Top 100 Australian & New Zealand Actresses

Mae Busch can certainly claim career versatility, having successfully played Erich von Stroheim's mistress, Lon Chaney's girlfriend, Charley Chase's sister, James Finlayson's ex-wife and Oliver Hardy's wife! She was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1891; her parents were in the theater and when she was six years old the family moved to the US, arriving in San Francisco in 1897 before moving to New York. It is claimed Mae was placed in St. Elizabeth's Convent in New Jersey until at least the age of 12, when she joined her parents in vaudeville as part of the Busch Devere Trio (New York press articles confirm Mae as being part of the group in early 1908). Her big break came in March 1912 when she replaced Lillian Lorraine in the lead role in the Broadweay play "Over the River", with Eddie Foy. She continued in this role until the end of the season, when she joined one of Jesse L. Lasky's touring "girl" shows, where she stayed until signed by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Pictures in 1915. As she was performing on Broadway at the same time as "The Agitator" was filming in California, the claim that this was her first film is incorrect. Similarly, there is no evidence that she knew Mabel Normand prior to arriving in Los Angeles in 1915.

In Hollywood things didn't begin so well for Mae. In order to get work, she falsely claimed to have lived in Tahiti and to be able to swim and dive. A high dive she took while filming The Water Nymph (1912) resulted in an injury and her returning to her parents in New York. It was only then when working in the theater again that she developed into leading-lady status.

Mae returned to Hollywood, and Keystone, in 1915. However, her friendship with Mabel ended abruptly when she was "caught" with Sennett, Mabel's fiancé, and Mae was forced to leave Keystone. Over the years she had substantial roles in quite a few films, such as von Stroheim's The Devil's Passkey (1920) and Foolish Wives (1922). Although 1927 was the year of her first movie with Stan Laurel and Hardy, it wasn't until Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) that she first played Mrs. Hardy, the role that she will always be remembered for. She was Mrs. Hardy again in Their First Mistake (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933), and The Bohemian Girl (1936). She also appeared in other Laurel and Hardy pictures but not as Mrs. Hardy, such as Charlie Hall's wife in Them Thar Hills (1934), and she only flirted with Hardy in Tit for Tat (1935).

Mae's Hollywood career lasted 30 years; she worked with many of the leading directors, actors and actresses of the time. After a long illness she died in 1946, aged 54. She was cremated and her ashes remained in a cardboard box at the Motion Picture Country Home Hospital for over 20 years until a proper interment and plaque was provided.

Dorothy Cumming was born on 12 April 1894 in Boorowa, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for The Wind (1928), Snow White (1916) and The Woman and the Puppet (1920). She was married to Allan McNab and Frank Elliott Dakin. She died on 10 December 1983 in New York City, New York, USA.

Born Mary Jeanette Robison. She was the youngest daughter of Henry Robison of Penrith, Cumberland, England and Julia Schelesinger of Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Her father died in 1860 and her mother remarried. In 1866/67 they were living in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and moved back to London, England in 1871. She ran away from home to marry Charles Leveson Gore in 1875 and in 1877 the young couple went to Fort Worth, Texas, USA to establish a cattle ranch. They survived for two years before moving to New York where her husband died about 1881.

In 1884 she took up acting to support her three children (only her son Edward Gore survived childhood). She played both leads and supporting roles on the road and on Broadway, and over several decades she became highly respected as a character actress. She appeared in a few silent films, then returned to the screen for good in 1926 and flourished in the subsequent sound era. She was usually cast as crusty, gruff, domineering society matron or grandmother. For her portrayal of Damon Runyon's Apple Annie in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933), one of her rare starring roles, she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Ultimately she appeared in more than 60 films, the last of which was released the year of her death.

Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Her notable stage works included the role of Lady Macbeth, which she played first in the 1920s, and gave an Emmy Award-winning television performance in Macbeth (1960). Anderson's long association with Euripides' "Medea" began with her acclaimed Tony Award-winning 1948 stage performance in the title role. She appeared in the television version of Medea (1983) in the supporting character of the Nurse.

Anderson made her Hollywood film debut under director Rowland Brown in a supporting role in Blood Money (1933). Her striking, not conventionally attractive features were complemented with her powerful presence, mastery of timing and an effortless style. Anderson made a film career as a supporting character actress in several significant films including Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), for which she was Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She worked with director Otto Preminger in Laura (1944), then with René Clair in And Then There Were None (1945). Her remarkable performance in a supporting role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) fit in a stellar acting ensemble under director Richard Brooks.

