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Tommy Dysart
Actor
Born December 24, 1935Died June 7, 2022 (86 years)
Tommy Dysart (24 December 1935 - 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born actor, currently resident in Australia. Dysart has been a regular fixture on Australian television for several decades, frequently appearing in guest-starring roles in drama series and comedies, and in character roles in films and miniseries.
High-profile early roles included appearances in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Phoenix Five, and several roles in the Crawford Productions police drama series Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police.
In the early 1980s he played what is perhaps his best-known acting role, that of vicious and corrupt prison officer Jock Stewart in Prisoner. In the storyline, after being fired from the prison service Stewart admitted to prisoner Judy Bryant that he was the one responsible for murdering her lesbian lover, fellow prisoner Sharon Gilmour. This revelation brought to a close a murder-mystery storyline in the series but launched a long-running story-arc where Bryant repeatedly escaped from prison in a succession of attempts to exact her revenge on Stewart.
After this Dysart continued in guest-starring television roles in drama series and situation comedies, and appeared in many feature films. His films included The Man from Snowy River (1982), Bliss (1985), Garbo (1992), and Flynn (1996). Television roles of the 1990s included appearances in All Together Now, The Games, State Coroner, Blue Heelers, Something in the Air and Neighbours. He also provided the voice for Captain Griswald in Anthony Lucas' animated short film The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005).
Starting in the 1990s he appeared in a series of well remembered advertisements for the Yellow Pages where he calls a series of mechanics about his problematic Goggomobil. He was also known for playing a recurring character of a Mafia-boss like butcher in advertisements for Don's Smallgoods.
In the early 2000s he continued his Goggomobil persona advertising Shannons Insurance. The concept played on the role of a person searching for the car parts as any car enthusiast would. Telstra challenged this in the Supreme Court and Shannons withdrew the advertisements, but continued with Dysart and the accent (which Dysart insisted was his own and could not change). The adverts continue and Shannons Insurance also owns several of the Goggomobil cars which feature regularly in their shows.
Tommy has enjoyed a long friendship and working relationship with director/writer Frank Howson in the movies Backstage, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, What The Moon Saw, Flynn, Crime Time, The Final Stage, The Lucky Country, and their most recent collaboration is the award winning film Remembering Nigel, which also stars Tommy's wife Joan and son Kole.
He was married to Australian actress Joan Brockenshire.
High-profile early roles included appearances in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Phoenix Five, and several roles in the Crawford Productions police drama series Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police.
In the early 1980s he played what is perhaps his best-known acting role, that of vicious and corrupt prison officer Jock Stewart in Prisoner. In the storyline, after being fired from the prison service Stewart admitted to prisoner Judy Bryant that he was the one responsible for murdering her lesbian lover, fellow prisoner Sharon Gilmour. This revelation brought to a close a murder-mystery storyline in the series but launched a long-running story-arc where Bryant repeatedly escaped from prison in a succession of attempts to exact her revenge on Stewart.
After this Dysart continued in guest-starring television roles in drama series and situation comedies, and appeared in many feature films. His films included The Man from Snowy River (1982), Bliss (1985), Garbo (1992), and Flynn (1996). Television roles of the 1990s included appearances in All Together Now, The Games, State Coroner, Blue Heelers, Something in the Air and Neighbours. He also provided the voice for Captain Griswald in Anthony Lucas' animated short film The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005).
Starting in the 1990s he appeared in a series of well remembered advertisements for the Yellow Pages where he calls a series of mechanics about his problematic Goggomobil. He was also known for playing a recurring character of a Mafia-boss like butcher in advertisements for Don's Smallgoods.
In the early 2000s he continued his Goggomobil persona advertising Shannons Insurance. The concept played on the role of a person searching for the car parts as any car enthusiast would. Telstra challenged this in the Supreme Court and Shannons withdrew the advertisements, but continued with Dysart and the accent (which Dysart insisted was his own and could not change). The adverts continue and Shannons Insurance also owns several of the Goggomobil cars which feature regularly in their shows.
Tommy has enjoyed a long friendship and working relationship with director/writer Frank Howson in the movies Backstage, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, What The Moon Saw, Flynn, Crime Time, The Final Stage, The Lucky Country, and their most recent collaboration is the award winning film Remembering Nigel, which also stars Tommy's wife Joan and son Kole.
