Maggie Fitzgibbon obituary
Star of West End musicals and light entertainment who appeared in the TV series The Newcomers and Manhunt
She was not on the list.
Maggie Fitzgibbon, who has died aged 91, took her talent as a singer from Australia to Britain to become a star of West End musicals and a popular guest on television light-entertainment shows of the 1960s – but she was also memorable for two acting roles on the small screen.
Starting in October 1965, as the strong, independent-minded Vivienne Cooper she was the linchpin of The Newcomers, one of the BBC’s early attempts to take on ITV’s Coronation Street and Crossroads in the soap opera stakes; and in 1970 she landed a supporting role in Manhunt, a compelling ITV thriller series set in occupied France during the second world war.
The Newcomers, created by the writer Colin Morris, saw Vivienne newly arrived in Angleton, a fictional East Anglian overspill town for Londoners, with her husband, Ellis (played by Alan Browning), who was relocating to a job at a computer components firm, their three teenage children – one of them played by Judy Geeson before she became a film star – and Vivienne’s mother. Wendy Richard, who went on to star in EastEnders, also appeared in it as the Coopers’ rebellious young neighbour, Joyce Harker.
Worthy and middle-class – with Mary Whitehouse’s Clean-Up TV organisation giving it an “honorary mention” in its annual awards for morally sound shows – the programme seemed to come to life only when Fitzgibbon raised her voice. In those moments, her character’s usually genteel English tones gave a hint of the actor’s origins – the TV critic Hilary Kingsley later described her as sounding like Madge in the Australian soap Neighbours. At the time, another critic brought attention to an otherwise lack of drama in The Newcomers by dubbing it “The Vivienne Cooper Show”.
When Browning left, bored, at the end of 1967, the
scriptwriters killed him off with a heart attack and planned a ratings-grabbing
wedding for Vivienne to a new character, Charles Turner. However, they switched
to the idea of giving her a whirlwind romance, followed by an off-screen
wedding in New Zealand. Fitzgibbon vehemently disagreed with the storyline and
left in April 1969, seven months before the serial was finally taken off the
air.
The following year, she was cast as Adelaide in Manhunt, in which Alfred Lynch starred as a crashed RAF pilot trying to get a Jewish agent (Cyd Hayman) back to Britain with the help of another allied agent, played by Peter Barkworth, while being pursued by German officers (Philip Madoc and Robert Hardy). Fitzgibbon combined her acting and vocal skills to play Adelaide, host and singer at a sleazy nightclub frequented by both the French resistance and collaborators.
Maggie was born in the Melbourne suburb of Mentone, in Victoria, to Minnie Mitchell, a music-hall singer and tap dancer, and her husband, Frank Fitzgibbon, an acrobat and tap dancer who worked as a bookies’ clerk. Her younger brother, Graham, became a celebrated jazz singer under the name Smacka Fitzgibbon. “My mother was quite sure I was going to have a voice and she would sit me on the piano and play, and insist that I sang,” said Maggie.
She performed in musical and drama productions while studying at Kilbreda college, a convent school, and trained as an operatic soprano before singing in shows across Australia on the Tivoli theatre circuit (1946-49). She continued in revues, variety and pantomime before winning acclaim for her starring role as Bianca in the original Australian production of the Cole Porter musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate, at His Majesty’s theatre, Melbourne, in 1952.
This led Fitzgibbon to seek fame in Britain, moving to London the following year and playing the principal boy in an Aladdin pantomime in Blackpool – opposite Hylda Baker’s Widow Twankey – then touring with the Crazy Gang (1954), a group that included Bud Flanagan, whose former comedy partner Chesney Allen was her agent. Several years followed performing in cabaret at London clubs, including Danny La Rue’s venue, Winston’s, in 1956.
Fitzgibbon had starring roles in the West End as Jinx Abbott in Leslie Bricusse and Robin Beaumont’s Lady at the Wheel (Westminster theatre, 1958) and Emmie Dalziel in Eric Spear’s Kookaburra (Prince’s theatre, 1959-60), but both productions were short-lived.
Stage success finally came in the role of Kay Cram, alongside Max Bygraves, in Do Re Mi (Prince of Wales theatre, 1961), when she met Noël Coward and he cast her as the divorced cruise ship hostess Mimi Paragon in a six-month run of his musical Sail Away (His Majesty’s theatre, Melbourne, 1963) in Australia.
Back in Britain, Fitzgibbon was beginning to get dramatic roles on television, as well as singing spots in light-entertainment shows. Her performance as Lili, an Italian, in the thriller series Reluctant Bandit (1965) led its writer, Morris, to suggest her for the part of Vivienne in The Newcomers.
Finally a household name, she displayed her vocal talents on a solo album, A Newcomer Me? (1968), featuring songs from popular musicals. She then effectively took her Manhunt character to her own ITV series, Maggie’s Place (1970), as the host and singer, joined by guests such as Acker Bilk, her brother, Graham, and middle-of-the-road vocalists and groups.
Fitzgibbon moved back to Australia in 1978 and made her final acting appearance on screen as a shopkeeper in A Place to Call Home (1987), a US TV movie shot there, followed by a brief return to the stage as Carlotta Campion for a one-off performance of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies during the 1993 Melbourne international festival.
In 2002, she was awarded an Order of Australia medal for her community work, which included setting up a refuge for boys from broken families on her farm in Wahgunyah, Victoria.
