Brian Crossley

Brian Stow Crossley (5 October 1926 – 8 September 2012) was an English-born actor, director and drama tutor, who after starting his career in his native country, emigrated to Australia. He appeared in and directed numerous roles in theatre and on television over a career spanning more than 50 years, including directing straight theatre, musicals, opera and operetta.

Brian Crossley
Born
Brian Stow Crossley

(1926-10-05)5 October 1926
Died8 September 2012(2012-09-08) (aged 85)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
NationalityEnglish-Australian
EducationBirmingham School of Speech and Drama
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • drama tutor
Years active1945-?
Known forDirector of the National Theatre, Adventure Island, The Box as producer/director
Notable workGilbert and Sullivan

Biography

He was born in Shipley in West Yorkshire, England to engineering draughtsman Harry Crossley and Minnie Stow. He attended Birmingham College of Speech and Drama and performed as part of Birmingham Repertory Theatre, he appeared in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and in 1950 was invited to join the chorus for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, playing a variety of small roles. In 1952 he played in Gay's the Word on the West End, he emigrated to Australia in 1954, where he moved to Melbourne to join the Union Theatre Repertory Company. He toured Australia and New Zealand in 1956 with the J.C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, but with the arrival of television he turned his attention to the screen.[1]

He appeared in a variety of television programs, including Homicide, Division 4 and Consider Your Verdict, as well as directing for serial The Box. His most successful role was on children's series Adventure Island, where he played Mrs Flower Potts from 1967 to 1972.

During this period he also directed for the stage; his first directing project was Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice for the Victorian State Opera; he subsequently directed Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Domenico Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage and Franz Joseph Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa and collaborated extensively with Dennis Olsen. He directed a wide variety of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and in 1973 was appointed a director of the National Theatre's Opera School. He moved to the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education in Queensland around 1982.[1]

Crossley died in Melbourne on 8 September 2012, aged 85.[1]

Television

Actor

Production Year Role
Sounds Like Us (TV series)1969Mrs. Flower Potts
Homicide1970Richards
Division 4 (TV series)1969–1970Trixie – Interior Decorator
Adventure Island1966–1972Mrs. Flower Potts

Director

Production Year Role
The Box1974–1976Director – 24 episodes
The Ioslanthe (TV movie)1980Director

Producer

Production Year Role
The Box (TV series)1974Producer – 10 episodes

Theatre (selected)

Production Role
Patienceas himself Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta
Gays the Word 1952 (role unknown)
Orfeo ed EuridiceDirector
The Rape of LucretiaDirector
The Secret MarriageDirector
L, infidelta DelusaDirector
The Pirates of PenzanceDirector
My Fair LadyDirector
The MikadoDirector

References

  1. Sinclair, Marion (20 October 2012). "Brian Crossley, 1926–2012". The Age.
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