Ruth Cracknell

Ruth Winifred Cracknell was born on 6 July 1925 in Maitland, New South Wales to Charles and Winifred Goddard (nee Watts).{{cite web | title=Papers of Ruth Cracknell: Biographical note | website=Trove | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-368939272/findingaid#biographical-note | access-date=27 December 2023}} When she was four years old, the family moved to Sydney. She was educated at North Sydney Girls High School and, after graduating, worked at the Ku-ring-gai Council as a stenographer.

In 1943 she joined the Modern Theatre Players drama school, run by Edna Spilsbury. She resigned from the council in 1945 to become a professional actress.

Cracknell's first acting jobs were in radio, starting at AWA recording studios in 1945. By 1946, she was performing five episodes of radio plays a week. She also performed on stage with the Sydney-based companies the Independent Theatre and the Mercury Theatre. In 1948, she joined the John Alden Company and had roles in King Lear, Measure for Measure and The Tempest.

In 1952, at the age of 27, she left Australia to work in London for two years.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18454087|title=Advice To Those Who Go To London To Work|date=1954-10-21|work=Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=6}}

Cracknell appeared in many TV serial productions, and made-for-TV films. One of her first roles was Reflections in Dark Glasses, a one-off drama broadcast in 1960. She was a hostess of children television series Play School in the mid to late 1960s. She also played in the 1973 award-winning ABC-TV dramatisation of Ethel Turner's Australian children's classic Seven Little Australians. In the 1980s she guest starred in A Country Practice.

Cracknell is best known for her role in the ABC television series Mother and Son. Written by Geoffrey Atherden, who previously had written The Aunty Jack Show, the series was based on the writer's own family experience. Mother and Son first screened on 16 January 1984; it continued for six seasons for over a decade and is often repeated. Cracknell played an elderly woman, Maggie Beare, who was slowly becoming senile. She was cared for by her long-suffering younger son Arthur (Garry McDonald), to whom she was often indifferent but on whom she was also dependent and whom she often cynically played off against her self-centred older son Robert (Henri Szeps){{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122252102|title=FILM GOOD TIMES Cracknell live|last=Zakharov|first=Jeannie|date=1989-04-06|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=24}} and daughter-in-law Liz (played by Judy Morris).

Cracknell appeared in film productions including opposite Chips Rafferty in the 1958 classic Smiley Gets a Gun, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), the 1983 The Night the Prowler (1978), and The Dismissal (1983) as Margaret Whitlam. Later in 1996, she starred opposite Toni Collette in Lilian's Story as Sydney eccentric Beatrice Miles.

Cracknell acted for most of the major Australian theatre companies, especially the Sydney Theatre Company. She performed many different roles; Elaine in David Williamson's Emerald City (1987),{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118141413|title=A change of character in David Williamson's new play|date=1987-07-02|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=2}} Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers (1992),{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126954985|title=Grandma part specialty for Ruth Cracknell|last=Gordon|first=Sheldon|date=1992-11-12|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=18}} and Shafer's Lettice and Lovage.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118115219|title=Specialist in long runs-like 40 years|last=Daly|first=Mike|date=1994-04-24|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=22}}

Her best-known role was in the stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell.{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120904508|title=Crowds see Cracknell in 'Earnest'|date=1989-01-16|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=13}} The production was so popular that it was an "ongoing" stage production from 1988 to 1992 and was televised by the ABC. She was also Patron of the Australian Theatre for Young People.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Cracknell married Eric Phillips in 1957 and they had three children. Phillips was an engineer.

