Brian Moll
Brian Percy Moll (19 May 1925 – 9 August 2013) was an English Australian character actor of stage, television and film, director and producer who emigrated to Australia from his native England in 1950. Quitting his job as a publicity officer, he became a professional actor in 1956. He was best known for his soap opera television roles, but also appeared in film and numerous theatre productions.
Brian Moll | |
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| Born | Brian Percy Moll 19 May 1925 Wanstead, London, England, UK |
| Died | 9 August 2013 (aged 88)[1] |
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Early life
He was born in Chaucer Road, Wanstead, North East London (formally Essex) on 19 May 1925 to Percy Clarence and Alice Sarah (née Mitchell) He was conscripted to Her Majesty's Royal Navy in 1943 at the age of eighteen years and spent the later years of World War II serving on a minesweeper. His ship was involved in the D-Day operation and he watched the action from just off the Arromanches beach. In October 1950 he arrived in Melbourne Australia under the £10 assisted passage emigration scheme. In December 1975 he took permanent Australian Citizenship.
Career
By 1953 he was taking on leading parts with the Little Theatre in Melbourne and as well as acting he was producing and directing difficult plays such as Chekov and Ibsen. In 1963 he moved to Brisbane and he joined the Queensland Arts Theatre. He continued his acting career in his spare time. In the 1960s he was campaigning in Brisbane for a new permanent arts centre and was involved in these plans which resulted in the Arts Complex being built.
In 1970 he was in It’s a Rum Do and had the role of Samuel Marsden, the priest who was partly responsible for bringing merino sheep to Australia which started the wool industry. The play was chosen to be given a Royal Command Performance in the Brisbane Arts Centre. ]He was presented to the Queen and he told her that over the past two years he had played eight priests. She asked him "Why" and she smiled when he answered "It was my purity of spirit and a bald head". After this, his acting career took off .
He was known for his villainous roles, once remarking that this was due to his bald head (he had been totally bald since the age of 25). As a jobbing actor, like many of the era he had numerous character roles on the Crawford Productions serials including Matlock Police, Homicide and Division 4, as well as many guest roles on other television series; mini-series, telemovies; and films.
In 1975 he became better known however for playing the recurring role of slimy Town Clerk Eddie Buchanan in soap opera Number 96, Dr. Vincent Snape in The Young Doctors in 1978. and briefly as Mr. Spenser in Prisoner in 1980. He was most likely however best known for his long running itinerant role as devious and pompous town councillor Alfred Muldoon a role he played as the script permitted from 1982–1992, through 123 episodes in the soap opera A Country Practice. He also had a small cameo role in the film Street Fighter in 1994
In 1990, he appeared as Mr. Gordian in Bloodmoon, a horror film.[2]
Moll retired in 1994 and resided in Sippy Downs, Queensland in a nursing home, where he died in 2013, aged 88, His ashes were scattered near his home on the Sunshine Coast.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1958 | Killer in Close-Up (TV series) | |
| 1959 | Press Gang (TV movie) | |
| 1968-1969 | Hunter (TV series) | Hinksman/Fishta |
| 1969 | The Rovers (TV series) | Dr. Wright |
| 1971 | Exit (short) | Geeles |
| 1971 | Stork | Priest |
| 1973 | Boney (TV series) | Bill Bulford |
| 1971-1973 | Matlock Police | 7 roles - Forbes (1971), Tojo (1971), Brown (1972), School Principal (1972), Ray Smith (1973). Gaye (1973), Fred Jackson (1973) |
| 1973 | Ryan (TV series) | Warburton (1973). Topley (1973) |
| 1973 | The Sex Therapist | Court Clerk |
| 1968-1974 | Homicide (TV series) | 11 roles, Frank Adams- Ted Sands - John Lee - Richard Evans - Clerk - Stan Preston - Gustav - Arthur Reid - Phillips - Grant - Hotel Manager |
| 1969-1974 | Division 4 (TV series) | (5 roles) Jack Doyle - Eddie Bailey - Herbie Pike - Wilson Snr - Ralph Morris |
| 1974 | Silent Number (TV series) | Prison Doctor |
| 1975 | The Unisexers (TV series) | |
| 1975 | Number 96 (TV series) | TC Ian Buchanan |
| 1975 | That Lady from Peking | Father Leonard |
| 1975 | King's Men (TV series) | Drake |
| 1975 | Luke's Kingdom (TV series) | Settler |
| 1976 | Rush (TV series) | Thomas |
| 1976 | McManus MPB (TV movie) | Carl Day |
| 1977 | The Outsiders (TV series) | Mertz |
| 1978 | The Young Doctors | Dr. Vincent Snape |
| 1978 | Case for the Defence (TV series) | The Judge |
| 1980 | Arcade (TV series) | Mr. Sponge |
| 1980 | Prisoner (also known internationally as Prisoner: Cell Block H' (US and UK) and Caged Woman (Canada BC) | Mr. Spencer |
| 1981 | ... Maybe This Time | Older Salesman |
| 1984 | Bellamy (TV series) | Wilkes |
| 1984 | The Cowra Breakout (TV mini-series) | Doctor |
| 1984 | Special Squad (TV series) | Charlie Everett |
| 1984 | Queen of the Road (TV movie) | Al "Herpie" Graves |
| 1984 | Fantasy Man | Lofty |
| 1985 | Hector's Bunyip (TV movie) | Ernest Sister |
| 1987 | Great Expectations: The Untold Story (TV movie) | Uncle Pumblechook |
| 1987 | The Petrov Affair (TV mini-series) | Billy Wentworth |
| 1990 | Bloodmoon | Mr. Gordian |
| 1990 | Dead Sleep | Dr. Shamberg |
| 1982-1992 | A Country Practice (TV series) | Alfred Muldoon (appeared in 123 episodes) |
| 1992 | Something Wicked (short) | Lecturer |
| 1994 | Street Fighter | Bison's Scientist |
References
- Probate notice, Brian Percy Moll, Sunshine Coast Daily, 23 August 2013
- Shelley, Peter (2012). Australian Horror Films, 1973–2010. McFarland. p. 136. ISBN 9780786489930.
External links
- Brian Moll on IMDb
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