Hazel Julia Phillips (née Lovegrove) OAM (born 17 November 1929)[1][2][3] is a British-Australian singer, actress and television talk show personality with a notable career in Australia.
Hazel Phillips OAM | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hazel Julia Lovegrove[1] 17 November 1929 (1929-11-17) (age 92) Battersea, County of London, England |
| Nationality | British / Australian |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1956–present |
| Known for | Girl Talk |
| Notable work |
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She is also a playwright, composer and lyricist who has written numerously for the stage, and compere of radio shows and a newspaper columnist and briefly operated a dinner cabaret restaurant.[4]
Phillips worked as an interviewer in Hollywood, where she interviewed numerous such stars as Bing Crosby, Paul Newman and Omar Shariff and Fess Parker.[5][6]
Phillips has the distinction of apparently playing the world's first lesbian character on TV, on the serial Number 96, as Marie Crowther.[7]
Phillips has appeared in numerous films including the Australian film The Set in 1970 and more recently in 2021, the Netflix film Love and Monsters, and scheduled in a Paramount film starring Sam Neill, and a TV commercial for Ford motors[8]
She is often depicted as Australia's answer to Betty White in terms of career success and longevity.[5]
[5] Phillips was born as Hazel Lovegrove in Battersea (now Wandsworth), County of London (now south London). She has been singing and dancing since the age of three and in 1948 wonthe beauty pagent of Miss South England. At the age of 20, she became engaged to her husband Bill,a carpenter turned TV director and they emigrated to Australia as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1950–51, marrying shortly afterwards and having two children, Mark (born 1953) and Scott (born 1955). In 1961, at a time there where then no seat belts in vehicles the family was involved in a serious car accident, and Phillips sustaining severe injuries to her chin. Her husband left them some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin, her husband s affair with a dancer and an ectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up of their marriage.
Phillips started her career at radio 2UE, having won a talent contest for Miss television in Australia. Active in television since its inception in Australia, she became one of the first personalities on Network Seven. in 1963, Phillips made her break into show business with a role on the talk show Beauty and the Beast opposite beast Eric Baume. She also began to appear on the satirical The Mavis Bramston Show, which she became a regular on after being told to choose between Bramston and Beauty and the Beast.[9]
She had left the seven network and was hosting the midday talk show Girl Talk on the fledgling Network Ten, for which she won the Gold Logie Award for the most popular female personality on Australian television, jointly winning with Graham Kennedy who won the male award, she was the second female star locally in win that honour after entertainer Lorrae Desmond.[9]
Guest roles on numerous television shows including Number 96 (as a lesbian sharing a flat with Vera), Matlock Police, A Country Practice, G.P. and Pacific Drive, as well as mini-series Bride of Christ.
Films include The Set (as a nude swimmer), Midnight Dancer, Walking Emily Home. and Monster Problems
Theatre roles starting from 1956 include The Circle, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice and The Merry Wives of Windsor[4]
She also featured in a Marilyn Monroe Cabaret Show in 2002[10]
In 2020, Phillips spoke to the Studio 10 program about gender pay gaps in the entertainment industry, stating female television hosts were paid less than their male counterparts, and that in the 1960s she had been paid less than one-tenth of the salaries paid to stars like Graham Kennedy and Don Lane.[11]
| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Government of Australian - Queens Birthday Honours | Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | For service to the entertainment industry, particularly in the areas of the performing arts and television, and to the community as a fundraiser for charitable groups.[12] | Honoured |
| 1967 | Logie Awards | Gold Logie | Girl Talk | Won |
In 2008, her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star (ISBN 9781921406171), was published by Zeus Publications.[13]
Phillips is an activist for alternative medicine, she suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and underwent a hip replacement[when?]
Phillips in 2011, performed in the fifth series of Australia's Got Talent.[14] and performed the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young" and the Marilyn Monroe, song Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. Phillips reached the semi-finals in the over-65 category, but was eliminated in the public vote. She still performs with her son's quartet as a vocalist.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | The Set | Peggy Sylvester | |
| 1975 | Until Tomorrow | Marge Stewart | |
| 1987 | Midnight Dancer | Doreen | |
| 1996 | Little White Lies | ||
| 2000 | Walking Emily Home | Auntie | |
| 2012 | Trinkets | Rose Hayes | film short |
| 2012 | Edna | Edna | film short |
| 2020 | Monster Problems | Janice |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | The Comedy Game | — | |
| 1972 | The Virgin Fellas | — | |
| Birds in the Bush | Maggie | ||
| Boney | Candy Barr | Episode: "Boney Buys a Coffin" | |
| Matlock Police | Thelma Brewster | Episode: "Titch" | |
| 1973 | Lucy McCain | Episode: "The Recurrence of Brandy McBain" | |
| Number 96 | Marie Crowther | ||
| Ryan | Lorna | Episode: "Way Back" | |
| 1975 | Until Tomorrow | Marge Stewart | |
| 1978 | Chopper Squad | Maurine McNair | Episode: "Lifeboat" |
| 1989 | Fields of Fire III | Usherette | |
| 1990 | A Country Practice | Blanche Perkins | Episode: "Sisters II: Part 2" |
| 1991 | Brides of Christ | Mrs. Purley | Episode: "Diane" |
| 1991-92 | G.P. | Rita Edwards | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Midday With Kerri-Anne | Herself - Guest | 1 episode |
| 1995 | Fire | Belle | Episode: "The Rip Off" |
| 1996 | Pacific Drive | — | |
| 1997 | Monday To Friday | Herself - Guest | 1 episode |
| 1997 | The Wayne Manifesto | Dottie Fingleton | 3 episodes |
| 1998;1999 | Good Morning Australia | Herself - Guest | 1 episode |
| 1998;2000 | Denise | Herself - Guest | 1 episode |
| 1998 | Misery Guts | American Tourist | Episode: "Road to Riches" |
| 1999 | Good Morning Australia | Herself - Guest | 1 episode |
| 2000 | Denise | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2000 | Walking Emily Home | Auntie | TV Movie |
| 2007 | Mortified | Aunt Ally | Episode: "The Family Tree" |
| 2007 | Talking Heads | Herself - Guest | ABC TV series, 1 episode |
| 2011 | Australia's Got Talent | Herself - Contestant / Performer | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2020 | The End | Beth's Grandma | Episode: "Toxic Shock Syndrome" |
| 2021 | Edna (film short) | Edna | |
| 2022 | Upright (TV series) | Val (guest role) (episode 2.2) |
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1960 | Bentley's Bandbox (TV series) | Starring. as herself |
| 1964 | The Mavis Bramston Show (TV series) | Various |
| 1964 | Beauty and the Beast (TV series) | Panellist |
| 1966 | The Barry Crocker Show (TV series) | Guest |
| 1969 | The Don Lane Show | Guest |
| 2007 | Beauty and the Beast | Panellist |
| 2011 | Australia's Got Talent | Singer |
Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television | |
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| 1960s |
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| 1970s |
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| 1980s |
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| 1990s |
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| 2000s |
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| 2010s |
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Logie Awards | |