Bud Tingwell (thanks, Fe)

Bud Tingwell is an actor. He died recently. That's all I know.

Now I shall go and learn more....

Lord Wiki says he was born on 3 January 1923.

I guess that would make him a Capricorn?

Let's check the birthday website.

Yep. Bud Tingwell is a Capricorn.

And he's a one in numerology...the same number as Tim.

I should look at my favorite numerology site about that.

Here are the strengths that Tim is supposed to have: Extraordinary leadership skills, very ambitious, driven, goal-oriented, strong will power, courageous, unconventional, inventive, creative, original, pioneer, unique approach to problems, independent, individualistic, great potential for success.

Tim does have good leadership skills. He's courageous. He's independent. The other things probably apply to him in some ways. But they don't jump out to me as oh-my-god-that's-totally-Tim!

As for the negative: Stubborn, dominant, impatient, concerned with status and appearance, selfish, egotistic, angry, aggressive, demands respect and attention, pride, need to feel in command.

A few of those things somewhat remind me of Tim--not too any extreme degree. Or maybe I'm just trying to be nice. The guy lives with me, and he sometimes reads my blog. I gotta be careful here.

Little baby Bub (actually Charles Williams back then) was born in Sydney. Coogee. That's the place you walk to from Bondi...right? I just saw it mentioned and photographed on Facebook. My cousin walked there recently. I'm trying not to be jealous of her.

I actually spend a lot of energy trying not to be jealous of my cousin.

I'm happy for my cousin...not jealous of her. I'm happy for my cousin...not jealous of her. I'm happy for my cousin...not jealous of her.

I have to keep repeating that.

Ah, okay. I feel better now.

As a teenager, Tingwell's dad wanted him to be an accountant. Why? Was Tingwell good with math and money? Or was his dad one of those people who didn't care what their child's interests and abilities were? Maybe he's like the politician father in Looking For Alibrandi.

It might have been the latter because Tingwell failed the entrance exam. Although I guess he could have failed on purpose.

During his secondary school years, Tingwell worked for a radio station. It seems that station is now known for easy-listening hits. It sounds like something my dad would like.

Tingwell became the youngest radio announcer in Australia...the youngest ever? Or the youngest at the time?

When Tingwell was eighteen, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force. He trained as a pilot in Canada. I just finished reading a Canadian book....Fall on Your Knees. It was pretty good...in a V.C Andrews type way. Maybe it was a little less trashy than V.C Andrews. Or maybe not. Oprah endorses the book. Does that make it less trashy? Does it give it a more prestigious reputation?

I don't often read Oprah books...or non-Australian books. But it was given to me as a gift, so I figured I'd read it.

Back to Tingwell. Lord Wiki has all this military stuff. Do I need to report all that? I thought he was more of a film guy.

Let's just leave it at he participated in World War II.

He came home and got married to his childhood sweetheart. Romantic!

All right. Now we get to his acting career.

I'm going to skim over the Lord Wiki stuff—look for exciting highlights. Then I'm going to move on over to IMDb. I prefer that for movie/TV people.

Tingwell had his first movie roll in 1946.

He caught the attention of Hollywood in 1952.

He had a quiet period in the late 1980's and early 1990's. In America, "the quiet period" is when the celebrity appears on Hollywood Squares.

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online  a novel by Dina Roberts 

In 1997, Tingwell starred in The Castle. I've heard of that movie before. It's a classic...right?

He appeared in The Dish. I've heard of that movie too.

He had a recurring guest role on Neighbours.

He had his own website and blog. We'll take a look at that later.

Bud Tingwell died of prostate cancer; kind of weird that I talked about that yesterday. Well, it's probably not too weird, since it's a common cancer for men to have. It would probably be more weird if I mentioned tongue cancer yesterday and then today read about a guy dying of it.

I'm going to move on over to IMDb now.

Here's the trivia page.

They give a different birthdate than Lord Wiki. They say he was born in 1917 rather than 1923.

Who should I trust here?

Bud is a family nickname.

He and his wife Audrey had two kids. The daughter is an actress. She doesn't seem to have been in much; just a 1970 British horror movie called Tam Lin. Maybe she does more theater stuff.

Tingwell was given a state funeral when he died. That took place in Melbourne.

