Terry Norris (actor)

Terence Richard Norris (9 June 1930 – 20 March 2023)^[1] was an Australian stage, radio, television and film actor, and politician.

Terry Norris
Norris in Cop Shop
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Dandenong
In office 2 March 1985 – 2 October 1992
Preceded by	Rob Jolly
Succeeded by	John Pandazopoulos
Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Noble Park
In office 3 April 1982 – 1 March 1985
Preceded by	Peter Collins
Succeeded by	District abolished
Personal details
Born	Terence Richard Norris (1930-06-09)9 June 1930 Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Died	20 March 2023(2023-03-20) (aged 92)[1]
Political party	Labor Party
Spouse	Julia Blake ​ (m. 1962)​
Occupation	Actor politician

As an actor, he starred in television shows such as Bellbird and Cop Shop, and in films like Romulus, My Father, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Paper Planes. ^[2]

Norris interrupted his show business career for ten years with a stint serving in state politics, for the Labor Party with the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Early and personal life

Norris was born in Richmond,^[2] a suburb of Melbourne. His father was a boilermaker. He married the English-born Australian Julia Blake in 1962. They met in Yorkshire and often appeared together in repertory theatre. They had three children: Dominic, Jane and Sarah^[1]

Norris died on 20 March 2023 after a short illness, at the age of 92.^[2][1][3]

Acting career

Theatre

Norris trained at the Melbourne Tivoli Theatre^[2] and started his career in the 1950s and early 1960s when he worked as an actor in England, appearing in repertory theatre in Bradford, Huddersfield and York among other places, before returning to Australia in 1963. He has performed in numerous theatre roles and was also a playwright.^[4]

Television

Norris was possibly best known for two long-running television series roles. He played Joe Turner in Bellbird from 1969 until the series ended in 1977. He then played Senior sergeant Eric O'Reilly in police series Cop Shop starting December 1977. Norris has also appeared in the television series Bobby Dazzler and The Last of the Australians.

Film

His most recent film roles were in Romulus, My Father in 2007, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, Paper Planes and Looking for Grace both in 2015, and Mortal Engines in 2018.

Political career

Entry to politics

Norris left Cop Shop in 1982 to pursue a career in state politics. His character of Sergeant O'Reilly was replaced with a new character called Senior Sergeant Reg Wallace, played by Alwyn Kurts.^[5] Despite this, the show was axed the following year.^[6]

Norris appeared in the Gough Whitlam It's Time TV commercial campaign^[1]

Having been a member of the Australian Labor Party for the preceding 16 years, sought and gained preselection to contest the seat of Noble Park as an ALP candidate at the 1982 Victorian state election.^[7] Only needing a swing of just over 1% to gain the seat from sitting member Peter Collins, Norris was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly with a swing of over 4%.^[7][8]

He held the seat until the electorate was abolished in 1985 in a redistribution.^[9] He then successfully stood for election in the seat of Dandenong at the 1985 election, succeeding his colleague Rob Jolly who was elected to the newly created seat of Doveton.^[10]

Views

Speaking during a grievance debate in 1984, Norris suggested there should be private screenings of pornographic films for Victorian members of parliament to assist them in debates about censorship laws and the classification of movies with objectionable content, similar to what had been arranged for their New South Wales counterparts.^[11]

Following the release of a ministerial committee report on the subject of underage drinking in 1986, Norris proposed the legal drinking age in Australia be increased to the age of 20, citing the positive effects of similar laws in the United States and Sweden.^[12] He also said the issue of underage drinking was being exacerbated by the growing trend of alcohol advertising deliberately being targeted to a young demographic.^[12]

Throughout his parliamentary career, Norris' television experience was advantageous when speaking out on a number of issues relating to the media. In 1985, he accused a Network 10 reporter of having a conflict of interest, claiming he had been working as a media advisor for the Mountain Cattlemen's Association while he was also working as a Ten News reporter during the 1985 Nunawading Province state by-election.^[13] Norris questioned the reporter's ethical standards while alleging he had links to the Liberal Party which needed to be investigated.^[13] The reporter denied working as a media advisor for the association.^[13]

In 1987, Norris was part of a delegation which also included Sheila Florence, Gil Tucker, Terry Donovan and Maggie Kirkpatrick who met with premier John Cain after a mass sacking of 78 employees from HSV-7.^[14] The delegation told Cain that the end of television production in Melbourne would mean that there would no longer be training opportunities for actors, technicians, and production staff.^[14]

Norris spearheaded the "Make It Australian" campaign in 1988, lobbying against de-regulation of the television industry and campaigning for the local drama quota for the networks to be increased from 104 to 365 hours per year as well as more regional production, children's drama and a guaranteed independence of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.^[15] He gained the support of Hector Crawford, Rupert Hamer and David Williamson.^[15]

