William Gerald Brown AM (11 January 195213 January 2013) professionally known as Bille Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor, director and acclaimed playwright.
Early life Brown was born in the coal, wheat and cotton country town of Biloela, Queensland, to Bill and Maureen Brown. His father, Bill, was almost two generations older and had worked as a stockman, publican and railway worker. His mother Maureen worked in Creevey’s music store. He was raised Catholic.
While growing up in Biloela, Brown played piano, wrote poetry, painted, as well as performing small stage pieces at the local theatre. He also spent time as a rugby league referee.
Brown initially had aspirations to become a painter, attending a summer painting school in Brisbane at the age of 16. He subsequently undertook tertiary studies at the University of Queensland (UQ) to be a history and geography teacher, and while doing so, became involved with the student drama company Dramsoc. He made his professional debut with the Queensland Theatre Company in 1971, working alongside Geoffrey Rush. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and a Postgraduate Diploma of Education in 1973.
Career
Theatre Brown's career took him abroad to Britain, where he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and was the first Australian commissioned to write and perform in their own play The Swan Down Gloves. The show opened at the Barbican Theatre and had a Royal Command Performance. He appeared in the RSC's premiere production of The Wizard of Oz in the roles of the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch, for which he was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award in 1988.
As a member of the RSC, Brown toured with their productions throughout Europe, playing Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Munich. Brown also performed in the West End, at the Aldwych and Haymarket Theatres, the Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera and Dublin Theatre Festival.
Brown made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1986 in Michael Frayn's Wild Honey with Ian McKellen, directed by Christopher Morahan, and as a playwright with his adaptation of a benefit performance of A Christmas Carol in 1985, featuring Len Cariou as Scrooge. That same year his adaptation of A Christmas Carol was staged in London and on Broadway, and then the following year at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois starring F. Murray Abraham as Scrooge.
Brown returned to Australia to live permanently in 1996. He had an outstanding career on stage and performed for many leading Australian theatre companies, including Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare Company, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Company B, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Marian St Theatre, La Boite and the Old Tote Theatre at the Sydney Opera House.
In 1996, he directed the Australian stage production of Hugh Lunn's Over the Top with Jim, which exceeded box office expectations. He had huge success with his role as Count Almaviva in Beaumarchais' The Marriage of Figaro, with Geoffrey Rush, which opened the new Playhouse in Brisbane in September 1998. In 1999 he also had major success throughout Australia as Oscar Wilde in the Belvoir St production of David Hare's The Judas Kiss, for which he won a Matilda Award.
Brown also directed John Cleese in his solo show John Cleese – His Lifetimes and Medical Problems, as well as directing the operas Don Giovanni and Samson and Delilah.
In 2009, Brown wrote and performed in Queensland Theatre Company's The School of Arts, a production about 'College Players' who toured Shakespeare through Queensland in the late 1960s. He also wrote Bill and Mary, based on imaginary conversations between the poet Mary Gilmore and the portrait painter William Dobell while she was sitting for him. and Aladdin for The Old Vic, starring Sir Ian McKellan.
Brown was the recipient of a 2009 Helpmann Award for his role as King Arthur in the musical Monty Python musical Spamalot. In 2012, he performed to critical acclaim as Bruscon in sell-out seasons of Thomas Bernhard's play The Histrionic in both Melbourne and Sydney, receiving a Helpmann Awards nomination.
In 2002, when the Queensland Theatre Company moved to Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), they named their theatre space the "Bille Brown Studio", in recognition of Brown's contribution to the Arts and the 29 QTC productions he had appeared in.
Film and television John Cleese cast Brown in 1997 film Fierce Creatures (the sequel to A Fish Called Wanda), after spotting him performing onstage at Stratford in the UK.
Brown appeared in several other films, including Oscar and Lucinda (1997) as Percy Smith, The Dish (2000) as the Prime Minister, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) as Coriakin, Killer Elite (2011) as Colonel Fitz and Singularity (2013) as Egerton.
Brown also appeared in a variety of Australian television roles. He had a 13 episode recurring role as Lightfoot in drama series Big Sky in 1999. He played Howard in miniseries A Difficult Woman (1999), and Booth in miniseries The Farm (2001).
He made guest appearances in Medivac (1997), Bad Cop, Bad Cop (2002), White Collar Blue (2003), Grass Roots (2003), The Cooks (2004), The Hollowmen (2008), All Saints (2000 and 2009), Wild Boys (2011), Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Rake (both 2012). He also guested in US series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1999) and UK series Heartbeat (2009).
