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Gerard Maguire

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Gerard Maguire
Born (1945-09-25) 25 September 1945 (age 79)[1]
Australia
Occupations
  • Actor
  • producer
  • screenwriter
Years active1969–2008
SpouseJane Alsobrook (1980–2022; her death)

Gerard Maguire (born 25 September 1945)[1] also credited as Gerard McGuire, is an Australian actor, producer and screenwriter best known for his role in Prisoner as Deputy Governor, Jim Fletcher. Often appearing on Australian television police dramas and soap operas throughout the 1970s and 80s, he is also one of Australia's top voice actors, voicing numerous commercials and narrations during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Early life

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Maguire was born in 1945[1] and began acting during the late 1960s, shortly after graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art with a Diploma of Dramatic Art in 1967. Out of 3,000 applicants, he was one of 15 students to complete the program.[2]

Career

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Early career

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After minor one-time roles on the television series Riptide and The Link Men, Maguire made his feature film debut in The Demonstrator with Joe James and Irene Inescort. In the film, he portrayed university student Steve Slater whose political differences with his father Joe Slater, a Federal cabinet minister, result in his leading a series of protests disrupting his father's activities in organising an international conference. The film was considered a commercial failure. Following this he starred in the film Country Town (1971)[3] Country Town was a feature film spin-off from Australian Broadcasting Corporation soap opera Bellbird.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s, he was a guest actor on drama series Dynasty, Ryan, and on police procedural series Matlock Police, Homicide, Division 4 and Cop Shop. Joining the Melbourne Theatre Company, he also performed in Going Home at St. Martin's Theatre on 11 March 1976. That same year, he starred with Tom Oliver and Kate Sheil in David Williamson's A Handful of Friends at the Russell Street Theatre in Melbourne.[4][5] Maguire went on to supporting roles in the television miniseries Luke's Kingdom and the film Mad Dog Morgan. In 1978 he was part of the cast in the first public performance of Kenneth G. Ross's important Australian play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on 2 February 1978. A late arrival during the first season of Prisoner, Maguire joined the cast in mid 1979 as Deputy Governor Jim Fletcher and eventually became the only main male character during his three years on the series. Maguire eventually left during the show's fourth season in early 1982. During his last year with the series, he appeared with Prisoner co-stars Colette Mann and Val Lehman in Kitty and the Bagman (1982).[6]

During 1983, Maguire starred as Dr. John Rivers in the television series Starting Out. As one of the school's tutors and the father of the disfigured Michelle (Rowena Mohr), his time on the series dealt with Rivers' guilt over his daughter's accident while dealing with his unhappily married wife Yvonne (Suzy Gashler).[7]

After the series' cancellation, Maguire made a guest appearance on Special Squad and had supporting roles in The Surfer and Alice to Nowhere before returning to the stage in 1986 to perform in David Williamson's Sons of Cain which ran for five-months in London's West End. In 1987, was a television presenter for Ground Zero and appeared in one episode of The Flying Doctors during the next two years. Maguire also appeared during the final season of the soap opera The Power, The Passion as a police investigator and ex-boyfriend of one of the central characters, Ellen Byrne Edmonds (Olivia Hamnett).[8]

Producing and writing

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While producing a film adaptation of a novel during the mid-1980s, he replaced the screenwriter originally working on the screenplay. Contacted by Columbia Pictures, he flew to California to discuss the project, he met producer and then Senior Vice-president Jane Alsobrook. He soon began a romantic relationship and Maguire ended up staying in Los Angeles for the next several years. In 1993, he and Lance Peters co-wrote Gross Misconduct, later directed by George T. Miller and, the following year, wrote Seduce Me: Pamela Principle 2 and was the script supervisor for Tunnel Vision. He was also involved in acting workshops with actors such as Jon Voight among others.

Return to Australia

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In 1995, he moved back to Australia with Alsobrook when she accepted a position as president of Australia's largest independent film production and distribution company, REP. During the mid-to-late 1990s, Maguire appeared in the television movies Heart of Fire, The Fury Within and The Finder as well as the guest appearances on the television series Water Rats, Murder Call and All Saints. He became a voice actor, eventually narrating hundreds of commercials and, in 1995, was the voice of Titanium Man in the series Iron Man. During the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he was the announcer during the diving events.