Anderson was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1960 Queen's New Year's Honours List for her services to the performing arts. Living in Santa Barbara in her later years, she also had a successful stint on the soap opera Santa Barbara (1984) and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1984. In the same year, at age 87, she appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) as the High Priestess, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for that role. She was awarded Companion of the Order of Australia in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to the performing arts. Anderson died at age 94 of pneumonia on January 3, 1992 in Santa Barbara, California.

Victoria Shaw was born on 25 May 1935 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was an actress, known for Westworld (1973), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and To Trap a Spy (1964). She was married to Elliott Alexander and Roger Smith. She died on 17 August 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Diane Cilento was an Australian actress from Queensland. She had partial Italian descent. She was once nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. For a theatrical role as Helen of Troy, Cilento was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

In 1932, Cilento was born in Brisbane, Queensland's state capital, to a relatively affluent family. Her maternal grandfather was the prominent merchant Charles Thomas McGlew (1870-1931), founder of the Liberty Motor Oil Company. Cliento's father was the medical practitioner Raphael "Ray" Cilento (1893-1985). He became famous as the director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine, the director of the Commonwealth Government's Division of Tropical Hygiene, the Director-General of Health and Medical Services, the president of the Queensland's Medical Board, a high-ranking member of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Director for Refugees and Displaced Persons, and director of disaster relief in Palestine. Raphael spend much of his career combating malaria and other tropical diseases.

Cilento's mother was the medical practitioner and medical journalist Phyllis Cilento (née McGlew, 1894 - 1987). Phylis became famous for advocating family planning, contraception, and the legalization of abortion in Australia. She wrote many books on health matters. Her medical research involved the use of Vitamin E in therapy, and as a method for preventing blood clots.

Cilento was the fifth of six children born to her famous parents. Four or her siblings followed their parents' footsteps as medical practitioners. Cilento's most famous sibling was the professional painter and print-maker Margaret Cilento (1923-2006). Margaret's works are preserved in both the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia.

Cilento was expelled from school while living in Australia. She then studied abroad, spending part of her school years in the U.S. state of New York. She decided to follow an acting career and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), located in London. She settled in England during the early 1950s.

Following her graduation from RADA, Cilento started a career as a theatrical actress. She was eventually offered a five-year contract by the British film producer Alexander Korda (1893-1956), and took the offer. She started out with several small roles in film. Her first leading role was playing British governess Ruth Elton in the romantic drama "Passage Home" (1955). In the film, Elton rejects a marriage proposal from Captain Lucky Ryland (played by Peter Finch), who she barely knows. Ryland then tries to rape her. She eventually marries another man, but she is secretly in love with her would-be rapist.

During the late 1950s, Cilento found steady work in British films. She played the only woman in a love triangle in the circus-themed "The Woman for Joe" (1955). She played the between maid in the castaway-themed "The Admirable Crichton" (1957), an adaptation of a play by J. M. Barrie (1860-1937). She played a free-thinker in the romantic comedy "The Truth About Women" (1957),concerning the memories of an old man. She also had a role in the aviation disaster film "Jet Storm" (1959), in which a man has placed a bomb on a passenger airplane.

In the early 1960s, Cilento continued to have notable roles. She played the female lead Denise Colby in the psychological thriller "The Full Treatment" (1960). In the film Denise's husband struggles with mood swings and the dark impulse to kill his wife, which makes him fear for his sanity. The film was one of the murder-themed films produced by Hammer Film Productions.

Cilento played the supporting role of a murder suspect's wife in the thriller film "The Naked Edge" (1961). The film is mainly remembered as the last film role for protagonist Gary Cooper (1901-1961), who died of prostate cancer following the film's completion. Cilento played the murder victim Liane Dane in the crime film "I Thank a Fool" (1962), where a female doctor is suspected of killing her own patient.

Cilento played the most acclaimed role of her career as Molly Seagrim in the comedy film "Tom Jones" (1963), the title character's first love. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but the award was instead won by rival actress Margaret Rutherford (1892 - 1972).

Cilento next played one of the murder suspects in the crime film "The Third Secret" (1964). In the film a well-known psychoanalyst is found murdered within his own residence, and a number of his patients are suspected of killing him. The main plot twist is that the victim was killed by someone much closer to him than his patients.

Cilento also played the prostitute Cyrenne in the comedy-drama film "Rattle of a Simple Man" (1964). The film concerns the efforts of 39-year-old virgin man to finally have sex. She next played the Italian noblewoman Contessina Antonia Romola de' Medici in the historical film "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1965), a fictionalized version of the life of the artist Michelangelo (1475-1564). The film was critically acclaimed and nominated for awards, but under-performed at the box office. The struggling studio 20th Century Fox reportedly lost over 5 million dollars due to this box office flop.