Now I'll look at his movies.

His filmography is REALLY long. There's no way I can go over everything. Forgive me if I miss anything important. Please.


Tingwell's first movie roll was in 1946. He had a uncredited part in a movie called Smithy. He played a control tower officer.

In 1948, he starred in a war movie called Always Another Dawn. His name is listed first in the credits. That might mean he had a big part in it.

A year later, he was in a movie that was written by the same person who wrote Always Another Dawn. This new movie was about horses, and it was called Into The Straight. Oh. It also had the same director. So I guess the writer, director, and Tingwell had a sort of team thing going on.

In 1950, Tingwell worked with a different writer and director. He did a movie called Bitter Springs. It featured outback stuff and Aborigines.

In 1952, Tingwell did an American movie called Kangaroo. Judging by the title, I'm going to guess he was allowed to use his Australian accent.

It was made by Hollywood but filmed in Australia.

Youtube has a clip. I'm not sure if Tingwell is in it, but I'll watch it anyway. It's not like I'd recognize Tingwell anyway.

Wow. That sure is a shiny knife.

I can't tell if this takes place in America or Australia. So far, it seems everyone has an American accent. But I thought someone just mentioned Sydney. I was thinking maybe the movie began in America and then moved on down to Australia.

One of the actors reminds me a little bit of Donald Sutherland.

In 1953, Tingwell was in another American movie called The Desert Rats. The movie's plot involves ANZAC soldiers.

Robert Wise was the director. I just looked up that guy. You know what he made? The Sound of Music! He also made that Anthony Hopkins reincarnation movie...Audrey Rose. I had NO idea those movies were made by the same person.

Here's a trailer for Desert Rats. I'm not sure if Tingwell is in it. Sorry.

Well, the trailer does play a little bit of "Waltzing Matilda".

Tingwell also did an Australian movie in 1953. That was King of the Coral Sea.

I'm going to skip some stuff in the 1950's.

Then in 1959, we have a British movie called Life in Emergency Ward 10. It was a movie, and then later became a TV show. Tingwell was featured in both. He did twenty episodes of the show.

In 1961, he did an American Agatha Christie movie called Murder She Said. Was Murder She Wrote inspired by that?

Well, maybe. Yes. Lord Wiki says both the movie and the show are Agatha Christie things.

Here is a clip from the movie. And I'll say it again. I don't know if Bud Tingwell is in it.

A few years later, Tingwell played the same character (Inspector Craddock) in another Agatha Christie movie. This one was called Murder at the Gallop.

I think Tingwell IS in the Murder She Said clip. The characters keep referring to one character as Inspector. And he's the only inspector I see in the credits.

In 1964, Tingwell played Inspector Craddock one more time. This movie was called Murder Most Foul. That year, he also did a British TV show called Beware of the Dog. It lasted only six episodes.

Wait. I was wrong. Murder Most Foul wasn't the last time Tingwell played Inspector Craddock. There was another movie in 1964. Murder Ahoy. But this time Craddock was Det Ins. Craddock. Does that stand for detective? Maybe he got a promotion? Good job, Craddock!

In 1966, Tingwell starred in a Dracula movie. He played Alan Kent. I don't remember that guy. Is he in the original Bram Stroker novel?

Well, no. Lord Wiki seems to be saying this is a sequel to the original Dracula story.

This is funny. Lord Wiki says Christopher Lee (who played Dracula) was so disgusted by the lines written for his character, he refused to speak in the movie.

From 1967-1968, Tingwell did another British show. This one was called Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was a family science fiction thing.

Youtube has the show's intro.

Oh! They're puppet people. They actually look a bit like Barbie Dolls.

That's awesome. Wow.

In 1969, Tingwell did a show called Catweazle...British again. It's a fantasy comedy thing about a wizard. Lord Wiki says it was very popular in Australia, the UK, and various other countries.

YouTube has the intro to that show as well.

Americans are very uncultured. We miss all this good stuff. Well, I shouldn't say ALL Americans. Some Americans do get a hold of the British stuff and become fans.

In 1972, I was born. Also in that year, Tingwell portrayed Arthur Phillip. This was in a program called Behind the Legend. It was an ABC show. I guess it had stories of famous Australians.

