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Kenneth Shorter (1945 – November 2024) was an Australian actor.

Shorter's career spanned theatre, television and film but he was best known for starring opposite Mick Jagger in film adaptation of Ned Kelly and the title character in the low-budget cult biker film Stone, which has been cited as an inspiration for Mad Max, as well as being featured in American fantasy film Dragonslayer.

Shorter was born in 1945,^[1][2] and worked as a police officer and truck driver before becoming an actor.

He then worked in theatre and was briefly a presenter on Play School in the 1960s and appeared in such shows as Skippy the Bush Kangaroo before moving to films where he was best known for playing the title role in the low budget biker film Stone (1974).

In 1967, he commenced playing the character of Frankie McCoy on the Seven Network series You Can't See 'Round Corners.^[3] He later reprised the role for the 1969 theatrical film adaption.^[1]

It was announced in 1969 that Shorter had been cast as Aaron Sherritt in the film Ned Kelly.^[4]

In the early 1970s, Shorter was a member of Sydney's Old Tote Theatre Company and appeared in several of the company's productions including Lasseter, The Man of Mode, The Government Inspector and The Legend of King O'Malley.^[5][6][7][8]

Shorter played a fictional New South Wales rugby league player called Frank Scully in The Forward Back which was written by Robert Caswell and was one of four Sunday night television plays broadcast by ABC TV in 1974.^[9]

In England he appeared in shows such as The Bill and Casualty amongst others.

After a health decline, Shorter retired from acting in 2018. He died in November 2024, aged 79.^[10][11]

• Ken Shorter at IMDb
• Ken Shorter at National Film and Sound Archive
• Ken Shorter discography at Discogs