Betty Lucas

Actress

May 31, 1924 (91 years)

† July 4, 2015

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Betty Helen Lucas, also known as Betty Lucas Peterson, was an Australian character actress and theatre director, known for her numerous roles on stage and television. Lucas was born in Sydney, Australia and trained in theatre, moving to London in the early 1950's and taking up various stage roles. In 1965 Lucas returned to Australia and regularly appeared in stage, TV and feature film parts for over 40 years.

Filmography

6.5

Blue Heelers

Blue Heelers was one of Australia's longest running weekly television drama series. Blue Heelers is a police drama series set in the fictional country town of Mount Thomas. Under the watchful eye of Tom Croydon (John Wood), the men and women of Mount Thomas Police Station fight crime, resolve disputes and tackle the social issues of the day. We watch their successes and their failures and learn to grow with them and their loved ones as the heart of the series develops.

6.2

All Saints

Sister Bernard

Medical drama focusing on the working and personal lives of the doctors and nurses working on the front line of a busy inner city Emergency Department at All Saints Hospital.

6.6

The Flying Doctors

Ethel Cameron

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

6.3

Water Rats

Sybil Grantham

Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001.

5.9

A Country Practice

Mrs Bourke

A Country Practice was an Australian television drama series. At its inception, one of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, who had wrote the pilot episode and entered a script contest for the network in 1979, coming third and winning a merit award. It ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping, Sydney. After its lengthy run on the seven network it was picked up by network ten with a mainly new cast from April to November 1994 for 30 episodes, although the ten series was not as successful as its predecessor . The Channel Seven series was also filmed on location in Pitt Town, while, the Channel Ten series was filmed on location in Emerald, Victoria.

4.0

Pacific Drive

Pacific Drive is an Australian television series The series was conceived as a flamboyant, melodramatic soap opera and dealt with the lives of wealthy Australians living on the Gold Coast. Although criticised for being an Australian copy of the American soap opera Melrose Place, its outrageous storylines - including corporate scheming, various affairs, serial killers and a lesbian love triangle - saw the series gain a cult reputation.

5.6

Feed

Janet

A cybercrime investigator tracks a man suspected of force-feeding women to death.

N/A

Richmond Hill

Richmond Hill was an Australian television

10.0

The Surgeon

Elderly Patient Miriam Beck

The Surgeon was an Australian primetime television Medical drama. It screened at 9:30pm on Thursdays on Network Ten and in Ireland early morning on RTÉ One. The show was based at a fictional hospital named Sydney General Hospital. The first season consisted of 8 half-hour episodes. The show was not renewed for a second season due to a number of poor reviews and lack of sufficient ratings.

7.4

Whiplash

Whiplash is a British/Australian television series made by the Seven Network and ATV and ITC Entertainment. Filmed in 1959-60, the series was first broadcast in September 1960 in the United Kingdom followed by Australia in February 1961 and had opening titles featuring the Australian locale and terrain and a dozen wild kangaroos as a Cobb & Co stage passed pulled by a team of five horses driven by Cobb himself.

9.7

Skin Deep

Betty Kennedy

Drama and tensions rise as two determined partners in a successful Australian fashion empire will stop at nothing to achieve individual success.

5.5

Jindabyne

Vanessa

Outside the Australian town of Jindabyne, local man Stuart Kane is on a fishing trip with friends when they discover the body of a murdered girl.

4.1

Wendy Cracked a Walnut

Mrs Taggart

An Australian salesman's bored wife escapes in a fantasy world with her dream lover.

7.0

Joh's Jury

Evelyn

Dramatisation of the 1991 perjury trial of former Queensland state Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

4.5

My First Wife

Helen's Mother

My First Wife is about the dramatic collapse of the marriage between John and Helen. It is also a film about our children and the future we offer them. Helen has decided to leave, and it is John who lacks the inner resources to cope with the impending tragedy. Slowly he is sucked into a tunnel of despair – fighting his conservative nature and the romantic memories of his married life.

7.5

Three to Go

This anthology film brings together three stories—"Michael", "Judy", and "Toula"—each centered on a young Australian confronting personal and social choices about their future. Produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit, the film explores themes of identity, independence, and cultural tension through distinct perspectives from directors Brian Hannant, Oliver Howes, and Peter Weir.

N/A

The Ballad of Betty & Joe

The Fortune Teller

Every morning Betty tramps alone through the big city to join her fellow buskers in the pedestrian tunnel below, trying to earn a living. But her earnings are meager, and to make things worse, the new security guard, Joe, is trying to confiscate her fiddle. While Betty dreams of fame and fortune, Joe dreams of earplugs – something’s got to give!

7.0

Do I Have to Kill My Child?

Florence

A disturbing drama about a young mother who physically abuses her baby. Feeling overwhelmed and aware that she's not coping after the birth of her third child, she sends desperate cries for help. But her mother, husband, neighbour and clinic sister do not recognise the seriousness of the situation until the baby ends up in hospital with a fractured skull. A heart-wrenching film that illustrates the experiences of many women who suffer from post-natal depression.

7.5

They

Eight

"They say..." phrases are prescribed by the 'They' secret planning committee rather than developing organically from hearsay.

4.3

The Alternative

Melanie's Mother

Unmarried, beautiful and talented, Melanie Hilton discovers she is pregnant. The editor of a woman's magazine, she decides to have her baby and take leave from her job. Caught between her ex-lover and a colleague who wants to marry her, Melanie must find a solution or an alternative to her problem. When she falls in love with a woman, she questions the value of the traditional value unit.