith            Man in Butcher Shop            Feature film

1979    Cathy's Child            Minister           Feature film

1981    Grendel Grendel Grendel            The Dragon / Beowulf (voice)            Animated film

1981    Strange Behavior            Dr. Le Sange / Nagel            Feature film

1982    Duet for Four            Doug Quincey            Feature film

1982    We of the Never Never   Aeneas Gunn    Feature film

1983    The Return of Captain Invincible            Lawyer            Feature film

1983    The Wild Duck            Gregory          Feature film

1984    The Schippan Mystery            Sir Josiah Symon            TV film

1985    Burke & Wills Sir William Stawell            Feature film

1986            Comrades       Fop            Feature film

1987    The Right Hand Man     Dr. Redbridge            Feature film

1987    Those Dear Departed (aka Ghosts Can Do It!)            Producer         Feature film

1988    The Everlasting Secret Family            The Senator            Feature film[10]

1988    The Dreaming            Professor Bernard Thornton            Feature film

1991    Isabelle Eberhardt            Cauvet            Feature film

1993    The Nostradamus Kid      Pastor Anderson            Feature film

1996    Dating the Enemy            Dr. Kamins Feature film

1997            Paradise Road Mr. Pike     Feature film

1997    Oscar and Lucinda                  Feature film

1998    Gods and Monsters            Ernest Thesiger (uncredited)            Feature film

2001    Moulin Rouge!            Christian's Father            Feature film

2002            Beneath Clouds            Old Man in pub / Mercedes driver   Feature film

2006    The Libertine            Man            Short film

2008            Australia          Father Benedict            Feature film

2010    The Tree     Uncle Jack     Feature film

2013    The Great Gatsby            Uncredited       Feature film

2017    7 from Etheria  Old Kurt Gödel            Anthology film (segment: "Gödel Incomplete")

 

Television

Year     Title            Role            Type

1976    The New Avengers            Dr Graham            TV series, 1 episode

1979    Water Under the Bridge            Maynard Dickens            TV miniseries, 2 episodes

1981    Tickled Pink                 TV series

1983    The Dismissal            Eric Robinson            TV miniseries, 2 episodes

1984    Five Mile Creek            Arthur Archer  TV series

1984    Special Squad            Grayson          TV series, 1 episode

1984            Bodyline          Mr Jardine (Douglas Jardine's father)            TV miniseries

1987    The Storyteller: Greek Myths            King Acrisius            TV series, episode: Perseus and the Gorgon

1989            Shadow of the Cobra            Gupta            TV miniseries, 2 episodes

1989    Edens Lost     Heath            TV miniseries

1992    The Flying Doctors            Royce Phelan DC            TV series, 1 episode

1993    Minder            Geoffrey Evans            TV series, 1 episode

1994-95            Escape from Jupiter            Professor Ingosol            TV series, 13 episodes

1996    Pacific Drive    Marcus (theatrical agent)   TV series

1996            Heartbreak High            Athol Pike     TV series, 1 episode

2001    All Saints   Father Francis Tyler            TV series, 1 episode

2023            Faraway Downs            Father Benedict            TV miniseries, 1 episode