Ray Meagher

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Pp-blp Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Raymond Francis Meagher Template:Post-nominals (born 4 July 1944) is an Australian actor, who has appeared in Australian film and television since the mid-1970s. He is notable as the longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, portraying Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the role since the first episode in 1988. Meagher won a Gold Logie Award for his role in Home and Away in 2010 and has currently played the role of Alf for over 37 years.

Early life

Meagher was born and raised on a sheep and cattle station in Queensland, before attending a boarding school on the Gold Coast from the age of nine. He became a keen sportsman at high school, Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane, representing the school at a number of sports including rugby union, a sport which he ultimately played at state level.<ref name="yahoo7">Home and Away: Ray Meagher Template:Webarchive, Yahoo!7.</ref>

Meagher played at first five eighth for Queensland at senior level in the late 1960s, including playing against France.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

Film

Meagher played Sergeant Drummond in the 1980 war drama Breaker Morant, which he said was one of his favourite roles.<ref name="Bob">Template:Cite magazine</ref> His other film appearances include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Newsfront (1978), My Brilliant Career (1979), The Shiralee (1987),<ref name="yahoo7" /> Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Money Movers (1978), The Odd Angry Shot (1979), The Earthling (1980), Hoodwink (1981), Runaway Island (1982), and The Fire in the Stone (1984).<ref name="Bob"/> He had a cameo in the 1979 war comedy The Odd Angry Shot.<ref name="Bob"/>

Television

Meagher first appeared on television as host of the late night ABC folk music programme Around Folk in June–August 1973.<ref name="Bob"/> His first regular acting work on television was in the soap opera Number 96, briefly appearing as Fred Shrimpton in 1977.<ref name="Duck">Template:Cite news</ref> Meagher became "a much in demand character actor", with his early television roles including Matlock Police, Ben Hall, Rush, Certain Women, Pig in a Poke, The Restless Years, Glenview High, The Oracle, Kingswood Country, Cop Shop, Skyways, Sporting Chance, Holiday Island, and Bellamy.<ref name="Bob"/> Subsequent television acting roles included three different roles as villains in Prisoner, including Geoff Butler between 1979 and 1980, Kurt Renner in 1984, and Ernest Craven in 1986. He also had two different guest starring roles in A Country Practice and substantial roles in several 1980s miniseries.<ref name="yahoo7" />

In 1984, Meagher was cast in the Nine Network miniseries A Fortunate Life, based on Albert Facey's book of the same name. He plays the role of evil cattle-rustler Bad Bob.<ref name="Bob"/> Marie Ussher of TV Week observed that Meagher was often cast as the "baddie" or tough, ruthless characters in his early career.<ref name="Bob"/> He also appeared in an episode of Five Mile Creek as Irish bushranger Lightning Ridge.<ref name="Bob"/> Meagher won a Penguin Award for his starring role in Mail Order Bride (1984) for the ABC. He filmed the 12-part series Five Times Dizzy in Sydney in 1986. Meagher played The Red Headed Person, who was billed as "a tough standover man."<ref name="Ussher">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Meagher liked playing "heavy" characters, who showed their lighter sides.<ref name="Ussher"/> While filming Five Times Dizzy, Meagher also flew back and forth to Melbourne to film miniseries The Great Bookie Robbery in which he plays Bob Temple. During the same period, he also made an appearance in A Country Practice as alcoholic, pub owner Wally, followed by a role in television film The Blue Lightning for America's CBS network.<ref name="Ussher"/>

Meagher joined the cast of soap opera Home and Away in 1987 and has appeared in the role of Alf Stewart continuously since the first episode aired in January 1988.<ref name="Duck"/> Meagher holds a Guinness World Record as the longest-serving actor in an Australian serial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meagher also appeared in the 1988 children's series The True Story of Spit MacPhee, along with John Bach and Elspeth Ballantyne.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In September 2009, Meagher was the third-highest paid personality on Australian television, behind Eddie McGuire and Rove McManus.<ref>Clune, Richard (13 September 2009). "Flamin' heck! Alf Stewart's worth a quid". Sunday Mail (Adelaide).</ref>

Meagher won the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 2010 Logie Awards, where he was also nominated for "Most Popular Actor".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meagher subsequently won that Logie Award in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Stage

In 2007, Meagher took over the role of Bob the mechanic in Priscilla Queen of the Desert from Bill Hunter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 30 September 2010, he took over the role of Bob in the West End production of Priscilla until March 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2011, it was announced that Meagher would be returning to the West End production from October.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He then rejoined the show for its New Zealand tour in 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