Cilento had the supporting role of the caretaker Jessie in the revisionist Western film "Hombre" (1967). The film depicted the relations between the Apache and the white men in 19th-century Arizona. The film earned 12 million dollars in the worldwide box office, one of the greatest hits in its year for release.

Cilento's last film role in the 1960s was the photographer Reingard in the film "Negatives" (1968). The film concerned a couple who liked to role-play as part of their erotic fantasies, however they chose to play the role of famous murderer Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen (1862-1910) and his lover. This film is remembered as the directorial debut of Hungarian expatriate Peter Medak (1937-), who later had a lengthy career.

Cilento gained her first regular television role when cast as Lady Sarah Bellasize in the prison-themed television series "Rogues' Gallery" (1968-1969). It depicted life in the famous Newgate Prison (1188 -1902) of London during the 18th century. The series lasted 2 seasons and a total of 10 episodes.

Following a hiatus in her film career, Cilento returned in the dystopian science fiction film "Z.P.G." ( "Zero Population Growth", 1972). The film depicted a future Earth suffering from overpopulation and environmental destruction. The world's government has decreed than no new child must be born over the next 30 years, but a couple decide to illegally procreate. Cilento played the supporting role of Edna Borden. Borden offers to help conceal the new baby from the world, while she actually wants to keep it for herself. The film's was well received in its time, and lead actress Geraldine Chaplin (1944-) won an award for this role.

Cilento played the role of the famous German test pilot Hanna Reitsch (1912-1979) in the historical film "Hitler: The Last Ten Days". (1973) The film depicted the last few days in the life of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), based on the eye-witness account of Gerhard Boldt (1918 - 1981). The authenticity of the source book has since been questioned.

Cilento had a supporting role in the classic horror film "The Wicker Man" (1973), concerning a neo-pagan cult which practices Celtic paganism. The film was based on a novel by David Pinner (1940-). The film won the 1978 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, and has often been listed among the best British films. It was one of the most acclaimed films of Cilento's career.

The lesser known film "The Tiger Lily" (1975) included Cilento's last film role in the 1970s. She gained another regular role in the television series "Tycoon" (1978), which only lasted a single season and a total of 13 episodes.

Her film career was in decline during the 1980s, and Cilento chose to return to her native Queensland. She settled in the small town of Mossman, named after the Mossman River which flows though it. She built the outdoor theater Karnak in the local rain-forest, which she operated for the rest of her life. She used the theater as a venue for experimental drama.

In 2001, Cilento was awarded with Australian's Centenary Medal for her services to theater. In 2007, Cilento published her autobiography "My Nine Lives". In her last years she was suffering from cancer. In 2011, she died due to this disease while hospitalized in the Cairns Base Hospital. The hospital was the largest major hospital in Far North Queensland. Cilento was 79-years-old at the time of her death.

Cilento was survived by her daughter Giovanna Volpe and her son Jason Connery (1963-), her only heirs. A collection of items from her personal estate was donated by her heirs to the Queensland University of Technology. The collection reportedly included "hundreds of books, memorabilia, posters, furniture". Also included were original scripts which Cilento had inherited from her last husband, the playwright Anthony Shaffer. Original scripts by both Cilento and Shaffer have been digitized, and made available to scholars through the University's digital collections.

Jane Harders is known for Spirited (2010), Caddie (1976) and Rush (1974).

Lynette Curran was born in 1945 in Australia. She is an actress, known for Somersault (2004), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and These Final Hours (2013).

Anne-Louise Lambert was born on 21 August 1955 in Brisbane, Australia. She is an actress, known for Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) and The Borgias (1981).

Helen Morse was born on 24 January 1947 in Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, England, UK. She is an actress and costume designer, known for Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Caddie (1976) and A Town Like Alice (1981).

She was born Jean Vivra Gray in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, the eldest of four children of Allan, a fish merchant, and his wife, Doris, and attended Thrunscoe girls' school. The family moved to Kingston upon Thames, in south-west London, in the 30s but was evacuated back to Cleethorpes in 1941 and finally resettled in New Malden, Surrey, after the second world war in 1945. As a young woman, Gray worked as a sales assistant, reporter, photographer and nurse, and during the war had served in the Women's Land Army, but always dreamed of becoming an actor.

In 1952, finding opportunities in Britain limited, she decided to emigrate to Australia to pursue her acting ambitions. She adopted the professional name Vivean Gray and appeared in Australian theatre and radio, as well as establishing herself on TV with small roles in cop shows such as Homicide (1964-77), Division Four (1969-75), Matlock Police (1971-76), Solo One (1976) and Bluey (1976), as well as the legal drama Carson's Law (1982-84) and the miniseries Anzacs (1985) and All the Rivers Run (1983).

