George Edwards (actor)

George Edwards (born as Harold Parks, 11 March 1886 in Kent Town, South Australia; died 1953) was an Australian actor and producer.

Edwards was a pioneer of the radio serial in Australia. Prior to that he was a comedian, vaudeville artist, acrobatic dancer and stage performer. It is claimed that he changed his name from Harold Parks to George Edwards at the behest of Edward Branscombe, who was putting together an up-market act and did not want anyone associated with low-brow music hall, and that he took the name from English theatrical impresario George Edwards.[1] He performed in a radio drama adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Edwards' first wife was Margaret Rose Wilson, whom he married on 6 August 1907. They had a daughter.[2]

On 9 May 1925, he married Molly D Hughes in Sydney,[3] and in 1929 was a featured entertainer on the Sydney Show Boat. Apparently she died.[4]

His third wife was Helen Dorothy Malmgrom (born 22 August 1909), who had worked with him on the Sydney Showboat. She changed her name to Nell Stirling. They were married in Haberfield on 29 March 1934.[5] Together they appeared in many live radio productions, including the long-running Dad and Dave from Snake Gully series in which Edwards played Dad (and many other roles), and Stirling played Mabel (Dave's wife). Sumner Locke Elliott wrote a number of radio plays for Edward's company.

Nell had a daughter from her first marriage, and one with Edwards, born in April 1941.

Edwards and Stirling were divorced in July 1948, and on 9 November she married her accountant, Alexander George Atwill. Nell died of an accidental overdose of carbitral capsules on 10 November 1951 at her Vaucluse home.[6]

Edwards married once more. His fourth wife was Coral Lansbury, who had worked as a radio scriptwriter and actor. The couple married in 1953[7] but Edwards died a few months later.[8] Lansbury soon afterwards married Bruce Bligh Turnbull.[9] and in October 1954 gave birth to their son Malcolm Turnbull, the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. She later become a notable English literature academic.

Select Credits

References

  1. ↑ Australian Old Time Radio entry
  2. ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography
  3. ↑ NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 7109/1929
  4. ↑ Australian Old Time Radio
  5. ↑ NSW registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 5887/1934
  6. ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography Nell Stirling entry
  7. ↑ NSW registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 673/1953
  8. ↑ NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 18548/1953
  9. ↑ NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 21952/1955
  10. ↑ "AMUSEMENTS,.". The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931). Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 11 February 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 29 July 2012.

External links

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