# Richard Meikle

Richard Meikle (10 October 1929 – 2 June 1991) was an Australian actor who worked extensively in film, theatre, and radio. He was the father of writer Sam Meikle.

## Career

Meikle began his career as a stage actor. His first recorded role was in Metropolitan Theatre's production of Ned Kelly in 1947.
In the 1950s, Meikle moved into radio acting, most prominently with Grace Gibson Radio Productions. Meikle's voice landed him many major roles with the company as both an actor and an announcer. Meikle was included in Reg James' list of his favourite Grace Gibson performances for his starring role alongside John Unicomb in the serial Becket. Another factor working in Meikle's favour was his ability and desire to perform his own sound effects. Grace Gibson Productions' budget did not cover a professional sound effects person and as such actors who could do effects themselves were highly sought after. Reg James noted Meikle would often compete for rights to do sound effects with his co-stars Ron Roberts and James Condon.
Meikle played London-based spy Guy Marriott. 1966 produced several roles for Meikle. He was used in the dual role of actor and announcer in The Shame of Sefton Ridge, an adaptation of Hamilton Basso's novel The View from Pompey's Head. Meikle read the opening credits and played the character of Mickey Higgens. Meikle's other role that year was that of henchman Paul Kruger in another Phillip Mann drama The Red Gardenia. Meikle also read the end credits of a few episodes. Another major role in the 60s for Meikle was as Logan Berkeley in Ross Napier's adaptation of the novel Borrasca. Borrasca was another example of Grace Gibson using Meikle as an announcer.
The early 1970s also proved to be a busy time for Meikle with Grace Gibson. He had another actor/announcer job in the form of Ross Napier's So Help Me God in 1970, where he read the credits for each episode and played criminal Toby Laird. Meikle had starring roles in the 1971 shows I Killed Grace Random and I, Christopher Macaulay, where he played copywriter Curtis Miller and the titular character respectively.
As television started to become more prevalent, Meikle began to branch out in the late 1970s. He appeared in several television movies, including Harvest of Hate, where he replaced Sir Robert Helpmann in the role of vineyard owner John Camden. In 1976, Meikle had a major role as Martin Gruman in the one hour pilot episode of the television drama Bluey.
In 1982, Meikle returned to Grace Gibson and joined the cast of Grace Gibson's most popular serial, The Castlereagh Line. Meikle played Jim Holly.

## Personal life

Richard was the son of Leslie Meikle, an engineer, and Alma May Meikle (née Milsted). Richard married twice: in 1955 to Lola Edna Brooks, an actress, with whom he had a son. He married again in 1968, to Helen Millicent Madgwick, by whom he had another four children. Richard's obituary appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 June 1991.

