George Edwards (actor)

George Edwards (born as Harold Parks, 11 March 1886 in Kent Town, South Australia; died 28 August 1953) was an Australian actor, comedian, vaudevillian and producer. known as The Man of a Thousand Voices.[1]

George Edwards
Born
Harold Parks

11 March 1886
Kent Town, South Australia
Died28 August 1953 (aged 67)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • vaudevilllian
  • producer
SpouseCoral Lansbury

Biography

Edwards was a pioneer of the radio serial in Australia. Prior to that he was a comedian, vaudeville artist, acrobatic dancer and stage performer. It is claimed that he changed his name from Harold Parks to George Edwards at the behest of Edward Branscombe, who was putting together an up-market act and did not want anyone associated with low-brow music hall, and that he took the name from English theatrical impresario George Edwards.[2] He performed in a radio drama adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Edwards' first wife was Margaret Rose Wilson, whom he married on 6 August 1907. They had a daughter.[1]

On 9 May 1925, he married Molly D Hughes in Sydney,[3] and in 1929 was a featured entertainer on the Sydney Show Boat. They divorced in 1933.[4]

His third wife was Helen Dorothy Malmgrom (born 22 August 1909), who had worked with him on the Sydney Showboat. She changed her name to Nell Stirling. They were married in Haberfield on 29 March 1934.[5] Together they appeared in many live radio productions, including the long-running Dad and Dave from Snake Gully series in which Edwards played Dad (and many other roles), and Stirling played Mabel (Dave's wife). Sumner Locke Elliott wrote a number of radio plays for Edward's company.[6]

Nell had a daughter from her first marriage, and one with Edwards, born in April 1941.

Edwards and Stirling were divorced in July 1948, and on 9 November she married her accountant, Alexander George Atwill. Nell died of an accidental overdose of carbitral capsules on 10 November 1951 at her Vaucluse home.[7]

Edwards married once more. His fourth wife was Coral Lansbury, a noted feminist who had worked as a radio scriptwriter and actor. She was a distant cousin of English-American actress Dame Angela Lansbury, producer Edgar Lansbury and Bruce Lansbury. The couple married on 20 February 1953 at the Registrar-General's office in Sydney[8][9] but Edwards died six months later on 28 August at the Scottish Hospital in Paddington.[10][11] Lansbury soon afterwards married Bruce Bligh Turnbull.[12] and in October 1954 gave birth to their son Malcolm Turnbull, the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. She later become a notable English literature academic.

Select Credits

As actor

As producer

References
  1. Australian Dictionary of Biography
  2. Australian Old Time Radio entry Archived 2008-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 7109/1929
  4. "IN DIVORCE". The Sydney Morning Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 21 January 1933. p. 10. Retrieved 6 May 2020 – via Trove.
  5. NSW registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 5887/1934
  6. Vagg, Stephen (29 September 2019). "Ten Stories About Australian Screenwriters You Might Not Know". Filmink.
  7. Australian Dictionary of Biography Nell Stirling entry
  8. "Fourth marriage sets 'Dad' off on 'new life'". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 21 February 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  9. NSW registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 673/1953
  10. "Death Of Radio Producer". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 29 August 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  11. NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 18548/1953
  12. NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages registration number 21952/1955
  13. "AMUSEMENTS,". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 11 February 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 29 July 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
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