Graeme Blundell

Blundell was born on 7 April 1945 in Melbourne; he grew up in the suburb of Clifton Hill. He was educated at Merrilands College and Coburg High School, where he served as a Prefect. He then studied arts at the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Ormond College and became involved in student theatre. He has a younger brother, Dennis, and two younger sisters, Margaret and Kathryn.[2]

In his early years, Blundell worked at La Mama Theatre, the Pram Factory, Hoopla, the Playbox Theatre Company, and the Melbourne Theatre Company. He directed and acted in the premiere performance of Jack Hibberd's play Dimboola at La Mama. His first television appearance was as an uncredited extra in the debut episode of Homicide (1964). He is best known as playing the title character in the 1973 sex-comedy film Alvin Purple and its 1974 sequel, Alvin Rides Again.[3][4]

He has written extensively in The Australian newspaper as well as writing biographies of Brett Whiteley (Brett Whiteley: An Unauthorised Life, 1996, with his then wife Margot Hilton), and Graham Kennedy.[5]

From March 2011, Blundell hosted Sunday Night at the Movies with Graeme Blundell on Foxtel's Fox Classics channel.

On 29 January 2015, it was announced that Margaret Pomeranz had signed with Foxtel to present a new film and television program on Foxtel Arts, along with Graeme Blundell, a series called Screen.[6][7] The series was renewed in 2018.[8] As of 2021, Blundell continues to appear in Screen, and past episodes are uploaded to YouTube.[9] He is also TV writer for The Australian newspaper.[10]

Blundell has been married to playwright Kerry Dwyer,[11] author Margot Hilton,[2] and journalist Susan Kurosawa.[12]

• Brett Whiteley: An Unauthorised Life, with Margot Hilton (Macmillan, 1996)
• King: The Life and Comedy of Graham Kennedy (Pan Macmillan, 2003)
• Australian Theatre: Backstage with Graeme Blundell (edited) (Oxford University Press, 1997)
• The Naked Truth: A Life in Parts (Hachette Australia, 2008)
• The Australian newspaper - TV writer

• Graeme Blundell at the National Film and Sound Archive
• Graeme Blundell at IMDb