At 76, Bud Tingwell Scores A Royal Role
The Age
Monday June 14, 1999
One of Australia's most recognisable faces, Charles "Bud" Tingwell, has a couple of good reasons to celebrate. Not only has he collected a Queen's Birthday citation to add to a swag of acting awards, but this week he finishes shooting his last scene in a new film, Innocence.
What makes this wrap rather special is that for the first time in ... uh ... 50 years, Tingwell gets to play the romantic lead - ``a very famous international organist who meets up with his first girlfriend". ``It's the first time I've been billed as the lead since 1948," he says in his finely articulated actor's voice.
Tingwell, 76, who flew home to Melbourne yesterday after several weeks' demanding shooting in Adelaide, keeps up an indefatigable pace. With his many acting commitments - he's had something of a career renaissance in his 70s - there is simply no time for more sedentary pursuits.
And one of the latest members in the general division of the Order of Australia - he's among 405 Australians honored in the Queen's Birthday list - has no intention of resting on his latest laurels. ``Who wants to rest? This is much more fun," says Tingwell, who at the moment can be spottedat the cinema in the comedy The Craic.
Tingwell's career has spanned 59 years and the Queen's Birthday award for his services to the performing arts and to the community ranks up there for him with starring alongside Richard Burton and being offered a Hollywood studio contract (and, he refused that).
``It's kind of mind-boggling, you can't help thinking `why me?'," says Tingwell, who got his first acting job in a radio play in 1940.
But there certainly was no question of his refusing this honor.
Tingwell confesses he is something of a ``closet monarchist" and an admirer of the queen.
And being an acting teacher - Tingwell still teaches courses at the Victorian College of Arts - he also has a good crit for her heir. Prince Charles, Tingwell reveals, is an ``admirable actor" and could have cut it on the stage. A recent charity CD, in which Prince Charles plays scenes from Shakespeare, is ``quite brilliant".
Matters English are not foreign to Tingwell who spent 16 productive years in Britain, scoring a lead role in the British series Emergency Ward Ten. When he returned to Australia in 1972, Tingwell walked into the role of Inspector Lawson on Homicide.
Since then he has starred, produced and directed so many films, TV series and stage plays that he had a whole exhibition dedicated to him, which is now touring Canberra.
Appearances in youth-oriented films such as the The Castle and shows such as Full Frontal and ABC-TV's The Late Show have introduced Tingwell to a new Generation X audience.
But he eschews the tag ``cult figure". ``What's a cult figure? That would be awful," he says, with a laugh, (and secure in the knowledge that soon he will be appearing on your screen in a most romantic light).
© 1999 The Age