June Browne
| June Newton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June Browne 1923 (age 93–94) Melbourne, Australia |
| Residence | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Other names | June Brunell, Alice Springs |
| Occupation | Actress, photographer |
| Spouse(s) | Helmut Newton (m. 1948–2004) |
June Newton (née Browne, 1923) is an Australian actress and photographer. As an actress she was known professionally as June Brunell and won the Erik Kuttner Award for Best Actress in 1956. Since 1970 she has worked as a photographer under the pseudonym Alice Springs. Her photographs have appeared in publications such as Vanity Fair, Interview, Elle and Vogue.
She is the widow of fashion photographer Helmut Newton.
June Browne, a Melbourne native, first met Berlin-born photographer Helmut Newton in 1947 at his studio in Melbourne. Browne was working as an actress under the surname Brunell (to avoid confusion with a local actress named June Brown) and had answered an ad for some modelling work at Helmut's studio. The couple were married the following year.
June Newton, still acting under the surname Brunell, won the Erik Kuttner Award for Best Actress in 1956, an award handed out for excellence in theatre in Melbourne. Although she was finding success in Australia as an actress, Helmut was offered a year-long contract with British Vogue and the couple moved to London in 1957. While there, June found acting work with the BBC. Helmut did not enjoy his time there and the couple left England.
In the following years Helmut found work with such publications as Jardin des Modes and Australian Vogue. By 1960 the couple settled in Paris and Helmut's photographic career flourished.
June's work as a photographer began in 1970 when she stepped-in for her husband who had fallen ill. Helmut was scheduled to photograph a model for an ad for Gitanes cigarettes when he came down with the flu. Unable to contact the model to cancel their appointment, Helmut gave his wife a quick lesson in photography and she photographed the model later that same day.
As per a 1987 interview with June and her husband for Orange Coast magazine, June said Helmut decided that she should use a different name professionally as a photographer "because he thought one Newton in the family was enough. And if I didn't succeed..." June's chosen pseudonym, Alice Springs, came from the Australian town by the same name. She selected the name by blindly stabbing a pin into a map of Australia. Alice Springs did however find success; by 1974 one of her photographs had appeared on the cover of Elle magazine.
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