Mary Ward (actress)

Mary Ward
Born Mary Ward Breheny
(1915-03-06) 6 March 1915
Fremantle, Western Australia
Other names Mary Ward Breheny
Occupation Actress
Years active 1933–89; 1998–2000

Mary Ward Breheny (born 6 March 1915) credited professionally as Mary Ward, is an Australian actress, with a career spanning the latter half of the 20th century in radio, stage, television, and film. Trained in Australia and England, Ward became one of the first female radio announcers at the ABC in Australia. She is perhaps best known both locally and internationally for two notable roles in Australian television: garden-loving inmate "Mum" (Jeanette) Brooks in the cult series Prisoner, (known to international audiences as Prisoner: Cell Block H in The UK and USA and Caged Women in Canada), and Dee Morrell in soap opera Sons and Daughters.

Early life

Ward was born as to a pearler in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1915.[1][2] Ward began acting professionally shortly after leaving high school, and later studied at the Perth drama school. She also studied in England, performing as a stage actress for several years. She worked in Britain in film and repertory stage theatre, before returning to Australia prior to World War II, when she became one of the first female radio announcers for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during the war as "The Forces' Sweetheart". She returned to the English stage, and, in 1948 acted in parts for the British Broadcasting Corporation, including a cameo role in the Chips Rafferty film Eureka Stockade.[3]

Career

Ward returned to Australia, and made her first television appearance as a minor character in The Vise in 1954, and in the television movie The High-Flying Head the following year. She had starring roles in the television movies Marriage Lines and The Tower. She began working in television full-time in the mid-1970s, appearing in the series Rush, Homicide, and as Aunt Marian Castle in Don Chaffey's Harness Fever with Andrew McFarlane, Robert Bettles and Tom Farley (actor) in 1977. Harness Fever would later appear as a two-part episode, Born to Ride, on Wonderful World of Disney in 1979. She continued her stage work in the 1970s with the Melbourne Theatre Company, remaining with the company until 1983, performing in a David Williamson stage production.[4]

In 1978, Ward first appeared in one of her best known roles, "Mum" (Jeanette) Brooks, on the popular soap opera Prisoner. The series didn't go to air in Australia until February 1979. She portrayed an elderly institutionalised inmate, serving an eighteen-year prison sentence for the euthanisation of her terminally-ill husband. When the filming schedule for the series increased from one to two hours per week in 1979, she and co-star Carol Burns decided to leave the series. However, her character remained a popular one during the show's early years, and she reprised her role occasionally until her character died off-screen in 1983.[3] She starred with a number of her fellow Prisoner co-stars in the 1981 television movie I Can Jump Puddles as a character called Mrs. Birdsworth. Coincidentally, this was the surname of Sheila Florance's character Lizzie Birdsworth in Prisoner. After guest appearances on The Young Doctors in 1982 and A Country Practice opposite Prisoner star Lois Ramsey, she starred in Sons and Daughters as Dee Morrell during 1983. Ward starred in the short-lived 1985 television series The Henderson Kids and its 1987 follow-up series The Henderson Kids II. During the late-1980s, she had supporting roles in the films Jenny Kissed Me and Backstage as well as appearing in Neighbours in 1988. After starring in the 1989 television movie Darlings of the Gods,[5] she returned again to the theatre and, in 1991, appeared in the play Alive and Kicking.[4]

Recently

With the exception of an appearance in the television series The Damnation of Harvey McHugh in 1994, in the 1990s Ward remained largely absent from Australian television screens until 1998, appearing in the film Amy. Between 1999 and 2000, she played recurring character Betty Withers in the police drama Blue Heelers. Ward became a centenarian in 2015, and turned 101 in 2016. Although retired, she said she would still consider acting if the right role come about.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Prisoner star Mary Ward Breheny still going strong at 101". Herald Sun. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Breheny, Mary Ward".
  3. 1 2 Bourke, Terry (8 March 1998). "Chapter 3: Looking For Franky, Bea and Vinegar Tits". Prisoner Cell Block H: behind the scenes. WWWentworth.co.uk.
  4. 1 2 "Articles and Interviews: Mary Ward". H-Block Herald. 1991. Archived from the original on 4 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "Key Cast Biographies: Mary Ward" (PDF). Beyond Films. 1998. Archived from the original (.pdf) on 20 July 2008.
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