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Dinah Shearing (AM)
Dinah Shearing (AM)
Born	Dinah Hilary Shearing; 12 February 1926; Sydney, Australia
Died	14 June 2021 (aged 95); Erina, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actress

Dinah Hilary Shearing AM (12 February 1926 – 14 June 2021) was an Australian actress, active in all facets of the industry, in particular theatre.

Early life and education

Dinah Hilary Shearing was born on 12 February 1926^{[citation needed]} in Sydney, to English parents.^[1]

She attained honours in exams to A.Mus.A at Sydney Conservatorium in 1945.^[2]

Career

Shearing appeared on stage, radio, television and films in a career that spanned more than 60 years.^[2]

Subverted from her initial intention of becoming a commercial artist or a singer, she began acting with May Hollinworth's Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney after graduation. Soon, her "distinctively mellifluous voice" led to her being recruited into radio during its so-called "Golden Era" where she became a national favourite on serials such as Dr Paul (in which she played the leading character for ten years), Tudor Princess and Tudor Queen (all three, 1950s Grace Gibson productions,^[2]plus Dossier on Dumetrius. Other radio serials, programmes and appearances included the Colgate Hour, The Macquarie Radio Theatre, Lux Radio Theatre, and most notably, work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,

From there, Shearing was drafted into the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and later, the Old Tote Theatre Company and gave performances that "transcended her young years",^[3] touring nationally from her Sydney base. Most memorably, she gave what critics called "the definitive" performance of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.^[4] She worked with the Sydney Theatre Company Melbourne Theatre Company, Independent Theatre and many others.

Her performances drew admiring reviews from Sydney critics, including Lindsay Brown, Harry Kippax, and Geoffrey Thomas.

Shearing also appeared in some of Australia's earliest TV dramas.^[5] She worked with the Nine Network, Crawford Productions, ABC, the Seven Network, Disney International, and many others.

Recognition, honours, and awards

She became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993.^[6]

Recognition for her work included the following awards:

1952: Macquarie Award, female lead role, for her performance in One Way Street, awarded by the Macquarie Broadcasting Service and 2GB Radio^[7]
1985: Penguin Award for Man of Letters
1985: Commendation in the Penguin Award, for All the Rivers Run (1985)
1993: Critics Award for Coriolanus
1993: Glugs Award for Lifetime of Excellence^[8]
1999: Norman Kessell Award for A Delicate Balance, in the Glug Awards^[8]

Personal life

At the peak of her career, and spurning an offer from the head of BBC drama in England to work there, Shearing married playwright and painter Rodney Milgate and retired from full-time acting. The couple had two sons.

Shearing was a speaker for Heart Research Institute from 1993 to 1999, and a volunteer reader for Royal Society for the Blind in the 1960s.

Later life and death

In later life Shearing resided at Erina, New South Wales, on the Central Coast, and was active in community arts programmes, volunteer work, and had also branched into directing not long before her death.^[9]

She died on 14 June 2021, aged 95.^[10]^[11]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Type
1946	Winterset	Street Urchin	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, St Peters Church Hall, Darlinghurst
1946	Twelfth Night	Viola	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, St Peters Church Hall, Darlinghurst
1947	The Country Wife	Lady Fidget	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney
1947	Ned Kelly	Mrs Barry	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney
1947	Deep are the Roots		New Theatre, Sydney
1948	The First Joanna	Joan Deveron	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney
1948	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Fairy / Costume Designer	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, Killara Soldiers Memorial Hall
1949	Twelfth Night		Killara Soldiers Memorial Hall, Metropolitan Theatre Sydney
1950	Amphitryon 38		Independent Theatre Sydney
1951	King Lear	Regan	St James' Hall Sydney
1952	The Relapse	Berinthia
1952	A Phoenix Too Frequent
1956–57	The Rivals	Lydia Languish	Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Theatre Royal Adelaide, Playhouse Perth
1956	Twelfth Night	Viola	Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Playhouse Perth
	Hotel Universe
	Invitation to a Voyage
	The Holly and the Ivy
	Bell Book and Candle
1957–58	The Shifting Heart		Theatre Royal Hobart, National Theatre Launceston, Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Union Hall Adelaide
1959	The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day	Wilma Cartwright	Elizabethan Theatre Sydney
1959	Man and Superman	Ann Whitefield	Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Playhouse Perth
1959	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Cavan Tyrone	Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Playhouse Perth
1959	Julius Caesar	Portia	Elizabethan Theatre Sydney
1959	Fire on the Wind		National Theatre, Launceston, Playhouse Perth
1960	The Rape of the Belt		Elizabethan Theatre Sydney
1960	Murder in the Cathedral	Chorus	University of Adelaide
1964	A Phoenix Too Frequent
1965	The Country Wife		UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1966	Tiny Alice		UNSW Old Tote Theatre
1966	Persephone		Sydney Symphony Orchestra
1971	Butley
1972–73	An Ideal Husband		Comedy Theatre Melbourne, Her Majesty's Theatre Brisbane, Playhouse Perth
1973	King Richard II		Sydney Opera House
1973–74	What If You Died Tomorrow?		Sydney Opera House, Canberra Theatre, Comedy Theatre Melbourne
1974	Macbeth		Sydney Opera House
1979	The Drowned Phoenician Sailor	Laura	ABC Radio Sydney
1979	Alladyce and the Holy Virago	Isobel	ABC Radio Sydney
1979	A Wicked Pack of Cards	Laura	ABC Radio Sydney
1980	Children	Mother	Bondi Pavilion
1980	Inside the Island	Lillian Dawson	Nimrod Upstairs
1987	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Cavan Tyrone	Marian Street Theatre
1989	Knuckledusters – The Jewels of Edith Sitwell		Canberra Theatre, Russell Street Theatre
1989	Shellcove Road		Marian Street Theatre
1991	The Hundred Year Ambush		Newtown Studio Theatre
1991	Great Expectations – The Musical		Seymour Centre
1992	The Winslow Boy		Sydney Opera House, Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane
1993	The Old Boy		Ensemble Theatre
1993	Coriolanus		Sydney Opera House
1995	Medee		Sydney Opera House with Australian Opera
1997	Love Letters
1998	A Delicate Balance		Sydney Opera House
2000	Mother's Day		SBW Independent Theatre
2000	A Cheery Soul		Sydney Opera House
2001	Morning Sacrifice		Wharf Theatre with Sydney Theatre Company
2008	The Makropoulos Secret		Australian Opera

