Michael with beetroot sprouting, 2008

Michael Boddy (1934–2014), writer and actor, was born in England and educated at Cambridge before arriving in Australia as a 'ten quid migrant' in 1960. He worked in theatre in Melbourne for some time before moving to Sydney, where he won several awards for his work as a writer, actor and director in film, theatre, television and radio. He co-wrote and starred in Biggles, the first production staged by the Nimrod Theatre Company, in 1970. In 1971 he won one of his two Australian Writers' Awgie Awards for his stage play The Legend of King O'Malley (which he co-wrote with Bob Ellis). Throughout the seventies and early eighties he continued to write popular historical works for the stage, including an adaptation of Bill Gammage's book The Broken Years which was last performed at the Australian War Memorial in 1999. He was a pioneer of Theatre in Education and wrote twenty-seven TIE plays. His many writing honours include the Captain Cook Bicentennial Award; the Producers' and Directors' Guild Award; the PEN Award; and the Erik Award for contribution to theatre. With his wife Janet Dawson he established the Bugle Press in 1979. He was a regular columnist in the national press on food, consumer affairs, natural history and farming; his newsletter, Kitchen Talk, was praised as an authoritative source by leading Australian chefs Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
© Janet Dawson