Bille Brown
| Bille Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born |
William Gerard Brown 11 January 1952 Biloela, Queensland, Australia |
| Died | 13 January 2013 (aged 61) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Alma mater | University of Queensland |
| Occupation | Actor, playwright |
| Years active | 1976–2012 |
| Awards | Member of the Order of Australia |
Bille Brown AM (11 January 1952 – 13 January 2013) born as William Gerald Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.
Brown was born in Biloela, Queensland and studied drama at the University of Queensland. He began his career in the early 1970s at Queensland Theatre Company, working alongside Geoffrey Rush.
Bille Brown's career took him abroad to Britain, where he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), and was the first Australian commissioned to write and perform in their own play – The Swan Down Gloves. The show opened at the Barbican Theatre (RSC's home theatre from 1982–2002) and had a Royal Command Performance. As a member of the RSC (between 1976–1982, 1986–88 and 1994–96) Brown toured with their productions throughout Europe, playing Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Munich. He also appeared in the RSC's premiere production of The Wizard of Oz in the gender-bending roles of The Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch.
While working in the United Kingdom, Brown also performed in the West End, at the Aldwych and Haymarket Theatres, the Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera and Dublin Theatre Festival. While performing onstage at Stratford he was spotted by John Cleese, who cast him in Fierce Creatures, the sequel to A Fish Called Wanda.
In New York, Brown made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1986 in Michael Frayn's Wild Honey with Ian McKellen, directed by Christopher Morahan, and as a playwright with his adaptation of a benefit performance of A Christmas Carol in 1985, featuring Helen Hayes, Len Cariou as Scrooge, MacIntyre Dixon, Celeste Holm, Raúl Juliá, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Harold Scott, Carole Shelley, and Fritz Weaver, directed by W. Stuart McDowell. He was also an Artist-in-residence at the State University of New York in 1982.
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