He played former Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in the made for television film Curtin. Brown was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for his supporting role as George Ritchie in the 2009 television film 3 Acts of Murder.
Teaching Brown was Artist-in-Residence at the State University of New York in 1982, a visiting professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and Writer-in-Residence at The Acting Company, New York.
In 1999 he accepted an offer to be Adjunct Professor in the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland, and gave workshops and master classes for drama students. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the university in 2011.
Brown was also Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Australian Catholic University (ACU), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), The Michael Chekhov Studio and University of New York.
Honours and awards Year Work Award Category Result 1988 The Wizard of Oz Laurence Olivier Awards Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actor in a Musical 1992 Twelfth Night Matilda Awards Gold Matilda Award for Performance in a Play 1999 Judas Kiss Matilda Awards Performance in a Play 2001 Bille Brown Centenary Medal Distinguished Service to the Arts 2009 Monty Python's Spamalot Helpmann Awards Best Male Actor in a Musical 2009 3 Acts of Murder Australian Film Institute Awards Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama 2011 Bille Brown Australia Day Honours List Member of the Order of Australia (AM) Service to the performing arts as an actor and playwright, and to education 2011 Bille Brown University of Queensland Honorary Doctorate of Letters 2012 The Histrionic Helpmann Awards Best Male Actor in a Play
Personal life Brown was often referred to as "The Boy from Biloela".
He had a sister, Rita Carter, who was a primary school teacher in Kenmore, Brisbane.
Brown was openly gay. He had two long-term relationships, including a male live-in partner in the US, but also had girlfriends.
Death Brown died after a year-long battle with bowel cancer on 13 January 2013, two days after his 61st birthday, in the suburb of Chermside in Brisbane. After a private funeral, a public memorial service was held at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on 4 February 2013. The eulogy was delivered by longtime friend and colleague Geoffrey Rush.
Filmography
Film Year Work Award Type 1997 Fierce Creatures Neville Coltrane Feature film 1997 Oscar and Lucinda Percy Smith Feature film 1999 Passion John Grainger Feature film 2000 Walk the Talk Barry Feature film 2000 The Dish Prime Minister Feature film 2001 Serenades Pastor Hoffman Feature film 2001 The Man Who Sued God Gerry Ryan Feature film 2002 Black and White Sir Thomas Playford Feature film 2002 Dirty Deeds Senator Feature film 2003 Silent Storm Hedley Marston Docudrama film 2005 Blackjack: In the Money Tez Miller TV movie 2007 Curtin Robert Menzies TV movie 2007 Unfinished Sky Bob Potter Feature film 2008 Ascension The Leader Short film 2008 Dying Breed Harvey / Rowan Feature film 2009 The Pessimist Bob Short film 2009 3 Acts of Murder George Ritchie TV movie 2009 At World's End (aka Ved verdens ende) James Hall Feature film 2010 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Coriakin Feature film 2011 The Eye of the Storm Dudley Feature film 2011 Killer Elite Colonel Fitz Feature film 2011 Mug's Game Bill Mayer Short film 2012 Silver Stiletto Father Hegerty Short film 2013 Singularity (aka The Lovers) Egerton (final film role) Feature film
Television Year Work Award Type 1997 Medivac Prosecutor TV series, season 2, 2 episodes 1998 A Difficult Woman Howard Miniseries, 3 episodes 1999 Big Sky Lightfoot TV series, season 2, 13 episodes 1999 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Hinkel TV series, season 3, episode 1: "Tales of Innocence" 2001 The Farm Booth Miniseries, 3 episodes 2002 Bad Cop, Bad Cop Detective 'Blue' Wales Miniseries, episode 2: "He Who Slips on Milkshakes" 2003 White Collar Blue Tony Heron TV series, season 1, episode 18 2003 Grass Roots Hector Abbott TV series, season 2, episode 6: "Egomania" 2004 The Cooks Colin TV series, episode 5: "Waltzing Sakamoto" 2008 The Hollowmen Senator Ron Engels TV series, episode 2: "The Ambassador" 2000, 2009 All Saints Steve Coulter / Bill Lewis TV series, 3 episodes 2009 Heartbeat Sergeant Flaherty TV series, season 18, 2 episodes 2011 Wild Boys Booth TV series, episode 12 2012 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Bart Tarrant TV series, season 1, episode 6: "Ruddy Gore" The Kennedys Miniseries 2012 Rake Dominic Rose TV series, season 2, episode 7: "Greene vs Hole"
Theatre
As actor