Overseas trip controversy

Arguably Norris' most controversial political endeavour came in July 1992, just before his retirement. When Norris, Legislative Assembly speaker Ken Coghill, and Legislative Council president, Alan Hunt, went on a lengthy overseas bicameral and bipartisan goodwill visit to Asia with their wives, debate ensued.^[16] Jeff Kennett and Graeme Weideman were among the critics of the 18-day trip.^[17] It was questioned why Norris and Hunt were selected to go on such a journey just before their respective retirements, as was the use of public funds for the trip.^[16] Confusion arose about who authorised the expenditure when it was discovered additional money had been allocated for the trip under a parliamentary budget.^[16] To clarify what had happened, premier Joan Kirner called a special media conference where she blamed a senior bureaucrat for mistakenly authorising extra public funds for the trip.^[16] In an editorial, The Age newspaper also questioned whether such a trip could be justified given the state was in recession and the Victorian Government in deficit.^[18] The newspaper endorsed Kennett's views that the trip was inappropriate.^[18] Norris denied the trip had been a "junket" and condemned the criticism of the trip, becoming concerned about the potential damage to Asia-Pacific relations, stating: "If anything that's happened as a result of the speculation made about our trip, (should) damage that relationship, be it on the heads of the mental midgets who have done the bad-mouthing."^[17]

Retirement from politics

After ten years in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, during which time he rose to become Deputy Speaker, Norris retired from politics in 1992 and was succeeded as the Member of Dandenong by John Pandazopoulos.^[19][20]

Awards and nominations

Award	Honour	Year	Results
Silver Logie Award[2]	Best Supporting Actor in a Series for Cop Shop	1980	Won
Film Critics Circle of Australia[21]	Best Supporting Actor Male for 'Innocence'	2001	Won
Equity Ensemble Awards	Lifetime Achievement Award	2008	Won[22]
Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role[23]	Innocence	2000	Nominated

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
1964	Nude with Violin	Sebastien Lacreole	TV movie
1964	The Sponge Room	Colin	TV movie
1964	Corruption in the Palace of Justice	Judgr Cust	TV movie
1964	The Physicists	Beutler	TV movie
1964	Six Characters in Search of an Author	Letho	TV movie
1964	Luther	Martin Luther	TV movie
1964	A Man for All Seasons	King Henry VIII	TV movie
1965	The Winds of Green Monday	Mate Roberts	TV movie
1965	Othello	Roderigo	TV movie
1971	Stork	Anna's Father	Feature film
1975	The Great Macarthy	Vera's Dad	Feature film
1977	High Rolling in a Hot Corvette	Farmer	Feature film
1994	Paperbook Romance	Judge
1997	Road to Nhill	Ted	Feature film
1998	Deathbed of an Undertaker	Bert	Short film
1998	Mrs Craddock's Complaint		Short film
2000	Innocence	John	Feature film
2000	Waiting at the Royal	Diana's Father	TV movie
2001	Hostage to Fate	Mr Boyle
2001	Bowl Me Over	Bob	Short film
2004	Human Touch	Ouspensky	Feature film
2005	Three Dollars	Alfred Price	Feature film
2006	Irresistible	Magistrate	Feature film
2006	The Barrows	Mr. Barrow	Short film
2006	The Society Murders	Paul King	TV movie
2007	Romulus, My Father	Tom Lillie	Feature film
2008	Valentine's Day	Stump Woods	TV movie
2008	Salvation	Gallery Guide	Feature film
2008	Zyco Rock	Granpa
2010	Hawke	Clem Hawke	TV movie
2010	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader	Lord Bern	Feature film
2012	Jack Irish: Black Tide	Eric Tanner	TV movie
2012	Jack Irish: Bad Debts	Eric Tanner	TV movie
2014	Jack Irish: Dead Point	Eric Tanner	TV movie
2014	Paper Planes	Grandpa	Feature film
2015	Force of Destiny	Derek
2015	Looking for Grace	Morris	Feature film
2015	The Dressmaker	Septimus	Feature film
2018	Mortal Engines	Professor Arkengarth	Feature film
2019	Judy and Punch	Scaramouche	Feature film
2022	The King's Daughter	Great Chamberlain	Feature film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
1961	The Eggheads		TV series
1964	Barley Charlie	Herb	TV series
1963–64	Consider Your Verdict	Crown Prosecutor	TV series
1967–77	Bellbird	Joe Turner	TV series
1968–69	Hunter	3 roles: Delaney, Grant, Peter Kramer	TV series
1969	Dynasty	Jim Richards	TV series
1964–1972	Homicide	12 roles: Terence Garrick, Chris Lodge, Sean Rogan, Frank Lord, Vance Pritchard, Vince, Dr. Pringle, Des Bishop, John Jackson, Noel Franklin, Herb Thomas, Lennie Walker	TV series, 16 episodes
1973	Ryan	Fruit picker	TV series
1972–75	Matlock Police	5 roles: Herbie Marsh, Bill Thomas, Clive Atkinson, Sam Rigby, Frank Simpson	TV series
1969–75	Division 4	4 roles: Des Phillips, Joe Swithen, Les Jackson, Fred	TV series
1975–76	The Last of the Australians	Blue Dawson	TV series
1976	Solo One		TV series
1976	Power Without Glory	Ron Lassiter	TV series
1969–77	Bellbird	Joe Turner	TV series
1977	Young Ramsay	"Old Wombat" Thompson	TV series
1977–78	Bobby Dazzler	Uncle Oz	TV series
1977–80	Cop Shop	Senior Sgt. Eric O'Reilly	TV series
1994	The Damnation of Harvey McHugh	Judge. Brown	TV series
1998	Driven Crazy	Gentleman Bowler #1	TV series
1999	Noah's Ark	High Priest	TV miniseries
1999	Pig's Breakfast		TV series
1996–99	Blue Heelers	Max Arnold	TV series
2001	Something in the Air	Fred	TV series
2001	Horace and Tina	Ern	TV series
2001	Changi	Old Bill Dwyer	TV miniseries
2002	Marshall Law	Mr. Grand	TV series
2002	Stingers	Arthur Gascon	TV series
2003	CrashBurn		TV series
2010	City Homicide	Bill Lalor	TV series
2011	Killing Time	Rod Fraser	TV series
2012	Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries	Franklin D. Weston	TV series
2018	Romper Stomper	Arty	TV series
2016–21	Jack Irish	Eric Tanner	TV series, 15 episodes
2019–20	Bloom	TV series, 10 episodes

