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Hazel Phillips

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Hazel Phillips
Born
Hazel Julia Lovegrove[1]

17 November 1929 (1929-11-17) (age 94)
NationalityBritish / Australian
Occupations
  • Singer
  • television personality
  • actress
  • talk show hostess
  • entertainer
Years active1956–present
Known forGirl Talk
Notable work

Hazel Julia Phillips (née Lovegrove) OAM (born 17 November 1929)[1][2][3] is a British singer, actress and television talk show personality with a notable career in Australia.

Phillips is also a playwright, composer and lyricist who has written numerously for the stage, been a compere of radio shows, a newspaper columnist and briefly operated a dinner cabaret restaurant.[4]

She has worked as an interviewer in Hollywood, where she interviewed numerous stars, such as Bing Crosby, Paul Newman and Omar Shariff and Fess Parker.[5][6]

Phillips has the apparent distinction of playing the world's first lesbian character on TV, the character Marie Crowther on the serial Number 96.[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]

Biography

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Early life

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[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 won the beauty pageant Miss South England. At the age of 20, she became engaged to Bill Phillips, 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 were no seat belts in vehicles, the family was involved in a serious car accident, and Phillips sustained severe injuries to her chin. Her marriage broke up some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin, her husband's infidelity and an ectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up.

Early career

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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, where she became a regular after having to choose between Bramston and Beauty and the Beast.[9]

Gold Logie, television, film and theatre

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After leaving the Seven network she hosted 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 in 1967.[10] This was won jointly with Graham Kennedy who won the male award. She was the second female star to win that honour after entertainer Lorrae Desmond, who won in 1962.[9] She had 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[11]

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.[12]

Honours and awards

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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.[13] Honoured
1967 Logie Awards Gold Logie Girl Talk Won

Autobiography

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In 2008, her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star (ISBN 9781921406171), was published by Zeus Publications.[14]

Health

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Phillips is an activist for alternative medicine, she suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and underwent a hip replacement[when?]

Australia’s Got Talent

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Phillips in 2011, performed in the fifth series of Australia's Got Talent.[15] 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 Scott’s quartet as a vocalist on occasion.

Filmography

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Film and television

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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
Television
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
1977; 1979 The Mike Walsh Show Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
1978 Chopper Squad Maureen McNair Episode: "Lifeboat"
1979; 1982 The Mike Walsh Show Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
1982 The Mike Walsh Show Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
1986 Kids 21st Birthday Channel Ten Telethon Guest - Herself TV special
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
2012 The Morning Show Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
2012 Today Tonight Guest - Herself with Carmen Duncan & Denise Drysdale TV series, 1 episode
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)
2023 Studio 10 Herself TV series, 1 episode

Television appearances

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Year Title Role
1960 Bentley's Bandbox (TV series) Starring. as herself
1961 The Lorrae Desmond Show (TV series) 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
1966 Girl Talk (TV series) Herself - Host
1969 The Don Lane Show Guest
1994 The Mavis Bramston Show 30th Anniversary Special (TV special) Guest - Herself
2007 Beauty and the Beast Panellist
2011 Australia's Got Talent Singer
2012 The Morning Show Herself - Guest

References

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  1. ^ a b Phillips, Hazel (2008). Black River, Bright Star. Zeus Publications. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  2. ^ National Library of Australia record.
  3. ^ Golden Girl Hazel Phillips makes mistakes, Gold Coast Bulletin, 29 November 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Hazel Phillips". AusStage.
  5. ^ a b c "EXCLUSIVE: TV Queen Hazel Phillips 'I'll retire when Im dead'".
  6. ^ "Australia's Golden Girls: Denise Drysdale & Hazel Phillips". YouTube.
  7. ^ Giles, Nigel "Number 96: Australia's Most Infamous Address"
  8. ^ "Aussie screen legend Hazel Phillips revels the line Netflix cut".
  9. ^ a b Hazel Phillips, Talking Heads with Peter Thompson (ABC TV), 16 April 2007.
  10. ^ "TV Week Logie Awards: 50 years ago". Television.AU. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Winning a Gold Logie is not always a passport to stardom".
  12. ^ Knox, David. "Hazel Phillips remembers TV pay gaps | TV Tonight". TV Tonight. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ^ PHILLIPS, Hazel Julia, It's an Honour, 13 June 2005.
  14. ^ Black river, bright star : an autobiography / Hazel Phillips, National Library of Australia, 2008.
  15. ^ Byrne, Fiona (7 May 2011). "Golden voice of Logie winner Hazel Phillips still in the spotlight". Herald Sun. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
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