Through the mid-1970's, Tingwell worked on an Australian TV show called Homicide. Once again, he played an Inspector. Lord Wiki says it was the first major TV show to be made in Australia. Really? Okay. I guess maybe it was. Lord Wiki says before that, Australians watched mostly American and British imports.

Australians STILL watch a lot of imports.

Here's a clip from the show. And this one actually SAYS it features Tingwell. I love 1970's stuff. Maybe if I get sick of Australia, I'll start a new blog about the 1970's.

In 1980, Tingwell did Breaker Morant. I've heard of that one. I guess it's famous.

In 1981, he played a headmaster in the movie Puberty Blues. I've heard of that too...the book, at least.

It does seem that in the 198o's, his career faded a bit. I'm not sure if that was his choice or not. Did he want to take a break; or did he just have problems finding work? It seems in most of the things he was in, he had very small roles.

In 1988, he had a small role in the movie about that dingo who might have killed a baby.

Lord Wiki said his career had gotten a second wind in The Castle. That came out in 1997. It's about a family that lives near the airport. I think I might have written about it before.

Basically, the family is happy.  They don't mind living near the airport. But then the airport and government people want to expand the airport. I guess the story might be about the family struggling to keep their home.

Tingwell isn't part of the family. He's a lawyer...a retired lawyer.

In 1998, he starred in a short film directed and written by Rachel Griffiths. Was that before or after Muriel's Wedding. I know she was an unknown before Muriel, but maybe she was making short films....

It was after. Muriel's Wedding came out in 1994.

Tingwell played a reverend in The Dish.

He was in Jindabyne. I saw part of that.

I'm getting bored of the movie listings.

The last movie IMDb lists is called Antigravity. It's science fiction. The movie is listed as being in-production. Hopefully, Tingwell finished his part.

I've had enough of IMDb. I'm going to go elsewhere. Maybe I'll look at Tingwell's site. I hope it tells me what his birthday is. Then I'll know whether it was Lord Wiki or IMDb who lied to me.

Here's some biography stuff.

His nickname originated during his mother's pregnancy. People would say things like What's budding in there?

My sister's baby had a pregnancy name. They named the fetus Kiwi. I had kind of hoped that if it turned out being a girl, they'd keep the name. But it was a boy. We never call him Kiwi anymore.

This is sad. Tingwell's dad lost his job during the Depression. He would pretend to go to work. That makes my heart feel a bit sick. I wonder if his wife knew. There was a TV show, movie, or book like that. Someone pretended to have a job, but they really didn't. I have no idea what I'm thinking about. Does anyone have a clue? Does it ring any bells? If it was a book, it's likely it was Australian.

His dad doesn't sound like one of those mean ones who push their kids into the wrong career. He was the one that suggested young Bud work for the radio station.

This is so romantic. Tingwell met his wife (the love of his life) when he was sixteen. I wouldn't find that story so spectacular if it wasn't for the fact that they stayed together until she died in the 1990's.

I'm very cynical about love. I'm not impressed with happy couples who've just found each other. It's all bullshit to me, because I know, in a few years, they're likely to despise each other. I'll find a story romantic AFTER the couple has been happily together for several decades.

This page of his biography says that after Desert Rats, he was offered a contract with Hollywood. Tingwell declined. He wanted to stay in Australia. Good choice. Well, at least I think so.

Tingwell and his lovely wife lived in London for seventeen years. I figured they lived there. He did do a lot of British TV stuff.

I wonder why he was okay with leaving Australia for London, but not Hollywood. Was Hollywood awful even back then? Well, I guess it was.

Still. I would have chosen to stay in Australia. That's just my personal choice, though.

He says his wife's health is what slowed his career down. And then she died in 1996. It's nice that he slowed things down to be with her.

Tingwell says he had loved her for fifty-six years. That's very romantic.

Here's his blog. It seems he stopped writing in it in 2006.

He has a soap box post about reality TV. I like soap box stuff. I'll read it.

Well, I don't really get it. My brain must not be working well.

Crap. I thought I was almost done with this post, but guess what. Bud Tingwell is featured in that massive biography website--the ones with the very long interviews. It seems I shall be working on this for the rest of the day.

Well, I'm going to take a break first. Jack and I are going to learn about earth science stuff. Then I'll be back.

