Owen Ash Weingott (21 June 1921 – 12 October 2002) was a Jewish-Australian actor, director, voice artist and drama teacher. Although primarily working in theatre, he appeared on radio and television in serials, television plays and voiceovers, over a career spanning some 60 years.

Weingott starred in Australia's first soap opera Autumn Affair, and is well known for his brief role as former school principal Walter Bertram, in the first season of Home and Away.

Early life and education Weingott was born in 1921, in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, New South Wales, to factory manager Abraham Weingott and his wife Zara Hannah (nee Davis). He was their only son and their first child. When Weingott was two, his mother died in childbirth, leaving him to be raised by his paternal grandmother, several aunts, and his great-aunt, Debbie Lewis. From age five, Weingott wanted to be an actor. He began performing in school productions and became interested in Shakespeare.

On 23 June 1934, at the age of 13, Weingott had his Bar Mitzvah at The Great Synagogue in Sydney.

When he was 15, Weingott began studying and performing in amateur theatre productions at the Independent Theatre, under producer Doris Fitton, and later at the Savoy Theatre, with plays including 1066 and All That, Six Characters in Search of an Author and Judgement Day.

After finishing at Sydney Boys High School in 1939, Weingott studied economics at University of Sydney.

Career Theatre Weingott made his professional debut in theatre when he was given a role in the Insect Play at the Independent in 1941. In 1942, however his studies and career was put on hold, when he enrolled in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

Having achieved the rank of corporal, Weingott was discharged from the Air Force at the end of the war, in December 1945. He returned to Australia from Canada, where he had been instructing in aircraft identification. He then studied for a year at the Sydney Law School, before ultimately returning to the stage. From 1945, he also trained in fencing under Frank Stuart at the Sydney Swords Club, where he was promoted to senior instructor and fight choreographer.

Weingott returned to the Independent Theatre, performing as Young Siward in a 1945 production of Macbeth. The following year, Doris Fitton produced Hamlet and cast Weingott as Laertes (who duels with Hamlet), a role he went on to play five times, one being a live broadcast from the ABC-TV studios. He went on to choreograph and act in over 400 duels during the span of his career on stage, film and television.

Weingott was known for his Shakespearean roles. In 1951 he played Cornwall in John Alden's King Lear at St. James Hall. That same year, he played Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust at the Independent Theatre. He then joined Alden's national tour of a Shakespearian play season from 1951 to 1952, playing Edgar in King Lear, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antigonus in The Winter's Tale, and the Prince of Morocco, Tubal and Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice.

On his return, Weingott approached Sydney John Kay for a position in his Mercury Theatre, where he played Papa in Samuel Taylor's The Happy Time in 1953. Other plays for the Mercury during this time included Happily Ever After, As You Like It, Ring Round the Moon, Charley's Aunt and Tovarich.

In 1957 at the Independent Theatre, Weingott played the co-lead alongside Peter O'Shaughnessy in Brigid Boland's The Prisoner, produced Leonard Teale as Macbeth and played the Inquisitor in Jean Anouilh's The Lark. He also played the lead role of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1959.

Throughout the 1960s, Weingott performed with the Old Tote Theatre, in plays including The Playboy of the Western World, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The School Mistress. He also notably portrayed Lophkin in their 1963 production of The Cherry Orchard.

Weingott worked with Ray Milland in a 1967 staging of the play Hostile Witness and played the lead role of Victor in Arthur Miller's The Price in 1970 at The Independent. He also played Sinbad the Sailor in a 1972 pantomime directed by Bill Orr, before going on to appear with Michael Redgrave in John Mortimer's play A Voyage Round My Father in 1973.

In 1974, Weingott was invited to the Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst, to direct King Lear and to play the lead.