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
1970	The Survivors
1981–82	The Sullivans		TV series
1983	Learned Friends
1983	All the Rivers Run	Aunt Hester	TV miniseries
1984	Special Squad		TV series
1984	Saturday Saturday
1985	Dancing Daze		TV miniseries
1984–85	Five Mile Creek		TV series
1985–90	A Country Practice	Monika Schnelle	TV series
1988	Rafferty's Rules		TV series
1988, 1989	E Street		TV series
1991–92	Family and Friends	Antoinetta Rossi	TV series
1991–92	Eye of the Storm
1993	Police Rescue		TV series
1988, 1994	G.P.		TV series
1998	Wildside		TV series
1997, 1999	All Saints		TV series
2000, 2002	Farscape		TV series
2001	Flat Chat		TV series, 1 episode

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
1957	A Phoenix too Frequent	Dynamene	TV movie
1958	Sixty Point Bold	Maria Charvet	TV movie
1960	Macbeth		TV movie
1982	Buddies	Merle	Feature film
1983	Man of Letters	Beth Serry	TV movie
1984	Emmett Stone		Feature film
1985	A Spy in the Family		Feature film
1989	A Family Matter		TV movie
1999	Time and Tide		TV movie
2001	The Long Wet		Feature film

Directorial and other projects

Year	Title	Role	Type
1947	Lady Windermere's Fan	Costume Designer	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney
1948	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Costume Designer	Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, Killara Soldiers Memorial Hall
2003	Archibald Prize: The Play	Co-director	The Actor's Forum
2003	Winners	Director	The Actor's Forum
2003	La Serenissima: The Fascination of Venice	Poetry recitals	S. H. Ervin Gallery
2005	Gosford Regional Gallery and International Women's Day	Two monologues	Gosford Regional Gallery
2006	Collected Stories	Director
2006–07	The Actor's Forum	Director	The Actor's Forum
2007	Lettice and Lovage	Director
2003, 2008	Gosford Regional Gallery	Poetry recitals	Gosford Regional Gallery
2008	The Fortunates
2009	Katandra Players		Katandra Players
	Stopover
2010	Wilde Woman	Director
2012	Christchurch Camerata Orchestra	Reader	Christchurch Camerata Orchestra

^[12]f

References

^ "Obituary: Dinah Shearing". ^{[dead link‍]}
^ ^a ^b ^c Lane, Richard (1994). The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama, 1923–1960. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522845568.
^ Heseltine, Harry (2004). A Leader of his Craft, Theatre Reviews by HG Kippax. Currency House. ISBN 0958121354.
^ Porter, Hal (1965). Stars of Australian Stage and screen. Rigby Ltd. p. 264.
^ "The PRIVATE EYE of TV". ABC Weekly. 20 July 1957. pp. 4–5.
^ "Miss Dinah Hilary SHEARING". Australian Honours Search Facility. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 26 December 2023.
^ "Macquarie Awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 929. 16 February 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 27 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b "Awards". Glugs. April 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
^ Shearing, Dinah (2013). Who's Who in Australia. Crown Content Australia. ISBN 978-1740951906.
^ "Obituary: Dinah Shearing". TelevisionAU. 20 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
^ "MILGATE nee SHEARING, Dinah Hilary". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ "AusStage".