Harold Hopkins (actor)

Harold Douglas Hopkins (6 March 1944 – 11 December 2011) was an Australian film and television actor.

Early life

Hopkins was born in 1944 in Toowoomba, Queensland.^[1] He attended Toowoomba Grammar School as a day boy in 1958 and 1959. During the 1960s, he worked as an apprentice carpenter, and was exposed to asbestos fibres without protective masks or clothing.^[2] He and his twin brother John enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, with Harold graduating in 1967.^[3]

Harold Hopkins married twice. His second marriage was to Sue Collie, an actress he met in Melbourne in 1977, while starring in the original stage production of David Williamson's The Club at the MTC.

Career

Hopkins appeared in 16 films over the course of his career, including classic Australian films such as Don's Party, The Picture Show Man and Gallipoli. He was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award in 1981 for his supporting role in The Club. Hopkins also appeared in more than 160 episodes of Australian television series such as Barrier Reef, Homicide, The Godfathers, Twenty Good Years, Sara Dane, A Nice Little Earner and Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.^[4] Harold also had a major co-starring role opposite Jeannie Drynan in the ABC's 1969 drama "Pastures of the Blue Crane".

Hopkin's last audition was for a role in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, although he knew he would not live to play the role.

Harold Hopkins won a Penguin Award in 1974 for his portrayal of Percy Deane in John Power's Docu Drama Billy and Percy.

Death

In 2011, Hopkins was diagnosed with mesothelioma, believed to be due to his asbestos exposure in the 1960s. He died in a Sydney hospice in Wahroonga on 11 December 2011.^[2]

Selected filmography

• Age of Consent (1969) – Ted Farrell
• Don's Party (1976) – Cooley
• The Picture Show Man (1977) – Larry Pym
• The Club (1980) – Danny Rowe
• Gallipoli (1981) – Les McCann
• Monkey Grip (1982) – Willie
• Buddies (film) (1983) – Johnny
• Fantasy Man (1984)
• Fields of Fire (1987) – Whacker
• The Year My Voice Broke (1987) – Tom Alcock

Selected television roles

• Motel (1968) – Bruce Jackson
• Pastures of the Blue Crane (1969) - Perry the taxi driver
• Barrier Reef (1972) – Steve Gabbo
• Sara Dane (1982) – Andrew McLeay
• Big Ideas (1993 tele-movie) – Sam Stevens
• Outriders (2001) – Hayden Simpson
• Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (2009) – George Joseph

References

External links

• Harold Hopkins on IMDb