Edward Howell (actor)

Edward Welsford Rowsell Howell (15 July 1902 [2]– 20 August 1986), also known as pen name E.R. Howell, Edward Welsford Rowsell and Teddy/Ted Howell was a British Australian, character actor, radio and theatre producer, director and scriptwriter, theatre founder and drama teacher.

Edward Howell
Born
Edward Welsford Rowsell Howell

(1902-07-15)15 July 1902
Bromley, Kent, England, United Kingdom
Died20 August 1986(1986-08-20) (aged 84)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Other namesE.R. Howell
Edward Welsford Rowsell
Teddy/Ted Howell
Occupations
  • Actor (radio, theatre, television and film
  • radio and theatre producer
  • radio and theatre director
  • radio and theatre scriptwriter
  • theatre founder
  • drama teacher
Years active1912–1985
Spouse(s)Mary Grace Cecillia Long (known professionally as Therese Desmond and Molly Long) (m-1927–1961)[1]
ChildrenMadeline Howell

He was notable for his career in Australia in all genres of the entertainment industry in a career spanning radio, stage, television and film. In 1927 he appeared in a cameo role in the early Australian film For the Term of his Natural Life, at the time the highest-grossing film in Australian cinema.[3] After this film, he moved to radio broadcasting and producing until reviving his screen career in the late 1950s, mainly appearing in made for TV Movies and serials.

Early life

Howell was born on 15 July 1902 (some sources give 1901) in Bromley, Kent, England, the youngest son of bank clerk and actor Edwin Gilburt Howell and his wife Madeleine Ann (née Rowsell).[3] As an eight year old in 1912, he was brought to Australia with his brother, Lewis, and father to appear in J. C. Williamson's stage production of The Blue Bird by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck[4] After the family decided to stay in Australia permanently, he completed his education at Sydney Grammar. With his father moving to settle in Suva, young Ted soon followed, studying law while working in the government's legal department, before joining the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. Ltd.[3]

Professional career

Theatre and tutoring

Whilst in Suva, Edward and father Edwin founded the Suva Dramatic Actor Guild. He returned to Australia in 1924 and joined the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne,[5] and later, with his wife Molly, ran Sydney's (Royal) Academy of Dramatic Arts.[6]

Radio and theatre (acting, producing, writing and directing)

In 1929, he began a career in radio when he was asked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (then Commission) to produce a play for the network. As an author of one of the first successful variety shows, he had a very prominent career in the sector as a writer, producer and director, as well as appearing in productions as an actor. He was best known as the creator and visionary behind the popular long-running serial Fred and Maggie Everybody,[5][7] that ran under a number of titles between 1932 and 1953. The series depicted the life of a middle-class couple played by Edward and his wife, Mary Howell (professionally billed as Therese Desmond). At its height it was heard on fifty six stations throughout Australia and was sold to numerous countries including New Zealand.

Edward worked for Amalgamated Wireless (AWA), where he served as the chief producer of drama, before going freelance as producer and actor. In 1949, he returned to his native England and took up a post at the BBC, writing and producing radio productions as well as stage plays, and returned to Sydney in 1950, where he continued his radio and stage career as a prominent scriptwriter.[8]

Television series, TV movies and film

After a lengthy successful career in radio and on stage he had a prominent career on television, starting from the 1960s appearing in numerous Australian serials, including My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Homicide, Division 4 and Cop Shop.

He appeared in the Brisbane TV play The Absence of Mr Sugden.

He was best known for his recurring role as Bert Griffiths in the long-running rural soap A Country Practice.

In film during the latter he appeared in The Cars That Ate Paris and Careful, He Might Hear You.[3]

Personal life

He was married to Mary Grace Cecilia Long (born Sheffield, 2 May 1902- died Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1961) on 11 May 1927, an English-born stage[1] and radio actress and theatre director whom he also collaborated with and known professionally as Therese Desmond or Molly Long,[9] whom he had met whilst appearing with Sydney's Playbox Theatre, marrying at the St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. Mary suffered a stroke in 1955 and died in 1961.[3] Edward died on 20 August 1986, in a nursing home in Chatswood, New South Wales at the age of 84, and was cremated.[4] Their daughter, Madeline Howell, was the second wife of the British actor Geoffrey Keen.

