Michael Gurr

Michael Gurr (29 October 1961 – 2 May 2017) was an Australian actor, playwright, author, speech writer and screenwriter.

Michael Gurr
Born29 October 1961
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died2 May 2017
EducationNational Theatre Drama School
Occupations
  • Actor
  • playwright
  • director
  • speech writer
  • screenwriter

Early life

Gurr was born in East Malvern, in Melbourne where his father was a kidney doctor at the Alfred Hospital and his mother was a nurse. His first published work was a fictional poem at age 10, from the point of view of a paraplegic, which unintentionally earned him a donation from a Herald Sun reader.[1] He was the second of five children.[2]

Career

Gurr studied at National Theatre Drama School (NTDS) in St Kilda, Victoria, and while there wrote a number of short plays which were sent to Ray Lawler, then Literary Advisor to the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). In 1982 Gurr was invited to be Writer in Residence at the MTC and it was there that his first plays were produced.[3]

His best-known plays include Crazy Brave and Sex Diary of an Infidel.

He worked as a speechwriter for a number of years for John Brumby and Steve Bracks, both of whom became Labor Premiers of Victoria.[4][5]

He died on 2 May 2017. He is survived by his four siblings and his partner Brandon Hardie Jones.[2][6]

Bibliography

Autobiography
  • Days Like These (2006)

Drama
  • A Pair of Claws (1983)
  • Magnetic North (1983)
  • Imitation Real (1983)
  • Dead to the World (1986)
  • Worlds Apart (1987)
  • What You Wanted (1988)
  • This and That (1988)
  • These Days (1988)
  • The Hundred Year Ambush (1990)
  • Victoria Bitter (1990)
  • Sex Diary of an Infidel (1991)
  • Desire Lines (1992)
  • Underwear, Perfume and Crash Helmet (1994)
  • Jerusalem (1996)
  • Anna (1998)
  • Shark Finn Soup (1998)
  • Crazy Brave (2000)
  • The Simple Truth (2002)
  • Something to Declare (2003)
  • Julia 3 (2004)
  • Our Beautiful Daughter (2008)
  • Mercy (2009)
  • Test Pilot (2010)

Poetry
  • Four Poems (1982)

Television
  • WTF – With Tim Ferguson (2010)[7]

Film
  • Emmett Stone (1985) – an adaption of his 1983 play of the same name. Gurr is credited as screenwriter.
  • Departure (1986) – an adaptation of his radio play A Pair of Claws (1983)[8]

References
  1. "Visionary Playwright of the Crazy Brave",The Age,6 June 2017, accessed 26 June 2017
  2. 'Genius' playwright and speechwriter Michael Gurr dies aged 55
  3. Austlit – Michael Gurr
  4. "The Premier and the playwright", The Age, 27 August 2006, accessed 25 June 2013
  5. Biography at ABC
  6. Michael Gurr, Days Like These, p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2014
  7. With Tim Ferguson – About the Show
  8. IMDB – Departure (1986)
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