John Gaden AM (b. 1941), actor, studied arts and law at the University of Sydney, but when he joined the Sydney University Players, he abandoned his other pursuits for the stage. After appearing in The Crucible in 1970 he gained a three-year contract with the Old Tote. He spent three years as associate director of the new Sydney Theatre Company and four years as Artistic Director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia from 1986 to 1990. In 1988, in Adelaide, he played Lear with Geoffrey Rush as the Fool. Productions in which he has appeared include Kold Komfort Kaffee at Nimrod (with Robyn Archer), Signal Driver, the first production at the Belvoir (with Kerry Walker) in 1985, Pericles and Henry IV for Bell Shakespeare, Cloudstreet (1998) with Company B, The Unexpected Man for the Belvoir in 2000, for which he won the Helpmann Award, The War of the Roses for the Sydney Theatre Company (with Cate Blanchett) and No Man's Land (2011) for the Queensland Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. As a result of demand for his stage talent, he has appeared in few films; a recent exception is The Eye of the Storm (2011).
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012
© Estate of Stuart Campbell
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