Theatre

Founder
Year Company Proprietors
c. early 1920sSuva Dramatic Actors GuildEdward Howell – Edwin Howell

Theatre company
Year Company Role
1924Playbox TheatrePerformer

Drama school
Company Year Position
Royal Academy of Dramatic ArtsunknownProprietor with Therese Desmond

Radio

Radio company roles
Company Year/s Position
Australian Broadcasting Corporation1929–?Radio producer, playwright, director, actor
Amalgamated WirelessvariousChief Producer of Drama
Producer and actor
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)1949–?Writer and producer

Radio serial/s
Production Role/s
Fred and Maggie EverybodyCreator, writer and performer

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1927For the Term of his Natural LifeKirkpatrickSilent film
1956The Rose and CrownTV movie
1956The Sub-Editor's RoomTV movie
1957The Passionate PianistTV movie
1959Black ChiffonHusbandTV movie
1959One Morning Near TroodosTV movie
1959Till Death Do Us PartTV movie
1959Tragedy in a Temporary TownHarry PhillipsTV movie
1959A Dead SecretTV movie
1959Antony and CleopatraAgrippaTV movie
1959The Big DayHorace SkeatsTV movie
1960Heart AttackTV movie
1960Man in a Blue VaseUncle BenTV movie
1960Close to the RoofPerelliTV movie
1961Hedda GablerBrackTV movie
1961Burst of SummerJoeTV movie
1961The Lady from the SeaDr WangelTV movie
1961The Big DealSolly ParnessTV movie
1961The Ides of MarchDeciusTV movie
1962Light me a LuciferStokerTV movie
1963Double YolkDoctorTV movie
1963Uneasy ParadisePauloTV movie
1964The Angry GeneralLord Athol MedwayTV movie
1965A Time to SpeakManTV movie
1965Campaign for OneTV movie
1965Daphne LaureolaTV movie
1969Tilley Landed On Our ShoreTV movie
1972The Tony Hancock ShowColonelTV movie
1974Moving OnFeature film
1974The Cars That Ate ParisTringhamFeature film
1978The Night NurseMorphettTV movie
1979Barnaby and MeTennis UmpireTV movie
1983Careful, He Might Hear YouJudgeFeature film
1984Who Killed Hannah Jane?Mr. AndrewsTV movie

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959Emergency!Episode: "Death Drive"
1961The OutcastsDr. D'arcy Wentworth1 episode
1963Consider Your VerdictCostella2 episodes
1964–1973HomicideThe Pathologist / Judge / John Young / Leo Sheldon / Brian Spurling / Walter Lambert / Lucio / Connor / Harold Smith9 episodes
1965The Magic BoomerangJim Wallace2 episodes
1968My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?StallybrassEpisode: "A Change of Gear"
1968ContrabanditsQuiellenEpisode: "A Mention in Despatches"
1969Skippy the Bush KangarooDr. AmesEpisode: "Mixed Company"
1969DeltaLawlerEpisode: "The Devil Take the Blue Tongue Fly"
1969Woobinda, Animal DoctorDoctorEpisode: "A Life for a Life"
1971The Comedy GameSpeakerEpisode: " Our Man in Canberra"
1971–1973Matlock PoliceDr. Ian Sutherland / Pop Thompson / Doctor Sutherland11 episodes
1972The Virgin Fellas1st Old Man1 episode
1972SpyforceDoctor O'HaraEpisode: "The Mission"
1973Division 4Fergy FergusonEpisode: "Take Over"
1973The People Next DoorDr. HenshawEpisode: "A Tiny Touch of Tonsil Trouble"
1974The Evil TouchJulianEpisode: "Faulkner's Choice"
1974Class of '75Mr. FinlayTV series
1977MoynihanEpisode: "Bird in the Hand"
1978Loss of InnocenceEpisode: "1943"
1978Cop ShopClive Brooks / Mr. Ashley2 episodes
1978Case for the DefenceWheems9 episodes
1980Young RamsayErnie FarrellEpisode: "Natural Selection"
1982–1985A Country PracticeBert Griffiths18 episodes, (final appearance)
1984BodylineLord Hailsham1 episode
1985Colour in the CreekJoe Ellis4 episodes

References
  1. "Therese Desmond". AusStage.
  2. "Howell, Edward Welsford (Teddy) (1902–1986)", Australian Dictionary of Biography
  3. Arrow, Michelle (2007). "Howell, Edward Welsford (Teddy) (1902–1986)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  4. "Teddy Howell, theatre and film actor, dies". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 August 1986. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  5. Howell, Edward (1900), Fred and Maggie : radio program, retrieved 23 May 2015
  6. "Academy of Dramatic Art". The Sydney Mail. 5 April 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 23 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "FRED AND MAGGIE'S 1200th". The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers' Advocate. Parramatta, NSW. 12 November 1941. p. 12. Retrieved 23 May 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. Howell, Edward; De Berg, Hazel, 1913–1984. (Interviewer) (1978), Edward Howell interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection, retrieved 23 May 2015 {{citation}}: |author2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. Hood, Sam, 1872–1953 (1938), 2CH Old Time Dance at the Town Hall. Therese Desmond being presented with a bouquet, retrieved 23 May 2015{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • National Library of Australia collection of newspaper and journal cuttings about Teddy Howell. NLA reference number 42654244
  • Edward Howell at IMDb
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