Bob Hornery obit

Bob Hornery obituary

Actor who found fame in Neighbours but was also a veteran of the Melbourne stage and of British TV and theatre 

He was not on the list.

For half a century, the Melbourne stage was spiritual home to Bob Hornery, who has died aged 83 of cancer, but during that time he also spent almost 20 years acting in British television and theatre, and gained fame worldwide in Neighbours.

In the Australian TV serial, he played Karl Kennedy’s father, Tom, a farmer and staunch socialist, on and off between 1996 and 2007. By the time of Tom’s first visit to the fictional Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough to look after his grandchildren, his wife had died and Tom had the difficult task of explaining to Karl, in true soap style, the dark secret that, as a result of his own infertility, she had had an affair in order to become pregnant with him.

This strained the father and son’s already difficult relationship – with their differing views on politics – but Karl’s contempt for being lied to soon turned to acceptance of Tom as his father. When, a decade later, Tom’s farm fell into disrepair, it alerted Karl to his deteriorating health. After being diagnosed with dementia, Tom moved to a nursing home.

Hornery also had many dramatic roles in the theatre, but he was particularly revered for his comedy skills. These were showcased to perfection in his last stage appearance, as the doddering Erronius in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, alongside Geoffrey Rush at Her Majesty’s theatre, Melbourne, in 2012. Rush always called him “Sir Bob” because he regarded him as a knight of the theatre.

He was born in the Randwick suburb of Sydney to Edward Hornery, a sales rep, and his wife, Veronica (nee Gallen). They were a musical family and Bob enjoyed learning to tap-dance and regular visits to the theatre. On leaving the local Catholic secondary school, Marcellin college, where he appeared in plays, he worked as a booking clerk for Butler Airways and performed in revues with amateur companies.

In 1953, he made his professional debut as Eustace Smell, the town crier and comic sidekick, in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Capitol theatre, Sydney. He first appeared with the Union theatre repertory company (later renamed the Melbourne theatre company) in 1960 in She Stoops to Conquer. A string of roles followed at its Melbourne University and Russell Street venues in plays such as Man and Superman (1960), The Lady’s Not for Burning (1961) and The Fantasticks (1962).

Hornery’s stage career flourished as he played Mr Sowerberry in the Australian production of Oliver! (Her Majesty’s theatre, Melbourne, 1961) and Lycus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on tour (1964-65). He first appeared on television in the play Burst of Summer (1961), alongside his future fellow Neighbours actor Anne Charleston.

Like other Australian contemporaries, he sought success in Britain. After performing in a musical version of Dracula at the 1965 Dublin theatre festival and as Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air theatre (1966), he appeared with one of his fellow expats, Leo McKern, when he played Voltore in Volpone at the Oxford Playhouse (1966), and then in the West End at the Garrick theatre (1967). He later appeared alongside Alastair Sim in The Magistrate and Hermione Gingold in Highly Confidential (both Cambridge theatre, 1969).

After settling in Britain in 1966, Hornery also had guest roles on television in The Troubleshooters (1967), the sitcoms George and the Dragon (1966) and Dad’s Army (1973), Doctor Who (1979), Sapphire & Steel (1981) and many other programmes. He appeared in the film Britannia Hospital (1982), directed by Lindsay Anderson, who cast him as Polonius in a Theatre Royal Stratford East production of Hamlet (1981).

In 1982, he returned to his homeland and became a stalwart of the Australian stage. Highlights included the parts of Dr Rance, the mad psychiatrist, in What the Butler Saw (1987), the Reverend Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest (1988-92) and Uncle Willy in High Society (1992-93).

On screen, Hornery had small roles in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Crackerjack (2002), and played Monsoon (1991) in the children’s television series Thunderstone.

He received the Actors Equity Australia lifetime achievement award in 2010 and, for his performance as both butlers, Lane and Merriman, in The Importance of Being Earnest (Sumner theatre, Melbourne, 2011), the 2012 Helpmann award as best supporting actor.

In 1973, Hornery married Patricia Allen, who survives him, along with their daughter, Jane, and his stepson, Max Allen.

 Robert James Hornery, actor, born 28 May 1931; died 26 May 2015