Never mind. Jack is now busy doing something else.

I'll read the first page of the interview.

He says he lived on Byron street or Melody Street. How does one confuse something like that? Maybe he lived on both. Otherwise, why would he think of both of those streets?

They are parallel to each other. I'm looking at Google Maps now. They're both near Baker park.

At one point, the family moved to Randwick. I'll look that up. First, I'm looking at another Coogee street he lived on....Carrington. It's yellow on the map. I think that means it's a main road.

Randwick is not far at all from Coogee. It almost looks like the same area....it's a little bit west.

The family was into surfing. His uncle saved someone from a shark. Awesome!

He attended Randwick Intermediate High School. It no longer has a website, so I'm guessing it's gone now.

Later, he went to Sydney Grammar School. That's the one Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts went to...right?

No. Wrong. Oops.

Banjo Patterson went there. I knew I had seen that school recently in my research.

Julian McMahon went there too. I just read a book about his mom. Maybe the school was mentioned?

It seems his friend Owen is what pushed him into getting into radio. Maybe? I was kind of bored so I skimmed the material.

Jack just entertained me by letting me watch the Webkinz movie he made. It was brilliant. It showed this couple through out their lives. Jack had to kind of narrate it—tell me what dialogue happened in what year. It started with young children meeting. Then they become teenagers. And then adults. When they're adults, they fight over who does more work.

I'm very amused right now.

Isn't it kind of eerie, though, that Jack makes that movie while I research a guy who married his childhood sweetheart?

And no, I didn't talk about the Tingwell stuff with Jack.

Tingwell says his dad did push the accountant thing. But he didn't seem very forceful and mean about it. Plus, the Depression was going on. In those days, it kind of had to be about money and advancement rather than personal satisfaction.

He went to Coogee Public School. Then he got into a school for gifted kids. It was supposed to get you into one of the big famous schools, but that didn't quite happen for Tingwell. I guess Randwick isn't such a hot thing. Tingwell was happy with it, though, because he met Owen.

Fate is funny like that.

What we want at the moment might not be what's going to make our lives awesome.

There is some school drama here.

Owen ended up going to Sydney High. Tingwell wanted to go there too, but Tingwell had to go to Sydney Grammar School. Why? His dad had won the lottery. He wanted his sons to go to a fancy shmancy school.

He didn't want some of his sons at the posh school and the others at the not-so-posh school.

I'm glad my parents weren't like that. My younger sister went to private, starting in second grade. Before that, my older sister and I had always attended public. When we moved from St. Louis to Atlanta, my mom hated my sister's school. She stuck her in private school. I know my mom DID look into private school for me, but there was never any real pressure to go. At least I don't remember anything.  and I have a pretty good memory (about the past).

Bud had two younger brothers. One became a Qantas pilot.

Tingwell seems to have loved his parents. He says his mom was disorganized and often late.

Oh. This is sad. Daddy Tingwell DIDN'T tell his wife that he had lost his job. He didn't want to worry her. This really does remind me of some book (or tv show or movie)

Life was tough for the family around that time. Dad lost his job. The mom had health issues. One of Bud's brothers had an injury.

Then they won the lottery.....

I read blogs of people who seem to have really bad luck. There's sickness, job loss, death, injury, court battles, etc. I keep hoping that something fabulous happens to them.

Okay. Now I'm moving onto page two.

He talks about the war, wanting to go and fight. It seems war was so less ambivalent in those days. People were more secure in the idea that they were fighting for what's right. Could that ever happen again...a war that the majority supports? Or have more recent wars made us distrustful and disillusioned?

He did a lot of flying during the war. I'm kind of skimming over this stuff. Sorry. It's boring to me.

Now I'm on Page 3.

Ah. I might get a birthdate here. He says he did a movie in 1947. He was 24. Let's subtract. That's 1923. Lord Wiki was right! Yes! I was hoping he'd win that one! IMDb is the loser. See if I ever trust them again!

As a young actor, Tingwell was self conscious about his appearance. He had a birth scar on his nose, and he felt his Adam's apple was too big.

Audrey's mom didn't come to the wedding. Wow. That's a bit harsh. She didn't much like Tingwell, it seems.

Time for part 4.

