Tommy Dysart

Australian actor (1935–2022)

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Tommy Dysart

Born|

Thomas Gibson Dysart

(1935-12-24)24 December 1935

Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland

Died| 7 June 2022 (aged 86)

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Education| National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)
Occupations|

* Actor
* commercial advertiser

Years active| 1959[1]–2022

Thomas Gibson Dysart (24 December 1935 – 7 June 2022) was a Scottish-born Australian actor, known for his appearances on television dramas and comedies and in character roles in films and miniseries.

## Early career[edit]

Dysart graduated from NIDA[2] in 1959, and started his career as a vocalist and performed in theatre.[1]

## Film and TV roles[edit]

High-profile early roles included appearances in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Phoenix Five, and several roles in the Crawford Productions police drama series Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police and Cop Shop.

Dysart appeared briefly in the series Prisoner in the early 1980s, where he played what is perhaps his best-known acting role, that of vicious and cold prison officer Jock Stewart. In the storyline, after being fired from the prison service Stewart admitted to prisoner Judy Bryant that he was the one responsible for murdering her lesbian lover, fellow prisoner Sharon Gilmour. This revelation brought to a close a murder-mystery storyline in the series but launched a long-running story-arc where Bryant repeatedly escaped from prison in a succession of attempts to exact her revenge on Stewart.

After this, Dysart continued in guest-starring television roles in drama series and situation comedies, and appeared in many feature films. His films included The Man from Snowy River (1982), Bliss (1985), Garbo (1992), and Flynn (1996). Television roles of the 1990s included appearances in All Together Now, The Games, State Coroner, Blue Heelers, Something in the Air and Neighbours. He also provided the voice for Captain Griswald in Anthony Lucas' animated short film The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005).

## Commercial advertisements[edit]

In the 1990s he appeared in a well-remembered television commercial advertisement for the Yellow Pages where he calls a series of mechanics about his problematic Goggomobil, ("G, O, G, G, O ... No! No! Not the Dart").[3] He was also known for playing a recurring character of a Mafia-boss-like butcher in advertisements for Don Smallgoods.

In the early 2000s he continued his Goggomobil persona advertising Shannons Insurance. The concept played on the role of a person searching for the car parts as any car enthusiast would. Telstra challenged this in the Supreme Court and Shannons withdrew the advertisements, but continued with Dysart and the accent (which Dysart insisted was his own and could not change). The adverts continue and Shannons Insurance also owns several of the Goggomobil cars which feature regularly in their shows. Dysart and Joan Brockenshire appeared in Karl von Möller's 2019 documentary "D'art".[4]

## Filmography[edit]

### Film[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1965 |  Moby Dick - Rehearsed |  | TV movie
1965 | The Big Killing | Sergeant Bassett | TV movie
1969 | It Takes All Kinds | Seaman | Feature film
1972 | The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui |  | TV movie
1982 | The Man from Snowy River | Mountain Man | Feature film
1982 | Next of Kin | Harry | Feature film
1982 | The Clinic | Patient | Feature film
1985 | Bliss | De Vere | Feature film
1985 | I Live with Me Dad | Griffin | Feature film
1986 | Sky Pirates | Bartender | Feature film
1986 | The Big Hurt | Schwartz | Feature film
1987 | Ground Zero | British Veteran | Feature film
1988 | Backstage | Head Waiter - Reception | Feature film
1988 | Georgia | Bystander | Feature film
1990 | What the Moon Saw | Skip | Feature film
1992 | Garbo | Bagpipes | Feature film
1992 | Come Rain or Shine |  | Feature film (starred with son Kole Dysart)
1993 | Flynn (aka My Forgotten Man) | Macintosh | Feature film
1993 | Body Melt | Sergeant | Feature film
1994 | Metal Skin | Mr Graham | Feature film
1995 | The Final Stage | Stinky Radford | Feature film
1995 | Mushrooms | Wilson | Feature film
1996 | River Street | Sergeant | Feature film
1999 | Strange Fits of Passion | Taxi Driver | Feature film
2000 | Wee Jimmy | Grandad | Short film
2001 | Four Jacks | Lance | Feature film
2002 | The Real Thing | Husband | Feature film
2005 | The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello | Captain Otto H. Griswald (voice) | Animated short film
2009 | Remembering Nigel | Tommy Dysart | Short film (starred with son Kole Dysart)
2009 | Crazy in the Night | Jock | Short film
2011 | Hands.Hands | Old Man | Short film
2018 | A Thin Life | The Man | Feature film
2019 | D'art | Self | Documentary film
2021 | Frankly - A Life in the Circus | Self | Feature film