## Filmography
### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1960 | ITV Play of the Week | Lindsey Stone | Episode: "The Night of the Big Heat" |
| 1961 | No Hiding Place | Arthur Wolf | TV series Episode: "The Long Stretch" |
| 1961 | Whiplash | Pecos Denvers | TV series Episode: "Episode in Bathurst" |
| 1965 | My Brother Jack | Dud Rosevear | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1967 | Contrabandits | Sam Kodiak | TV series Episode: "Target, Smokehouse" |
| 1968 | Hunter | Phan Lin | TV series, Episode: "Brain Storm" |
| 1968-1969 | I've Married A Bachelor | Guru Chanderadas | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1969 | Riptide | Alex Kolonis | TV series TV series Episode: "Good Friday Island" |
| 1969 | Delta | Bill Prescott | TV series Episode: "The Devil Take the Blue Tongue Fly" |
| 1969 | Woobinda, Animal Doctor | | TV series Episode: "No Love for Theodore" |
| 1969-1973 | Division 4 | Gil Williamson / Ian Taylor / James Marshall | TV series 8 episodes |
| 1970 | The Rovers | Professor Anderson | TV series Episode: "A Present for Jenny" |
| 1972 | Barrier Reef | Joe Francis | TV series Episode: "The Speckled Stone Fish" |
| 1972 | Homicide | Barrington | TV series Episode: "From the Top" |
| 1972 | Catwalk | Christopher Kemper | TV series Episode: "Try Anything Twice" |
| 1972-1976 | Matlock Police | Roy 'Tiger' Donovan / Neil Thomas / Norman West | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1973 | Certain Women | George Lindsay | TV series, 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Bluey | Martin Gruman | TV series Episode: "The First Bloody Day" |
| 1976 | The Young Doctors | Les Bradley | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1977 | Glenview High | Michael Wilson | TV series Episode: "Quiet Nights and Silent Deaths" |
| 1978 | The Restless Years | Senator Ross Lindsay | TV series, 26 episodes |
| 1978 | Chopper Squad | George Deacon | TV series Episode: "8:52 A.M." |
| 1979 | Cop Shop | Frank Dobson | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1982-1987 | A Country Practice | Fred Murray / Arthur Ryan / Jim Higgins | TV series, 6 episodes |
| 1983 | Scales of Justice | Premier Cooper | Miniseries Episode: "The Numbers" |
| 1984 | The Last Bastion | General Vasey | Miniseries |
| 1985 | Sons and Daughters | Colonel Gerrard Bainbridge | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1988 | The Dirtwater Dynasty | Mr. J. James | Miniseries, 1 episode |
| 1990 | Home and Away | Paramedic | TV series, 1 episode |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | A Fourth for Bridge | | TV movie |
| 1957 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Algernon | TV movie |
| 1957 | In the Zone | | TV movie |
| 1958 | This Land Australia | | Short film |
| 1959 | On the Beach | Davis | |
| 1961 | A Night Out | Gidney | TV movie |
| 1962 | The Taming of the Shrew | Voice | TV movie |
| 1965 | The Affair | | TV movie |
| 1967 | Love and War | | TV movie |
| 1968 | The Battlers | | TV movie |
| 1972 | The Prince and the Pauper | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1973 | The Count of Monte Cristo | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1973 | The Three Musketeers | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1974 | Moving On | | |
| 1976 | Silent Night, Holy Night | | TV movie |
| 1977 | Dot and the Kangaroo | Jack the Farmhand (voice) | TV movie (animated) Also casting director |
| 1979 | Harvest of Hate | John Camden | TV movie |
| 1979 | The Little Convict | Sergeant Bully Langton (voice) | TV movie (animated) Also casting director & production manager |
| 1981 | Doctors and Nurses | The President | |
| 1983 | Who Killed Baby Azaria? | Coroner Galvin | TV movie |
| 1984 | For Love or Money | Himself | Documentary film |
| 1985 | The Pickwick Papers | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1985 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1985 | The Man in the Iron Mask | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1985 | Stock Squad | | TV movie |
| 1985 | Robbery | Major General | TV movie |
| 1986 | Kidnapped | Voice | TV movie (animated) |
| 1986 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Voice | TV movie (animated) |

## Radio

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | Starlight Theatre | | Radio |
| 1958 | Radio Cab | Scott Sullivan | Radio |
| 1959 | Not to be Taken | Steven Davies | Radio (original voice) |
| 1962 | Sara Dane | Irish rebel convict | Radio |
| 1963 | The Robe | Marcellus Gallio | Radio |
| 1964 | Too Young to Die | Larry Gates | Radio |
| 1964 | Pray for a Brave Heart | | Radio |
| 1965 | The Tilsit Inheritance | Jim | Radio |
| 1965 | Becket | King Henry II | Radio |
| 1966 | The Red Gardenia | Paul Kruger / Announcer | Radio |
| 1966 | The Shame of Sefton Ridge | Mickey Higgens / Announcer | Radio |
| 1967 | The Sinners of Sonoma | Robby Barrow | Radio |
| 1968 | Borrasca | Logan Berkeley | Radio |
| 1968 | Kinkhead | Warren Butler | Radio |
| 1968 | Undercover | Guy Marriott | Radio |
| 1970 | So Help Me God | Toby Laird / Announcer | Radio |
| 1971 | I Killed Grace Random | Curtis Miller / Announcer | Radio |
| 1971 | I, Christopher Macaulay | Christopher Macaulay | Radio |
| 1982 | The Castlereagh Line | Jim Holly / William Holly | Radio |
| Unknown | Crisis Point | Narrator | TV Radio |
| Unknown | Requiem for Paul Jason | Eric Millgate | Radio |
| Unknown | The Silent Witness | Les Callaghan / End Credits | Radio |
| Unknown | Step into Deep Waters | Leslie Galvin | Radio |