Return to USA

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Following the September 11 attacks, Maguire moved to the United States allowing his wife to be closer to her family in Sedona, Arizona. Although continuing to be involved in a number of film projects with his wife, he also became involved in local theatre agreeing to appear in theatrical performances with the Canyon Moon Theatre Company and, in April 2002, appeared as the narrator in Side By Side By Sondheim at the Old Marketplace in West Sedona.[2]

Maguire continued working as a voice actor during the next several years via the internet. After a five-year absence, Maguire made an appearance in the 2007 independent film Brothel.

As of 2013, Maguire lives in Arizona.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Type
1969 You Can't See 'Round Corners Terry (uncredited) Feature film
1971 Demonstrator Steven Slater Feature film
1971 Country Town Phillip Henderson Feature film
1972 Crisis TV film
1976 Secret Doors TV film
1976 Mad Dog Morgan Rutherford Feature film
1979 Burn the Butterflies TV film
1981 Prisoner in Concert Jim Fletcher TV film
1982 Kitty and the Bagman Cyril Film
1984 The Bodyguard Lawyer Short film
1986 The Surfer
1987 Death Ware Jack
1987 Ground Zero TV presenter Feature film
1988 Vicious! (aka To Make a Killing) Brian Kennedy Feature film
1989 Mull Dr. Graham
1993 Gross Misconduct Vice Chancellor Feature film
1997 Heart of Fire Scott Dodd TV film
The Fury Within Dr. Daryl Levine TV film
2001 The Finder Sgt. Jack Matthews TV film
2002 Bloodsports Barry Kelly TV film
2003 Code 11-14 Captain Copeland TV film
2008 Brothel Curtis Feature film

Television

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Year Title Role Type
1969 Riptide Tractor Driver Episode: "North of the Headland"
1970 The Link Men Terry Episode: "Somebody's Kid is Missing"
1970-71 Dynasty Jamie Brooks 2 episodes
1973 Ryan Jack Baker 2 episodes
1971-74 Matlock Police Ted Brewer, Keith Evans, Mick Johnson, Terry Harris, Nick Rogers, Walt Rogers 6 episodes
1969-73 Homicide Wilson, Bruce Foster, Lyell Revel, Gecko, Riley 4 episodes
1969-75 Division 4 Vince Jordon, George Flack, Jerry Thompson, Martin Roche, Mike Turner, Donald West, Phillip Reid, Brent Campbell, Cookson 9 episodes
1975 Shannon's Mob Fraser Episode: "When Collier Came"
1976 Luke's Kingdom 13 episodes
1976 Power Without Glory Colin Lassiter TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1977 Bluey Larry Davis Episode: "The Pick Up"
1978-79 Cop Shop Peter Galbraith, Phillip Kline, Frank Garde, Eddy Marshall 7 episodes
1980 Lawson's Mates Jock Episode: "Joe Wilson"
The Daryl Somers Show Man with parked car (uncredited)
Prisoner: Cell Block H Jim Fletcher 209 episodes
1983 Starting Out Dr. John Rivers
1984 Special Squad Hansen
1985 The Fast Lane Bill Martin Episode: "Irreconcilable Differences"
1986 The Lancaster Miller Affair Frank Upton Miniseries
1986 Alice to Nowhere Tim Sanderson Miniseries
1987 Neighbours Parnell
1988 The Flying Doctors Harry McDonald Episode: "Johnnie Come Home"
1989 The Power, The Passion David
1989 Bodysurfer Gordon Miniseries
1990 The Bradys Australian Envoy Episode: "The Party Girls"
1990 Embassy Freddie 3 episodes
1995 Iron Man Titanium Man (voice) Episode: "Distant Boundaries"
1997 Heartbreak High Tom Harding
1998 Water Rats Lloyd Venables Episode: "Old Bones"
1999 Murder Call Donald Cook
All Saints Peter Maloney 2 episodes