In the 1950's there was that whole McCarthy thing going on...not Jenny McCarthy, but the anti-communist one. That might have been why Tingwell didn't want to stick around Hollywood too much.

Tingwell enjoyed working with Richard Burton. He liked him.

Now I'm going to page 5. I'll admit I'm not reading every word very carefully...kind of skimming stuff. What can I say? I'm tired. I want to play Sims 3!

Tingwell preferred comedy to drama.

I'm REALLY skimming here.

Time for page 6.

The only thing interesting to me on this page is Tingwell's wife's reaction to seeing him kiss woman on stage and onscreen. A friend asked if it bothered her—if she worried he might be enjoying it. Mrs. Tingwell said she'd be more worried if he WASN'T enjoying it. That seems to have slight homophobic connotations. I don't know. Maybe not.

And I think it's something that actors probably should be worried about. You do hear stories of actors leaving their spouses for their co-stars. It seems many actors do meet on the set.

I'm rushing ahead to page 7 now.

Tingwell talks about how famous people can go out in public in some places without being recognized and bothered. He seems to be saying it's an attitude you have. If you act normal and go about your business, people are more likely to leave you alone. I can imagine that's true...in some places. If you go to a place where people are HOPING to see celebrities, someone will probably bother you.

I'm on page 8 now...almost done.

Nothing to report from that page.

Maybe there will be something from page 9.

Here he talks about how there's nothing wrong for an actor to take a small role in a TV show or movie. One doesn't always need to be the star of a project.

Tingwell talks about how everyone acts sometimes. We all have experience in acting. His example is being polite to a boss you dislike. Another term for this is fake, I suppose. That's the one type of dishonesty I am guilty of. I act nice to people I dislike. I sometimes wonder if they see through my act or not.

Now I'm moving to page 10. He talks about how he and his wife didn't feel the need to go to the newest and trendiest restaurants. They had their own personal favorites and would go to these places instead.

Tingwell says his family always comes first. I think almost everyone says that. I wonder how many people actually mean it.

It seems Tingwell never managed to have a great relationship with his mother-in-law.

Tingwell feels he would have fallen apart after his wife died...if it hadn't been for the work.

There's something so romantic about that. That's the thing about grief. It IS horribly sad, but there's beauty in it too. How wonderful it is to love someone so much that you miss them that terribly.

Okay...honestly I can't really see beauty in that situation when it applies to the death of a child. That's too depressing and tragic. And almost ALL parents love their children so much. But when we're talking spouses, partners, friends, etc....I think it's romantic for someone to be in complete mournful devastation. It's especially romantic if the couple has been together for many decades.

Last page now.....

He talks about how Australians tend to identify themselves as something else...the whole hyphenation thing. America does that too. We divide ourselves. Tingwell disagrees with it. I guess I probably do to. I think it's fine to keep some aspects of your old country. But I don't know. Once you're an Australian, you're an Australian. Once you're American, you're American.

I guess it depends on how much you miss your old country. Some people might want to keep a grasp on the past. Hey, that rhymes.

Tingwell says he doesn't fear his own death too much, because when he almost faced death during his war days, he had this great sense of calm.

That's nice to know.

Whether there's an afterlife or not, I hope death does include a great sense of calm. I vaguely remember reading in some metaphysical type book that if we're in a horrific death situation, our souls leave our bodies before impact. I think about that when I'm on an airplane sometimes. I hope it's true. I think that's the thing that scares me most about my own death—the whole death by impact thing. Falling and splattering to the ground. That would be one big ouch. Or a car crash.....

Well, my sister was hit by a car....hit VERY hard actually. She doesn't remember it, fortunately.

I'm scared of being shot. If I faced someone with a gun, I'm not sure whether I'd be more scared of dying or the actual physical pain.

Anyway, I'm going off in a tangent here.

Oh Tingwell is on the same page as me. He doesn't want death to hurt.

Death is bad enough in that we lose people we love. Why does it have to hurt as well?

Tingwell is indecisive about the after-life. He'd like to believe, but doesn't know for sure.

That's pretty much how I am. I WANT to believe. I don't have 100% faith. I've read stuff that makes me think it's likely to be true, but there's nothing I've read that gives me absolute confirmation.

Anyway, that interview is over. I think I'm done with this post.

I think I'll read another chapter of Wuthering Heights.