Television From 1958, Weingott began starring as Larry Muir, alongside Muriel Steinbeck in Autumn Affair, Australia's first soap opera, about the life of a middle-aged widowed author and her romantic relationships. He went on to feature in numerous TV plays including a lead role in Act of Violence in 1959. That same year, he portrayed Laertes in its first live-to-air production of Hamlet. Other TV plays include The Square Ring (1960) in which he played Rick Martell, The Scent of Fear (1960), The Merchant of Venice (1961) as Shylock and The Tempest (1963) as Caliban.

Weingott played William Allen in 1963 period drama miniseries The Hungry Ones, opposite Leonard Teale. He then appeared as Professor Mayer from 1964 to 1965 in nine episodes of The Stranger. He had a starring role in sitcom The Private World of Miss Prim in 1966, playing author and RAF pilot, Tony Kendall.

In 1970, Weingott played the recurring role of villain Platonus in sci-fi series Phoenix Five and landed the regular part of Jewish financier Jacob Goldberg in media empire series Dynasty. He voiced the character of Lord Maze in an animated series of Around the World in Eighty Days in 1972. Then in 1974, he took on the role of Phillip Bailey-Smith in Crawford's soap opera The Box.

Weingott had regular guest roles in Homicide, Hunter and Consider Your Verdict. Other guest credits included Whiplash (1960; 1961), Jonah (1962), Adventure Unlimited (1965), Boney (1972), Number 96 (1972), Spyforce (1973) and Ryan (1973; 1974).

After taking a hiatus to concentrate on teaching, Weingott returned to acting in 1985. He had guest roles in Rafferty's Rules (1987; 1990), medical drama The Flying Doctors, anthology series More Winners (both 1990), and later, police procedural series Water Rats (2001). He also played school principal Walter Bertram in long-running soap opera Home and Away, during its first season in 1988.

Film Weingott appeared in 1954 pirate adventure film Long John Silver, in which he also staged the world's first mass duel in Cinemascope, choreographing 32 pairs of fighters.

Weingott had roles in several other films, including 1971 action drama film That Lady from Peking, in which he played Barina. In 1974, he played Adler in cult biker film Stone, alongside Hugh Keays-Byrne and Ken Shorter. He also voiced roles in several animated TV movies including Robinson Crusoe (1972) The Black Arrow (1973) and The Gentlemen of Titipu (1974). He later appeared in 1989 historical adventure drama film Wrangler.

Radio Weingott's first radio work was in 1945 in The Scarlet Widow, a serial for 2CH. From 1950, he took on a leading role as Walter Manning in radio soap opera Portia Faces Life. He had multiple roles in radio serial The Adventures of Ellery Queen from 1954 to 1955. He featured in an ongoing capacity in the series The Clock from 1955 to 1966 and Radio Cab, around 1958. He also performed in many Shakespeare plays for ABC Radio.

Other Weingott was a coach for the first Australian Olympic fencing team, which competed in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. He was also a senior instructor in fencing at University of Sydney.

Weingott was a foundation lecturer at Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art. After directing and appearing in a 1974 production of King Lear at the Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst, Weingott returned in 1976 as a lecturer in Theatre Arts, remaining for ten years, before returning to Sydney in 1986.

Weingott was vice-president of the Australian actors union, Actors Equity of Australia.

Personal life and death Weingott met his wife Violet Margaret 'Peggy' Dent working at department store, David Jones. They married in October 1942. Together they had two children, Paul (b. 1947) and Robyn (b. 1954). His son Paul became an actor, best known for playing Bruce Taylor, the first lover of Don Finlayson (Joe Hasham) in soap opera Number 96.Giles, Nigel "Number 96: Australian TVs Most Notorious Address"

For the final two years of his life, Weingott was primary carer for his wife, until he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June 2002. He died in October 2002, aged 81, and was survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes Ref 1954 Long John Silver (aka Long John Silver's Return to Treasure Island) Feature film 1957 One for the Road Short film 1970 Adam's Woman Feature film 1971 That Lady from Peking Barina Feature film 1974 Stone Adler Feature film 1988 Classic Adventure Stories: Robinson Crusoe Voice Animated feature film 1989 Wrangler (aka Minnamurra or Outback) General Smith Feature film