She also appeared in two films directed by Peter Weir. In Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), she played the maths teacher Miss McCraw, who, along with several of her students from a girls' boarding school, disappears during a Valentine's Day picnic, never to be seen again. In Weir's 1977 film The Last Wave she played Dr Whitburn, an expert on aboriginal history, which starred Richard Chamberlain.

In 1976, she starred as Ida Jessup in The Sullivans, a long-running drama about a Melbourne family and the effect that the war had on their lives. Playing Mrs Jessup, the Sullivans' gossipy English-born neighbour, during the show's 16-season run from 1976 to 1983 proved not only good preparation for her later role as Nell Mangel on Neighbours, but also led to her receiving two Logie awards honouring achievements on Australian TV.

In 1984, she was cast to play a genteel poisoner, Edna Pearson, in the long-running drama Prisoner Cell Block H (known simply as Prisoner in Australia). But after a woman who had been accused of poisoning her husband threatened to sue the show's producers Grundy Television, on the grounds that the character was based on her, material involving Gray's character was cut from subsequent episodes, and from DVD releases of already broadcast shows. In 2010, a DVD telling the dramatic story of Edna Pearson was released, but only in Britain.

Towards the end of her two-year stint on the Australian soap Neighbours as the local busybody Mrs Mangel, the British actor Vivean Gray, who has died aged 92, was presented with the script for an incredible new storyline. In it, she was to be knocked from a ladder by a Labrador called Bouncer and as a result would lose her memory of the past two years.

Her granddaughter Jane, trying to be kind, decides not to tell Mrs Mangel the truth that in the interim her husband Len (John Lee) has run off with another woman, but instead that he has died and his ashes have been scattered under the rosebushes in the front garden. In one later episode, Mrs Mangel is seen saying goodbye to the rosebushes, prompting her Ramsay Street neighbours to think she has lost her mind.

In any other TV soap, such a storyline might have produced a wave of sympathy for the character, but it did not for Nell Mangel. Between 1986 and 1988, millions around the world, particularly in Australia and Britain, would tune in every weekday afternoon to watch the cantankerous, interfering busybody at No 32 drive her neighbours to distraction. In one typical storyline, Mrs Mangel tries to destroy the relationship between her lodger Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) and her neighbour and nemesis Madge Ramsay (Anne Charleston). When she fails in that, she attempts to ruin their wedding by playing the church organ badly. In another storyline, many of her neighbours suspect her of murdering Len - until he turns up unexpectedly in a later episode announcing he plans to file for divorce.

In some respects, Mrs Mangel was a prototype for EastEnders' Dot Cotton: piously Christian, difficult and burdened with a disappointing son (Joe, played by Mark Little), who leaves the Mangel home after being accused of robbing a service station. But unlike Dot Cotton, Mrs Mangel proved unlikeable though captivating, becoming, as Neighbours' executive producer Jason Herbison "the ultimate busybody ... a true soap legend".

These were the glory days of Neighbours in terms of ratings. A 1988 episode featuring the wedding between Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan) and Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue) was watched by 20 million in the UK alone. As a result, Gray's character became globally known, if not beloved.

Indeed, if Mrs Mangel made Gray famous, she was scarcely able to enjoy the celebrity. In 1988, she quit the show after nearly 300 episodes. The following year she explained why: "I loved Neighbours and the rest of the cast were marvellous. But because it was so successful, I could barely set foot outside my own door without someone screaming abuse at horrid old Mrs Mangel. People didn't seem to appreciate it was acting. So I decided to take a break."

For years afterwards, Vivean Gray topped opinion polls as the nastiest television "baddie" of all time, with some of the more dedicated viewers of Neighbours failing to distinguish between the actress and the fictional character.

The break from acting lasted for the rest of Gray's life - she never took another role. She left Australia in the mid-1990s and settled in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex, England, refusing requests for interviews or autographs from fans.

In 2005 Neighbours' producers tried to persuade her to return for its 20th anniversary episode, but she declined.

After Gray quit Neighbours in 1988, she may have effectively retired, but her fame lived on. In 1995 she was honoured with her image on an Australian postage stamp. As for Mrs Mangel, after finding out the truth about Len and divorcing him, the producers had her fall for a retired dentist John Worthington (Brian James) and move back to the old country, to St Albans, Hertfordshire. She continued to be occasionally mentioned in the show until her death in England in 2018 - granddaughter Jane Harris being touched to learn the Rebecchi's had named their daughter Nell after seeing Mrs Mangel in one of Harold Bishop's photo albums. Jane was presented with Helen Daniels' infamous 'giraffe' portrait of her grandmother by Paul Robinson.