### Television[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1963 | Consider Your Verdict | Jack McLean | TV series, 1 episode
1965 | The Stranger |  | TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1968 | Skippy the Bush Kangaroo | Andrews | TV series, 1 episode
1969 | Division 4 | George Baker | TV series, 1 episode
1970 | The Rovers | Butcher | TV series, 1 episode
1970 | Phoenix Five | Gunfighter | TV series, 1 episode
1971, 1973 | Matlock Police | Ted Woods / Abdul | TV series, 2 episodes
1974 | Silent Number | Sand | TV series, 1 episode
1975 | Behind the Legend |  | TV series, 1 episode
1964-75 | Homicide | George Hogan, Jeffrey Hodges, Anthony Scott, Angus Lawrence, Chris Doyle, Van Driver, Osman Rados, Neil Campbell, Nicolo Rogowski | TV series, 9 episodes
1975 | Ben Hall | Haigh | TV series, 1 episode
1975 | Luke's Kingdom | Lug | TV miniseries, 1 episode
1978 | The Truckies |  | TV series, 1 episode
1978 | Against the Wind | Settler / Travers / Drunken Rebel | TV miniseries, 3 episodes
1979 | Skyways | Paddy McDonald | TV series, 1 episode
1979 | The Sullivans | Fergus McCullough | TV series, 1 episode
1980 | Young Ramsay | Paddy Rourke | TV series, 1 episode
1980 | Water Under the Bridge | Hamish | TV miniseries, 1 episode
1980 | The Last Outlaw | Superintendent | TV miniseries, 4 episodes
1981 | Are You Being Served? | Kilted Customer | TV series, 1 episode
1977-81 | Cop Shop | Dimonicus, Don Morgan, John Ford, Lawrence Peck | TV series, 7 episodes
1980-82 | Prisoner | Jock Stewart | TV series, 12 episodes
1982 | Come Midnight Monday | Angus McPhee | TV series, 5 episodes
1982 | Women of the Sun | Joe | TV miniseries, 1 episode
1983 | Carson's Law | Captain Robinson | TV series, 1 episode
1983 | Infinity Limited | Henry | TV series, episode 15: The Big Lift
1984 | Five Mile Creek | Trantor | TV series, 1 episode
1984 |  Special Squad | Scottie / Bingo Caller | TV series, 2 episodes
1984 | Eureka Stockade | Tom Kennedy | TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1985 | The Fast Lane | Neville | TV series, 1 episode
1985 | Trapp, Wrinkle and Box | Various | TV series
1985 | Zoo Family | McGregor | TV series, 1 episode
1986 | Alice to Nowhere | Fighting Scotsman | TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1986, 1987 | The Flyimg Doctors | Inspector Kevin Day / Simpson | TV series, 2 episodes
1990 | Friday on My Mind |  |
1991 | Boys from the Bush | Nick | TV series, 1 episode
1991 | All Together Now | Barkeeper | TV series, 1 episode
1991 | Chances | Trevor Russell | TV series, 1 episode
1991 | Kelly | Sgt Terry Blake | TV series, 2 episode
1992 | Round the Twist | Bus Driver | TV series, 1 episode
1992, 1993 | The Late Show | Goggomobile Man | TV series, 2 episodes
1994 | Wedlocked | Marvin / Hot Dog Man | TV series, 4 episodes
1995 | Snowy River: The McGregor Saga | Mr Couch | TV series, 1 episode
1998 | Good Guys, Bad Guys | Athol Amoroso | TV series, 1 episode
| The Games | Taxu Driver | TV series, 1 episode
1998 | State Coroner | Robeet Ash | TV series, 1 episode
2000 | Blue Heelers | Jimmy Fong | TV series, season 7, 1 episode
2001 | Neighbours | Fergus MacLeod | TV series, 1 episode
2001 | Pizza | 50s Pizza Couple | TV series, 1 episode
2001 | Something in the Air | Roy Suede | TV series, 2 episodes

## Theatre[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1975-77 | The Rocky Horror Show | Narrator | Regent Palace Theatre, 458 performances

## Personal life[edit]

Dysart enjoyed a long personal and professional relationship with director and writer Frank Howson. They worked together on the films Backstage, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, What the Moon Saw, Flynn, Crime Time, The Final Stage, Lucky Country, and the award-winning short film Remembering Nigel, which also featured Dysart's wife and son Kole.

Dysart was married to actress Joan Brockenshire. On 18 February 2022, Dysart suffered a stroke and was taken to the Alfred Hospital.[5] He died on 7 June 2022 in Melbourne, Victoria at the age of 86.[6]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Tommy Dysart".
2. ^ "Cast of thousands cheers for NIDA's 50th birthday". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
3. ^ "Sheer dartistry a-Goggo". www.theaustralian.com.au. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
4. ^ "Review: 'D'art'". 25 June 2020.
5. ^ "Frankly: A Life in the Circus - A film by Roberto Chuter on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022.[user-generated source]
6. ^ "Vale Tommy Dysart 1935–2022". Shannons Club. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.

## External links[edit]

* Tommy Dysart at IMDb
* Tommy Dysart discography at Discogs

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Spain