Television Year Title Role Notes Ref 1956 The Valiant TV movie 1957 In the Zone Smitty TV movie The Adventures of Long John Silver Sean O'Flaherty 1 episode 1958 Killer in Close-Up Emile L'Angelier Episode: "The Trial of Madeleine Smith" His Excellency TV movie 1958–1959 Autumn Affair Larry Muir 156 episodes, regular role 1959 Act of Violence Alexander TV play Hamlet Hamlet TV play Sixty Point Bold TV play 1960 The Square Ring Rick Martell TV play Stormy Petrel Captain Short Miniseries, 1 episode The Scent of Fear Bureaucrat TV play The Life and Death of King Richard II Sir Pierce of Exton TV play 1960; 1961 Whiplash Bill Fry / Smithy 2 episodes 1961 A Little South of Heaven Primo TV play The Merchant of Venice Shylock TV play Harlequinade Fred Ingram TV play 1962 Jonah Pockton Episode 1: "No Time for Despair" My Three Angels Henri TV play 1962; 1963 Consider Your Verdict Lionel Varner / Robert Lanyon 2 episodes 1963 The Tempest Caliban TV play Don't Listen Ladies Michel TV play The Hungry Ones William Allen 1964 Tribunal Dick Turpin 1 episode 1964–1965 The Stranger Professor Mayer 9 episodes 1965 Adventure Unlimited Det Sgt Hamilton Episode: "The Witness" 1965–1976 Homicide Johnny Patric / Arthur Freeman / Rev Alan Ward / William 'Drummy' Taylor / Eric Steele / Russell Green / Jeff Randall / Rex Wilton / George Lister 9 episodes 1966 The Private World of Miss Prim Tony Kendall 11 episodes 1967 The Schoolmistress Admiral Ranking TV play 1967; 1968 Hunter Pat Gallagher / Silverman / Doctor Dressler 3 episodes 1969 Good Morning Mr Doubleday 1 episode Riptide Inspector Tom Metcalfe 1 episode Silo 15 Captain Thomson TV play 1969–1974 Division 4 The Tribunal / Geoff Hughes / Sydney / Gordon Lee 4 episodes 1970 The Link Men Josef Vogelsang 1 episode The Rovers Jim Fraser 1 episode The Long Arm Dr Scarlo 1 episode Delta McCrainor 1 episode Barrier Reef De Veuss 1 episode Phoenix Five Platonus 10 episodes 1970–1971 Dynasty Jacob Goldberg 22 episodes 1971–1974 Matlock Police Pike / John Bates / Len Jackson / Inspector Roach 4 episodes 1972 Number 96 Victor Cameron 1 episode Boney Bill Newton Episode 10: "Boney and the Monster" Around the World in Eighty Days Lord Maze (voice) Animated series, 2 episodes Robinson Crusoe Voice Animated TV movie The Spoiler Dr Ross 1 episode 1973 Spyforce Pastor Simons 1 episode The Black Arrow Voice Animated TV movie 1973; 1974 Ryan Anton / Bannerman / Inspector Gray 3 episodes 1974 The Gentlemen of Titipu Voice Animated TV movie The Evil Touch Sergeant Parker Episode: "Death by Dreaming" The Box Phillip Bailey-Smith 39 episodes 1987; 1990 Rafferty’s Rules Samuel Spink / Karl Becker 2 episodes 1988 Olive Vincent TV movie The Alien Years Edmund Barton Miniseries Home and Away Mr. Walter Bertram 12 episodes 1990 The Flying Doctors Jannis Goannides 1 episode More Winners Justus Zuckerman 1 episode 1992 Bony Helmut 1 episode 2001 Water Rats Arthur Marx 1 episode

Theatre

As actor