Theatre

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Year Title Role Venue / Co.
1966 Two Programs of Short Plays: The Pier / The Caretaker Sam / Mick Jane Street Theatre, Sydney
1967 Camille and Perdican Perdican UNSW Old Tote Theatre with NIDA
1967 Point of Departure Monsieur Henri UNSW Old Tote Theatre with NIDA
1967 Three Men on a Horse Charlie UNSW, Sydney with NIDA
1967 The Winter’s Tale Shepherd UNSW, Sydney with NIDA
The Lion in Winter [9]
Bye Bye Birdie Menzies Hotel, Sydney[10]
Henry V Queensland tour with Youth Elizabethans[11]
Macbeth Queensland tour with Youth Elizabethans[12]
1968; 1969; 1970 The Boys in the Band Larry Phillip Street Theatre, Sydney, Playhouse, Canberra, Playbox Theatre, Melbourne, His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, Hobart with Harry M. Miller
1970 The Trial of the Catonsville Nine Pitt Street Congregational Church, Sydney
1972 Rooted Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney
1972 Don's Party UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Playhouse, Canberra with NIDA
1973 Jugglers Three Playhouse, Canberra, Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, Hunter Theatre, Sydney, Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, UNSW Old Tote Theatre with MTC
1975 Doreen AMP Theatrette, Sydney with Q Theatre Company
1975 The Seahorse UNSW with Old Tote Theatre Company
1975 Down Under Stables Theatre, Sydney with King O'Malley Theatre Company
1976 Going Home St Martins Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1976 A Handful of Friends Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1977 The School for Scandal Joseph Surface Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC
1977 The Club Gerry Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1977 Cop Out Randolph Dyson Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1978 Breaker Morant Major Bolton Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC
1978 Makassar Reef Weeks Brown Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1978 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Ragg Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC (also played trumpet & trombone)[13]
1978 Arsenic and Old Lace Officer O'Hara Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC
1984 The Threepenny Opera Jake Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC
1984 Pax Americana The President's Brother Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC
1985 Other Places: One for the Road / Victoria Station / A Kind of Alaska Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC
1985 Glengarry Glen Ross Williamson Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC
1986 Sons of Cain Laurie Byrne Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane, Wyndham’s Theatre, London with Queensland Theatre, Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust & Theatre of Comedy
1987 Emerald City Malcolm Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC
2002 Side by Side by Sondheim Narrator Old Marketplace, Sedona, Arizona
2024 Blithe Spirit Dr. Bradman Apotheca, Arizona with Red Earth Theatre[14]

As director

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Year Title Role Venue / Co.
2001 The Dreamer Examines His Pillow Director Bondi Pavilion, Sydney

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Bourke, Terry. Prisoner Cell Block H: Behind the Scenes. London: Angus and Robertson (UK).
  2. ^ a b Gorman, Ben (3 April 2002). "Star from "Down Under" rises on Canyon Moon stage". Red Rock Review.
  3. ^ Reade, Eric. History and Heartburn: The Saga of Australian Film, 1896–1978. Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979. (pg. 171, 174) ISBN 0-8386-3082-0
  4. ^ Perkins, Elizabeth. The Plays of Alma de Groen. Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V., 1994. ISBN 90-5183-764-X
  5. ^ Williamson, David and Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt. Australian Playwrights: David Williamson. Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V., 1988. ISBN 90-5183-029-7
  6. ^ "Kitty and the Bagman". OZ Movies. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  7. ^ Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps: Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows. Melbourne: Pluto Press Australia, 2004. (pg. 199) ISBN 1-86403-191-3
  8. ^ Mercado, Andrew. Super Aussie Soaps: Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows. Melbourne: Pluto Press Australia, 2004. (pg. 284) ISBN 1-86403-191-3
  9. ^ https://www.gerardmaguire.com
  10. ^ https://theatregold1.mybigcommerce.com/the-boys-in-the-band-8/
  11. ^ https://theatregold1.mybigcommerce.com/the-boys-in-the-band-8/
  12. ^ https://theatregold1.mybigcommerce.com/the-boys-in-the-band-8/
  13. ^ https://theatregold1.mybigcommerce.com/arsenic-and-old-lace/
  14. ^ https://redearththeatre.org
  15. ^ https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/3722
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