Olivia Hamnett began her acting career in repertory theatre throughout England before moving onto TV. After moving to Australia, Olivia established an elegant screen presence in the TV series "Rush" as well as playing screen wife to Richard Chamberlain in the film "The Last Wave" and screen mother to young Ricky Schroeder in "The Earthling". A veteran of many TV productions, it was the cult drama "Prisoner", which enabled Olivia to deliver her most memorable performance, as Kate Peterson, a highly intelligent and enigmatic former doctor who is imprisoned for poisoning her partner. Many "Prisoner" fans regard the Kate Peterson storyline as one of the absolute highpoints of the show's seven-year run. Her untimely death has robbed the Australian acting community of one of its finest contributors.

Olivia Newton-John was an English singer and actress who was in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. In 1954, her family relocated to Australia when her father was offered a job as the dean of a Presbyterian college in Melbourne. After winning a singing talent contest, she returned to England with her mother, where she resided until 1975. Her many hit singles include, "You're The One That I Want" from the movie Grease (1978), which she starred in with John Travolta. She appeared on the TV series, It's Cliff Richard (1970), as well as in the film Toomorrow (1970). For several years, she was engaged to Bruce Welch, a founding member of The Shadows, which included Cliff Richard. Welch was one of the producers of her first international hit, "If Not For You".

Olivia took the advice of a friend, and left Britain to take up residence in America in 1975 to help further her singing career. English businessman, Lee Kramer, quickly became her manager.

Angela Punch McGregor was born on 21 January 1953 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for The Island (1980), A Test of Love (1984) and Newsfront (1978).

Joanne Samuel was born on 5 August 1957 in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress and director, known for Mad Max (1979), Smoke Between Trees (2019) and The Wiggles Movie (1997).

Wendy Hughes was an accomplished actress who had won over 13 major awards. She had been called "one of the world's great actresses" with "the beauty and talent to become an international star". Hughes was born in Melbourne and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She has two children, Charlotte (17) and Jay (13).

Patricia Kennedy was born on 17 March 1916 in Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for My Brilliant Career (1979), Return to Eden (1983) and The Getting of Wisdom (1977). She died on 10 December 2012 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Aileen Britton was born on 18 February 1916 in Inverell, Australia. She was an actress, known for My Brilliant Career (1979), Solo One (1976) and Matlock Police (1971). She died on 19 April 1986 in Sydney, Australia.

Greer Robson-Kirk was born on 16 October 1971 in New Zealand. She is an actress, known for Starlight Hotel (1987), The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985) and Klynham Summer (1982). She is married to Scott Kirk. They have two children.

Greta Scacchi was born in Milan, Italy, to Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and Luca Scacchi, an Italian art dealer and painter. She grew up in Milan and Sussex, England. In 1975, her mother and second husband moved to Australia, where, after she left school, Greta worked as an Italian interpreter on a ranch. At age 18, she returned to England and trained at the Bristol Old Vic, paying her way through college by working as a model for catalogues. Played small parts as a stage actress before she made her first appearance on British television, then the young film maker Dominik Graf directed her in Das zweite Gesicht (1982). She learned German for this movie. (She also speaks fluent Italian and French.) After Heat and Dust (1983), she played parts in French, Italian and English movies and Australian television, working with the Taviani Brothers, Margareta von Trotta and Diana Kurys. She turned down Hollywood for many years but after appearing in White Mischief (1987) agreed to co-star in Presumed Innocent (1990), Shattered (1991) and The Player (1992).

Rachel Ward was born on 12 September 1957 in Cornwell Manor, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for The Thorn Birds (1983), Against All Odds (1984) and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). She has been married to Bryan Brown since 16 April 1983. They have three children.

Davis was educated at Loreto Convent and the Western Institute of Technology and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1977. She found international success with the role of Adela Quested in A Passage to India (1984). Her performance was nominated an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She went on to receive another Academy Award nomination (this time for Best Actress in a Supporting Role) for her performance as Sally in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992). Davis and Allen would go on to be a longtime collaborators; Allen once described Davis as "one of the most exciting actresses in the world".

Gabrielle Shornegg is known for Spring & Fall (1980), A Girl's Own Story (1984) and Winners (1985).

Marian Knight is known for E Street (1989), A Girl's Own Story (1984) and Police Rescue (1989).

Geraldine Haywood is known for A Girl's Own Story (1984).