He was married to Australian actress Joan Brockenshire.
Filmography
| 2018 | A Thin Life · as The Man |
| 2005 | The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello · as Captain Griswald (voice) |
| 2002 | The Real Thing · as Husband |
| 2001 | |
| 2000 | Pizza (TV Series) · as 50s Pizza Couple |
| 2000 | Something in the Air (TV Series) · as Roy Suede |
| 1999 | Strange Fits of Passion · as Taxi Driver |
| 1998 | The Games (Australia) (TV Series) · as Taxi Driver |
| 1997 | State Coroner (TV Series) · as Robert Ash |
| 1997 | Good Guys Bad Guys (TV Series) · as Athol Amoroso |
| 1996 | River Street · as Sergeant |
| 1995 | Mushrooms · as Wilson |
| 1995 | The Final Stage · as Stinky Radford |
| 1994 | Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (TV Series) · as Mr. Couch |
| 1994 | Metal Skin · as Mr. Graham |
| 1994 | Blue Heelers (TV Series) |
| 1993 | Body Melt · as Sergeant |
| 1993 | My Forgotten Man · as Macintosh |
| 1992 | The Late Show (TV Series) · as Goggolmobile Man |
| 1992 | Garbo · as Bagpipes |
| 1992 | Lift Off (TV Series) · as Building Inspector |
| 1991 | Kelly (TV Series) · as Sgt. Terry Blake |
| 1991 | Chances (TV Series) · as Trevor Russell |
| 1991 | All Together Now (TV Series) |
| 1991 | Boys From The Bush (TV Series) · as Nick |
| 1990 | What the Moon Saw · as Skip |
| 1989 | Round the Twist (TV Series) · as Bus Driver |
| 1988 | Georgia · as Bystander |
| 1988 | Backstage · as Head Waiter - Reception |
| 1987 | Ground Zero · as British Veteran |
| 1986 | The Big Hurt · as Schwartz |
| 1986 | Alice to Nowhere (TV Series) · as Fighting Scotsman |
| 1986 | Sky Pirates · as Bartender |
| 1985 | Bliss · as De Vere |
| 1985 | Zoo Family (TV Series) · as Mcgregor |
| 1985 | Neighbours (TV Series) · as Fergus Macleod |
| 1985 | The Flying Doctors (TV Series) · as Inspector Day |
| 1985 | The Fast Lane (TV Series) · as Neville |
| 1985 | I Live with Me Dad · as Griffin |
| 1984 | Eureka Stockade (TV Series) · as Tom Kennedy |
| 1983 | Five Mile Creek (TV Series) · as Trantor |
| 1983 | Carson's Law (TV Series) · as Captain Robinson |
| 1982 | The Clinic · as Patient |
| 1982 | Next of Kin · as Harry |
| 1982 | The Man from Snowy River · as Mountain Man |
| 1981 | Women of the Sun (TV Series) · as Joe |
| 1980 | The Last Outlaw (TV Series) · as Superintendant |
| 1980 | Water Under the Bridge (TV Series) · as Hamish |
| 1980 | Are You Being Served in Australia? (TV Series) · as Kilted Customer |
| 1979 | Skyways (TV Series) · as Paddy Macdonald |
| 1979 | Prisoner: Cell Block H (TV Series) · as Jock Stewart |
| 1978 | Against the Wind (TV Series) · as Settler |
| 1977 | Cop Shop (TV Series) · as Dimonicus |
| 1977 | Young Ramsay (TV Series) · as Paddy Rourke |
| 1976 | The Sullivans (TV Series) · as Fergus Mccullough |
| 1976 | Luke's Kingdom (TV Series) · as Lug |
| 1971 | Matlock Police (TV Series) · as Abdul |
| 1970 | Phoenix Five (TV Series) · as Gunfighter |
| 1969 | It Takes All Kinds · as Seaman |
| 1969 | Division 4 (TV Series) · as George Baker |
| 1968 | Skippy (TV Series) · as Andrews |
| 1964 | Homicide (TV Series) · as Nicolo Rogowski |