Fitzgibbon’s marriage, in 1950, to Sidney De Kat, ended in
divorce. Following her return to Australia, she had a 17-year relationship with
the actor Peter Elliott. She is survived by her niece, Nichaud, and nephews,
Mark, Andrew and Dominic.
Actress
A Place to Call Home (1987)
A Place to Call Home
6.8
TV Movie
Alva
1987
Tales of the Unexpected (1979)
Tales of the Unexpected
7.6
TV Series
Melissa Mellor
1982
1 episode
Morecambe and Wise at the BBC
8.5
TV Series
Various
1979
1 episode
The Punch Review
TV Series
Various Characters
1977
2 episodes
The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968)
The Morecambe & Wise Show
8.1
TV Series
Miss Flanagan and Allen
1976
1 episode
ITV Sunday Night Drama (1959)
ITV Sunday Night Drama
7.6
TV Series
Polly Wells
1976
1 episode
Don Henderson, Diane Keen, Peter Sallis, and Don Warrington
in Crown Court (1972)
Crown Court
7.3
TV Series
Ethella BurnsConstance Bell
1974–1975
4 episodes
Wodehouse Playhouse (1974)
Wodehouse Playhouse
7.9
TV Series
Helga Schnellenhamer
1975
1 episode
Country Matters (1972)
Country Matters
7.2
TV Series
Stella Bartholomew
1973
1 episode
Sunstruck (1972)
Sunstruck
5.9
Shirley Marshall
1972
Peter Barkworth, Robert Hardy, Cyd Hayman, and Alfred Lynch
in Manhunt (1970)
Manhunt
7.2
TV Series
Adelaide
1970
8 episodes
Comedy Playhouse (1961)
Comedy Playhouse
7.2
TV Series
Laura Marshall
1970
1 episode
The Newcomers (1965)
The Newcomers
6.9
TV Series
Vivienne Cooper
1965–1969
329 episodes
Cooperama (1966)
Cooperama
7.0
TV Series
1966
1 episode
The Worker (1965)
The Worker
7.5
TV Series
FannyJ.C.
1965
2 episodes
Reluctant Bandit (1965)
Reluctant Bandit
4.0
TV Mini Series
Lili
1965
4 episodes
Who Is Mary Morison?
TV Movie
Clarinda
1965
ITV Play of the Week (1955)
ITV Play of the Week
6.6
TV Series
Leoni
1964
1 episode
No Hiding Place (1959)
No Hiding Place
7.4
TV Series
Janet MarlowLila
1963–1964
2 episodes
Michael Bentine, John Bluthal, and Frank Thornton in It's a
Square World (1960)
It's a Square World
7.6
TV Series
Various Characters
1962–1963
3 episodes
Hancock (1963)
Hancock
7.3
TV Series
Fiona Lonegan
1963
1 episode
Drama 61-67 (1961)
Drama 61-67
7.5
TV Series
Mrs Kittel
1963
1 episode
Benny Hill (1962)
Benny Hill
7.6
TV Series
Lulubelle
1963
1 episode
Bob Dylan, David Warner, Ursula Howells, Reg Lye, and
Maureen Pryor in The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963)
BBC Sunday-Night Play
8.5
TV Series
Margaret
1962
1 episode
The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day
TV Movie
Wilma
1962
Patrick McGoohan in Danger Man (1960)
Danger Man
7.9
TV Series
Peta Jason
1960
1 episode
Rush Hour
TV Series
1958
1 episode
Together Again
TV Series
1957
1 episode
Jack Hylton Presents
TV Series
Prince Valentine
1956
1 episode
Self
The Harry Secombe Show (1968)
The Harry Secombe Show
8.2
TV Series
Self
1972
1 episode
Gracie Fields in Stars on Sunday (1969)
Stars on Sunday
3.6
TV Series
Self
1969–1972
6 episodes
Holiday Startime Special
TV Special
Self - Hostess
1970
The Golden Shot (1967)
The Golden Shot
7.0
TV Series
Self
1970
1 episode
Maggie's Place
TV Series
Self - Hostess
1970
6 episodes
Call My Bluff (1965)
Call My Bluff
7.0
TV Series
Self
1969–1970
2 episodes
The Dave Allen Show (1968)
The Dave Allen Show
8.2
TV Series
Self
1969
1 episode
A Spoonful of Sugar
TV Series
Self
1968
1 episode
International Cabaret (1964)
International Cabaret
TV Series
Self
1968
1 episode
Simon Dee and Susan Hampshire in Dee Time (1967)
Dee Time
7.5
TV Series
Self
1968
1 episode
Rolf Harris in The Rolf Harris Show (1967)
The Rolf Harris Show
5.1
TV Series
Self
1967
1 episode
Cooperama (1966)
Cooperama
7.0
TV Series
Self (uncredited)
1966
1 episode
The Norman Vaughan Show
TV Series
Self
1966
1 episode
Helen Atkinson Wood, Nell Campbell, Simon Hickson, Brian
Travers, and Trevor Neal in Juke Box Jury (1959)
Juke Box Jury
7.6
TV Series
Self - Panellist
1962
1 episode
Sid Caesar Invites You
7.8
TV Series
Self
1958
2 episodes
The Music Box
TV Series
Self
1957
1 episode
Archive Footage
I Love Morecambe & Wise
8.5
TV Movie
(archive footage)
2002
The Best of Morecambe & Wise (2001)
The Best of Morecambe & Wise
8.5
Video
(archive footage)
2001
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