In 1997 Cracknell published her autobiography, A Biased Memoir, which was a bestseller in Australia. In 2000 she published her memoir, Journey from Venice, which related how she and her husband, Eric Phillips, were visiting Venice when he had a paralysing stroke. She did not speak a word of Italian but she had to organise medical treatment for him and have him returned to Australia in the face of significant obstacles. He later died in a Sydney hospital.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Cracknell died of a respiratory illness in a Sydney nursing home on 13 May 2002, aged 76. Her children had visited her a short time before.{{cite web | title=Ruth Cracknell dies at 76 | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=14 May 2002 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/ruth-cracknell-dies-at-76-20020514-gdfa29.html | access-date=27 December 2023}}

In the 1980 Australia Day Honours, Cracknell was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), "in recognition of service to the performing arts".{{Cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870030|title=Miss Ruth Winifred CRACKNELL | website=Australian Honours Search Facility| publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia) | access-date=27 December 2023}}

She received honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney (1985) [http://www.usyd.edu.au/calendar/03a_awards_and_honours.shtml The University of Sydney – Awards and honours] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310151137/http://www.usyd.edu.au/calendar/03a_awards_and_honours.shtml |date=10 March 2008 }}{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122500960|title=Honorary doctorate for actress|date=1985-03-04|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=2019-07-05|pages=8}} and the Queensland University of Technology (1995).{{cite web | title=Honorary doctorates | publisher=Queensland University of Technology | date=10 November 2017 | url=https://www.qut.edu.au/about/achievements-and-recognition/honorary-doctorates | access-date=27 December 2023}}

In 1995, Cracknell received a lifetime achievement award at the Glugs Theatrical Awards in Sydney.{{cite web | title=Awards | website=Glugs | date=April 2014 | url=https://glugsofgosh.wordpress.com/awards/ | access-date=25 December 2023}}

In 1998, the National Trust of Australia named her one of "100 National Living Treasures".

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music.

The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.{{cite web | title=Events & Programs| website=Live Performance Australia | url=https://liveperformance.com.au/events-programs/ | access-date=17 August 2022}} In 2001, Cracknell received the JC Williamson Award, the LPA's highest honour, for their life's work in live performance.{{cite web |url=http://helpmannawards.com.au/default.aspx?s=recipients |title=JC Williamson Award recipients |accessdate=17 August 2022 |work=Helpmann Awards |publisher=Live Performance Australia |archive-date=21 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321094228/http://helpmannawards.com.au/default.aspx?s=recipients |url-status=dead }}

{{awards table}}

|-

| 2001

| Herself

| JC Williamson Award

| {{yes2|awarded}}

|-

{{end}}

In 2001, Cracknell was awarded the TV Week Logie Hall of Fame for her services to Australian television. Her appearance at the ceremony was the last in public before her death. She was the first (and for 15 years) only woman to be inducted.

{{awards table}} (wins only)

|-

| 1993 || Herself || Most Outstanding Actress || {{won}}

|-

| 1994 || Herself || Most Outstanding Actress || {{won}}

|-

| 1994 || Herself || Most Popular Comedy Personality || {{won}}

|-

| 2001 || Herself || Logie Hall of Fame || {{yes2|awarded}}

|-

{{end}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Lane|title=The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama Volume 2 |publisher= National Film and Sound Archive|year=2000|page=171-121}}

• {{IMDb name|0185635}}
• [http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/australians/rcracknell.htm Australians: Ruth Cracknell], Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A359689%20|%20Number%3A363070%20|%20Number%3A352726%20|%20Number%3A351867%20|%20Number%3A352268%20|%20Number%3A353982%20|%20Number%3A353284%20|%20Number%3A352542;querytype=;resCount=10 Ruth Cracknell bio], National Film and Sound Archive
• {{AusStage|contributor/1514|Ruth Cracknell's acting credits}}

{{JC Williamson Award}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:1925 births

Category:2002 deaths

Category:Australian film actresses

Category:Australian stage actresses

Category:Australian women memoirists

Category:Australian television actresses

Category:Australian people of English descent

Category:Australian children's television presenters

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New South Wales

Category:Helpmann Award winners

Category:Logie Award winners

Category:Members of the Order of Australia

Category:People educated at North Sydney Girls High School

Category:People from Maitland, New South Wales

Category:20th-century Australian women singers

Category:Australian women television presenters