Dinah Shearing

Dinah Hilary Shearing was born on 12 February 1926{{cn|date=December 2023}} in Sydney, to English parents.{{cite web|url=https://televisionau.com/2021/06/obituary-dinah-shering.html|title=Obituary: Dinah Shearing}} {{dead|date=December 2023}}

She attained honours in exams to A.Mus.A at Sydney Conservatorium in 1945.

Shearing appeared on stage, radio, television and films in a career that spanned more than 60 years.

Subverted from her initial intention of becoming a commercial artist or a singer, she began acting with May Hollinworth's Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney after graduation. Soon, her "distinctively mellifluous voice" led to her being recruited into radio during its so-called "Golden Era" where she became a national favourite on serials such as Dr Paul (in which she played the leading character for ten years), Tudor Princess and Tudor Queen (all three, 1950s Grace Gibson productions,{{cite book|last=Lane|first=Richard|title=The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama, 1923–1960| author-link=Richard Lane (writer) |year=1994|publisher=Melbourne University Press |isbn=0522845568}} plus Dossier on Dumetrius. Other radio serials, programmes and appearances included the Colgate Hour, The Macquarie Radio Theatre, Lux Radio Theatre, and most notably, work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,

From there, Shearing was drafted into the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and later, the Old Tote Theatre Company and gave performances that "transcended her young years",{{cite book |last=Heseltine |first=Harry |title=A Leader of his Craft, Theatre Reviews by HG Kippax|year=2004|publisher=Currency House |isbn=0958121354}} touring nationally from her Sydney base. Most memorably, she gave what critics called "the definitive" performance of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Hal |title=Stars of Australian Stage and screen |year=1965|publisher=Rigby Ltd|page=264}} She worked with the Sydney Theatre Company Melbourne Theatre Company, Independent Theatre and many others.

Her performances drew admiring reviews from Sydney critics, including Lindsay Brown, Harry Kippax, and Geoffrey Thomas.

Shearing also appeared in some of Australia's earliest TV dramas.{{cite magazine|magazine=ABC Weekly|title=The PRIVATE EYE of TV|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1334150448|pages=4–5|date=20 July 1957}} She worked with the Nine Network, Crawford Productions, ABC, the Seven Network, Disney International, and many others.

She became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993.{{Cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869859|title=Miss Dinah Hilary SHEARING| website=Australian Honours Search Facility| publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia) | access-date=26 December 2023}}

Recognition for her work included the following awards:

• 1952: Macquarie Award, female lead role, for her performance in One Way Street, awarded by the Macquarie Broadcasting Service and 2GB Radio{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18357572 |title=Macquarie Awards |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=35,929 |date=16 February 1953 |access-date=27 December 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• 1985: Penguin Award for Man of Letters
• 1985: Commendation in the Penguin Award, for All the Rivers Run (1985)
• 1993: Critics Award for Coriolanus
• 1993: Glugs Award for Lifetime of Excellence
• 1999: Norman Kessell Award for A Delicate Balance, in the Glug Awards{{cite web | title=Awards | website=Glugs | date=April 2014 | url=https://glugsofgosh.wordpress.com/awards/ | access-date=25 December 2023}}

At the peak of her career, and spurning an offer from the head of BBC drama in England to work there, Shearing married playwright and painter Rodney Milgate and retired from full-time acting. The couple had two sons.

Shearing was a speaker for Heart Research Institute from 1993 to 1999, and a volunteer reader for Royal Society for the Blind in the 1960s.

In later life Shearing resided at Erina, New South Wales, on the Central Coast, and was active in community arts programmes, volunteer work, and had also branched into directing not long before her death.{{cite book |last=Shearing |first=Dinah |title=Who's Who in Australia |year=2013|publisher=Crown Content Australia|isbn=978-1740951906}}

She died on 14 June 2021, aged 95.{{cite news |date= 20 June 2021 |title= Obituary: Dinah Shearing |url= https://televisionau.com/2021/06/obituary-dinah-shearing.html/comment-page-1 |work= TelevisionAU |access-date= 23 June 2021}}{{cite news |title=MILGATE nee SHEARING, Dinah Hilary. |url=https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/411539/dinah-hilary-milgate-nee/ |access-date=20 June 2021 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=19 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201559/https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/411539/dinah-hilary-milgate-nee/ |url-status=dead }}

{{cite web | url=https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/3731 | title=AusStage }}f

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See also "National Library of Australia Collection". Papers of Shearing, Dinah. (Ref: MS 5186)-National Library of Australia, Canberra, ACT.

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Category:1926 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:Actresses from New South Wales

Category:Members of the Order of Australia

Category:20th-century Australian actresses

Category:21st-century Australian actresses