Meagher regularly travels to the United Kingdom to take part in the traditional Christmas pantomimes. In December 2008, he played Abanazar in a production of Aladdin at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke and in 2009 he performed as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Royal Tunbridge Wells.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith	Dud Edmonds
	Newsfront	Len's Second Brother
1979	The Odd Angry Shot	Range Corporal
	My Brilliant Career	Mailman
	The Journalist	Senior Investigator
1980	Breaker Morant	Sgt. Maj. Drummond
	Mystery Island	Policeman
	A Piece of Cake	Duty Sarglant	Short film
1981	Hoodwink	Shaw
1982	On the Run	Joe Thompson
1984	On the Loose	Russell Leech
	The Fire in the Stone	Dosh
1985	Relatives	Herb Taylor
	Bootleg	Lawker
1986	Short Changed	Marshall
1987	Dark Age	Rex Garret
	The Place at the Coast	Uncle Doug
1989	Luigi's Ladies	Lance

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Around Folk	Host
	Matlock Police	Kurt Fisher	Episode: "By Hook or by Crook"
1976	Do I Have to Kill My Child?	Des	TV film
1977	Number 96	Fred Shrimpton	Season 6
1978	Glenview High	Policeman	Episode: "Accident"
	Run From the Morning
	Because He's My Friend	Kevin	TV film
1979	Skyways	Sergeant Murphy	Episode: "The Crated Crim"
	Top Mates		Miniseries
1979–80; 1984; 1986	Prisoner	Geoff Butler / Ernest Craven / Kurt Renner	Season 1–2 28 episodes
1981	Sporting Chance
	Holiday Island
1982–86	A Country Practice	Wally Stanley / Trev Bennett / Tom Skilton	6 episodes
1982	Mystery at Castle House	Stakovich	TV film
	Runaway Island		TV film
1983	The Weekly's War	Frank Packer	Miniseries
	The Disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain	Mr. Lowe	TV film
1984	Five Mile Creek	Lightning Ridge	Episode: "The Hangman's Noose"
	Kingswood Country	Keith Mitchell / Bank Manager	2 episodes
	Mail Order Bride	Kevin	TV film
1985	A Fortunate Life	Bad Bob	Miniseries. Episode: "Starting Out (1897–1905)"
	Mother and Son	Geoff	Episode: "The Card Game"
	Colour in the Creek	Clarrie	8 episodes
1986	Land of Hope		Miniseries
	Five Times Dizzy	The Red Headed Person
	The Great Bookie Robbery	Bob Temple	Miniseries
	The Blue Lightning	Hale	TV film
1987	The Shiralee	Polkadot	TV film
1988	True Believers	Tom Burke	Miniseries
	The True Story of Spit MacPhee	Frank Arbuckle	Miniseries
	Vietnam	Army Sergeant	Miniseries
	Spit MacPhee	Frank Arbuckle
1988–present	Home and Away	Alf Stewart	Series regular
2002	Home and Away: Secrets and the City	Alf Stewart	Video special
2003	Home and Away: Hearts Divided	Alf Stewart	Video special

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	The Floating World		Nimrod Theatre Company
2007	Priscilla Queen of the Desert	Bob the mechanic	Regent Theatre, Melbourne
2008	Aladdin	Abanazar	Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke
2009	Peter Pan	Captain Hook	Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells
2010–11	Priscilla Queen of the Desert	Bob the mechanic	West End of London
2016	Priscilla Queen of the Desert	Bob the mechanic	New Zealand tour

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result	Template:Abbr
1984	Penguin Awards	Best Actor	Mail Order Bride	Template:Won	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2008	Digital Spy Soap Awards	Most Popular Actor	Home and Away	Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2004	Inside Soap Awards	Best Actor		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
2006		Best Actor		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
		Funniest Star		Template:Nom
2018		Best Daytime Star		Template:Won	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019		Best Daytime Star		Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020		Best Daytime Star		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
2010	Logie Awards	Most Popular Personality on Australian Television		Template:Won	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Most Popular Actor		Template:Nom
2012		Most Popular Actor		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2018		Most Popular Actor		Template:Won	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019		Most Popular Actor		Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2022		Most Popular Personality on Australian Television		Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
		Most Popular Actor		Template:Nom
2023		Most Popular Actor		Template:Nom	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0575114

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• Profile at Home and Away site
• Profile from UK TV channel Five