AustLit

Actor, playwright, singer, composer, TV presenter, director.

OVERVIEW

Grahame Bond has worked extensively within the Australian entertainment industry as a theatre, film, and television actor; writer; musician; composer; recording artist; and television and radio presenter. The creator of the infamous 'Aunty Jack', arguably his most famous role, Bond has also been responsible for several other identifiably Aussie characters, including Kev Kavanagh (the dedicated meat aesthete) and Terry Shakespeare, protagonist of the musical play Boy's Own McBeth, which he co-wrote with Jim Burnett.

DETAILED BIOGRAPHY

Grahame Bond was educated at Canterbury Boys High School in Sydney and, later, at the University of Sydney, from which he graduated in 1966 with an architecture degree. He briefly tutored at the university following his graduation. During his time as a tertiary student, he also wrote and performed in numerous student productions, notably the Architecture Revues' The Great Wall of Porridge and Balloon Dubloon. The latter revue was developed into The Candy Striped Balloon, which was staged by the Phillip Street Theatre in 1969 and revised in 1970 as Drip Dry Dreams.

1971 was a watershed year for Bond. Two musical theatre works, the revue Filth and the pantomime Hamlet on Ice, for which he wrote the music (along with Rory O'Donoghue), were staged, with the latter production garnering positive reviews from the critics and attracting good audiences during its season at Sydney's Nimrod Theatre. Bond was also heavily involved in two locally produced films that year. He acted in and co-produced (with Richard Brennan) Peter Weir's Homesdale and had a hand in two short films made by the Commonwealth Film Unit under the title Three to Go. For 'Judy,' he wrote the original music, and he took on an acting role in 'Michael.'

1971 also marked the beginning of Bond's association with television through the ABC's half-hour television program The Comedy Game. The series was developed to showcase self-contained comedy plays in the hope that they might eventuate into their own series. One of the earliest episodes was a skit called 'Aunty Jack'; Bond had previously offered her to the ABC as a radio character to help fill the vacuum left by The Argonauts. A surreal and satirical piece based around a central character who has been described as a cross between a pantomime dame and a stand-over man, the sketch successfully transitioned into the ground-breaking series The Aunty Jack Show (1971-73). Sydney Morning Herald critic Gavin Souter, writing about the series upon its finale in December 1973, argues that the show was 'no less illogical or surreal than the British Monty Python's Flying Circus' but perhaps more original, and certainly 'far more interesting musically. It uses pathos and violence to better effect' (23 December 1973, p.12). Two of the show's principle characters, Aunty Jack and Errol, were played by Bond, with other characters played by Rory O'Donoghue (Thin Arthur and Neil), John Derum (Neville), Sandra MacGregor (Flange Desire), and Maurice Murphy. Several musical recordings were released by the Aunty Jack team, including the theme song and a duet by Neil and Errol called 'The Last Refrain' (1974).

In 1973, the ABC presented two episodes of another Bond creation, the bumbling bushranger Flash Nick From Jindavick, as part of its Comedy Game series. The cast for this pilot, which Bond wrote while holidaying in Noumea, included John Meillon and Martin Harris. A further four episodes were produced in 1974, with the scripts written in collaboration with Bill Harding, Gary Reilly, Tony Sattler, and John Wood. That same year saw the stage production of Wollongong the Brave, which was to be produced by the ABC the following year. Only four episodes were made, however. Amongst those who collaborated with Bond on the show were writers Tim Gooding and Rory O'Donoghue, along with director Ted Robinson and actor Gary McDonald. Essentially a satirical comedy set in and about the southern NSW steel city, Wollongong the Brave marked the debut of McDonald's brilliant character Norman Gunston, as well as Bond's own Kev Kavanagh. Bond returned to the stage later that year when he took a rock-theatre production of Aunty Jack in the Gong on a national tour.

In 1976, Bond was awarded a travel grant from the Film and Television Board of the Australia Council Bond, which he made use of the following year. Prior to leaving for the United Kingdom, he produced another television series for the ABC, called the Off Show. It had the distinction, however, of having three of its episodes taken off air due to the broadcaster's misgivings over the content. During his time in the United Kingdom, Bond wrote and performed a one-hour Aunty Jack special titled The Little Big Show on London Weekend TV (1978). The following year, his most successful stage play, Boy's Own McBeth (co-written with Jim Burnett) premiered in Sydney. It has been performed extensively throughout Australia since then.

The release of the film Fatty Finn in 1980 saw Bond and Rory O'Donoghue win an AFI Award for their collaboration on the soundtrack. That same year, he also wrote and directed the musical Captain Bloody for the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. During the rest of the 1980s, Bond's career revolved around both television and theatre. The Grahame Bond Show (1985) was followed in 1987 by News Free Zone. The following year, Bond again teamed up with Rory O'Donoghue in order to present a cabaret show. He also appeared at the opening of Queensland's Sanctuary Cove, presenting a stand-up comedy routine on the same bill as Frank Sinatra. In 1990, he moved away from performing, after opening his own advertising agency. After selling the firm in 1996, he put his architectural knowledge to use as co-host of the popular (and award-winning) lifestyle program Better Homes and Gardens.

In addition to his extensive list of credits, Grahame Bond has also been involved in numerous other projects as an actor, appearing in such films as 'Michael' (one of the stories in Three To Go, 1970), Private Collection (1972) as Kleptoman, and in The True Story Of Eskimo Nell (1975) as Bogger. Since 2000, he has undertaken numerous travel adventures, including spending time in Jordan with Australian archaeologists, trekking through Nepal, canoeing in Kakadu, cycling from Hanoi to Saigon, travelling though Papua New Guinea while making a documentary, and producing another documentary called The Volunteer.