Wynn Roberts (actor)

Australian actor (died 2021)

Wynn Roberts (born 1923/1924 – 24 August 2021) credited also as Wyn Roberts and Wynne Roberts, was an Australian radio, stage and screen actor who appeared in more than 70 film and television productions between the early 1950s and 2001. He appeared in numerous TV plays and also featured in TV miniseries over a career spanning 50 years.

His television credits include Homicide, Special Squad, The Flying Doctors, Police Rescue, A Country Practice and Wildside. He may be most recognisable to international audiences for his role in cult Grundy Television prison drama, Prisoner (also known as Prisoner: Cell Block H. 1979 1986), in which he appeared as (Stuart) Gillespie, a mean spirited prison department inspector, in episodes originally aired in 1980 81. His character's authoritarian regime led to the 1980 season cliffhanger, where a number of inmates escape in a tunnel which subsequently collapses, killing a prisoner and trapping others. Later, during 1987, he guest starred in another Grundy soap opera, Neighbours (1985 ), as Frank Darcy, an artist friend of Anne Haddy's character, Helen Daniels. The character memorably wore a leather eye patch and came from Bungle Bungles, and he and Helen almost moved there together, but in the end, Helen decided to stay in Melbourne with her family and Frank left without her. He is also known for his prominent role as Sergeant Bumpher in the 1975 film classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock. He was also a leading stage actor, starting from the late 1940s. He worked for a number of years in radio. A 1965 article called him "one of the best and most versatile actors left in Australia probably the best in Melbourne".