Muriel Steinbeck

Muriel Steinbeck

Muriel Myee Steinbeck[1] (21 July 1913 – 20 July 1982) was an Australian actress who worked extensively in radio, theatre, television and film. She is best known for her performance as the wife of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in Smithy (1946) and for playing the lead role in Autumn Affair (1958–59), Australia's first television serial.

Biography

The youngest of the four children of William Martin Steinbeck and Lily Clarissa (née Batten), Muriel Steinbeck was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, where her father was working as a headmaster. She was educated at Newcastle and Sydney Girls High, and when the family moved to Sydney she became involved in amateur theatre, appearing in plays such as The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream and becoming renowned for her performances in comedy and drama.

She worked regularly on radio, including station 2GB and 2UE after being noticed by Lawrence H. Cecil of the ABC, and appeared in numerous radio serials in the 1950s including Blue Hills, Portia Faces Life and Gabrielle.[2][3] She became best known as Julia in the Australian television soap opera Autumn Affair, by Gwen Meredith.

After appearing in the short film South West Pacific in 1943, she made her feature film debut in A Son Is Born (1946), before appearing in her most famous film role as Charles Kingsford-Smith's wife in Smithy.

She was married to her first husband, a journalist, from 7 July 1934 until their divorce in 1949.[4] She then married company manager and engineer Brian Dudley Nicholson in 1951. Retiring from acting in 1966, she accompanied him to Orange, New South Wales, and became a teacher of the arts, including running a drama school and authoring a book titled On Stage: A Practical Guide To the Actor's Craft. She died of cancer on 20 July 1982, a day before her 69th birthday.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ Sally O,Neil (2012). "Muriel Myee Steinbeck". adb. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "MURIEL STEINBECK TO STAR IN "SMITHY".". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 9 February 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Film Lead for Girl From Barrier.". The News. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 10 February 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "MURIEL STEINBECK DIVORCED.". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 10 September 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 18 April 2014.

External links


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