References

1. Quinn, Karl (22 March 2023). "'They just loved him': Family, friends farewell Terry Norris, Sarge from Cop Shop". The Sydney Morning Herald. ...died on Monday night
2. Callanan, Tim (21 March 2023). "Actor Terry Norris, star of Cop Shop and former Victorian Labor MP, dies at 92". ABC News. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
3. Knox, David (21 March 2023). "Vale: Terry Norris". TV Tonight. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
4. "Terry Norris". AusStage.
5. Lewis, Jacqueline Lee (11 April 1982). "Alwyn will replace the 'cop' politician". The Age. p. 43. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
6. Courtis, Brian (8 October 1983). "'Cop Shop' puts up shutters on six good years". The Age. p. 5. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
7. "TV actor seeks a political role". The Age. 21 April 1980. p. 14. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Mr Norris, who has been a member of the ALP for 16 years, predicted that transport would be the big issue in the next election. He needs a swing of just over 1 per cent to capture Noble Park for Labor.
8. Frail, Rodney (5 April 1982). "Vic ALP takes Liberal areas". The Age. p. 12. Retrieved 22 March 2023. In the sand belt it won Sandringham, Syndal and Noble Park, the last seat being won by one of the stars of Cop Shop, Mr Terry Norris, who defeated the Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Collins.
9. Broadbent, David (18 November 1983). "11 Cain MPs must find new seats". The Age. p. 1. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Government MPs who will have to find new seats for the next election are Mr Norris (Noble Park)...
10. "Cain's historic win: The results". The Age. 4 March 1985. p. 16. Retrieved 22 March 2023. DANDENONG: Fotheringham, I (Lib) 9,058, *Norris, T (ALP) 14,561... Status: Retained by ALP; DOVETON: *Jolly, R (ALP) 15,799, Starr, M (Lib) 8,475... Status: Won by ALP
11. Reilly, Graham (6 April 1984). "MP wants X-rated preview". The Age. p. 17. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
12. Freeman-Greene, Suzy (17 December 1986). "Lift drinking age to 20 and penalise parents, report urges". The Age. p. 6. Retrieved 22 March 2023. The Labor MLA for Dandenong, Mr Terry Norris, yesterday said he had suggested 20 as the legal drinking age because...
13. Bellamy, Louise (18 October 1986). "TV reporter's cattlemen links challenged". The Age. p. 16. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
14. "TV networking will hurt Victoria, actors tell Cain". The Age. 1 May 1987. p. 5. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
15. Hooks, Barbara (21 July 1988). "Turning the heat on the television industry". The Age. p. 14. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
16. Kelly, Hugo (16 July 1992). "MPs' trip blamed on official's mistake". The Age. p. 4. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
17. Kelly, Hugo (22 July 1992). "Norris slams critics of 'friendship' trip". The Age. p. 3. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
18. "Editorial: An untimely and unnecessary trip". The Age. 16 July 1992. p. 13. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
19. Terry Norris Actor Photos & Pics, Celebrity Pictures – Flixster
20. "Norris, Terence Richard". re-member. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
21. Maddox, Garry (10 February 2001). "Chopper floors favourite as critics bypass politics and take their pick". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Simon Lynon, from Chopper, and Terry Norris, from Innocence, share the supporting actor award
22. "Lifetime achievement award for Julia Blake and Terry Norris". 12 November 2018.
23. Schembri, Jim (17 November 2000). "The winner, by half an ear..." The Age. p. 44. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Best supporting actor: For his performance as Read's "friend" in Chopper, Simon Lyndon will easily win over Terry Norris, who plays a beleaguered husband in Innocence...

External links

• Terry Norris at IMDb

Parliament of Victoria
Preceded by Peter Collins	Member for Noble Park 1982–1985	District abolished
Preceded by Rob Jolly	Member for Dandenong 1985–1992	Succeeded by John Pandazopoulos