# Nigel Lovell

Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama.

## History

Lovell was born in Sydney, a son of H(enry) Tasman Lovell, Professor of Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sydney University, living at Honda Road, Neutral Bay. He was educated at "Shore" (Sydney Church of England Grammar School) and studied law at Sydney University, graduating BA in 1938, and was an active member of the Sydney University Dramatic Society under director May Hollinworth. While with SUDS he was spotted by the director of drama for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Frank Clewlow, who gave him small roles in several radio plays. Handsome, well-connected and gregarious, his name frequently cropped up in Sydney's social pages.
In 1950 he joined the Metropolitan Theatre, again under Hollinworth, and when she fell ill he took over production.
In 1951 he won a Commonwealth Jubilee Arts Scholarship in Drama, a travelling scholarship awarded by the British Council to study production in England.
He continued acting for the ABC under producers Eric John and Frank Zeppel in the last decade of Australian radio drama, and in several ABC-TV historical plays.
In 1959 Lovell appeared as the main protagonist in the convict-themed Pardon Miss Westcott, which was the first Australian musical written specially for live television.
He was also a regular in Crawford Productions for commercial TV; notably as the avuncular spy chief on late 60s series Hunter. During the 1970 to 72 seasons of Crawfords' long-running Melbourne police series Homicide, he served as a line producer and television dialog director before it moved completely into being a fully-filmed program. In 1972 he returned to Sydney joining the staff of ABC Radio as a producer of education programmes.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1949 | Eureka Stockade | Captain Wise | Feature film |
| 1951 | Wherever She Goes | Will Joyce (father of Eileen Joyce) | Feature film |
| 1957 | The Shiralee | O’Hara | Feature film |
| 1957 | A Fourth for Bridge | Air Force Type | TV movie |
| 1959 | One Bright Day | | TV movie |
| 1959 | The Dispossessed | | Feature film |
| 1961 | The Sergeant from Burralee | | TV movie |
| 1965 | The Big Killing | Charles Barcher | TV movie |
| 1970 | Strange Holiday | | TV movie |
| 1970 | Ned Kelly | Captain Standish | Feature film |
| 1972 | The Lady and the Law | | TV movie |
| 1976 | Let the Balloon Go | | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1960 | Stormy Petrel | Major Johnston | TV series |
| 1961 | Whiplash | | TV series |
| 1962 | Consider Your Verdict | | TV series |
| 1962 | The Patriots | Dr Robert Wardell | TV miniseries |
| 1963 | Smugglers Beware | | TV miniseries |
| 1963–64 | Tribunal | | TV series |
| 1965–73 | Homicide | | TV series |
| 1967 | Divorce Court | | TV series |
| 1967–69 | Hunter | Charles Blake | TV series |
| 1968 | Skippy the Bush Kangaroo | | TV series |
| 1972–73 | Over There | | TV series |
| 1973 | Matlock Police | | TV series |
| 1973 | Seven Little Australians | Doctor | TV series |
| 1982 | A Country Practice | | TV series |

## Theatre
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| | As You Like It | Adam (servant) | Sydney University Dramatic Society |
| 1936 | Don Juan | Lord Frantingham (and the statue) | Sydney University Dramatic Society |
| | Death Takes a Holiday | | Sydney University Dramatic Society |
| 1938 | The Merchant of Venice | Bassanio | Sydney University Dramatic Society |
| 1938 | Hotel Universe | | Sydney University Dramatic Society |
| 1938 | Tuttifäntchen | The Puppet Master | Collegium Musicum Sydney |
| 1940 | French Without Tears | | Minerva Theatre |
| 1941 | Mr Smart Guy | Rex Albion | Whitehall Productions |

### As producer/director

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1950 | Raymond, Lord of Milan | | Metropolitan Theatre |
| 1951 | A Masked Ball | | New South Wales Opera / National Opera Company |
| 1953 | The Flying Dutchman | | |
| 1954 | Il trovatore | | Empire Theatre for the National Opera of Australia / National Opera Company |
| 1954 | Faust | | Empire Theatre |
| 1955 | Winter Journey | | Independent Theatre |
| 1957 | The Big Knife | Clifford Odets | Independent Theatre |

## Radio
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| | The Wild Ass's Skin | | Honoré de Balzac play |
| 1939 | Hands Across the Table | | Viña Delmar play behind the 1935 film for Lux Theatre |
| 1939 | Those We Love | | Agnes Ridgeway serial (not the George Abbott play) behind the 1932 film |
| 1939 | Magnificent Obsession | | Based on the story by Lloyd C. Douglas |
| 1939 | By Wire | | Mystery play by Mary Penelope Lucy (a Sydney author) |
| 1940 | Smilin' Thru | | Adapted from the Jane Cowl & Jane Murfin play Smilin' Through |
| | Four Daughters | | Adapted from the 1938 film, first of a series for Harry Dearth's "Radio Theatre" by arrangement with Warner Bros. |
| 1946 | Big Sister | | Serial starring Thelma Scott, Peter Finch, Peter Dunstan & Bettie Dickson on 2UW |
| 1946–47 | Crossroads of Life | | Serial with a similar cast on 2UW |
| 1946–48 | Danger Unlimited | Jeffery Blackburn | Max Afford serial on 2UE |
| 1948 | Perfect Strangers | | Clemence Dane play behind the 1945 film |
| 1949 | A Bill of Divorcement | | Clemence Dane play (filmed several times) |
| 1953 | The Cure for Love | | The Walter Greenwood play behind the 1949 film |
| 1957 | The Explorers | King | |
| 1961 | Cattleman | Ben | |
| 1965 | The Concord of Sweet Sounds | Gerhmann | Broadcast on the BBC & produced by Eric John |

## Family

Lovell was a brother of Dr. Bruce Tasman Lovell (1910 – 19 September 1986) and Guy Tasman Lovell (15 August 1919 – ). Former cricketer Geoff Lovell is a nephew.
Lovell married Sue Dalton in 1941 and had a daughter Catherine Lovell on 1 January 1947. His wife died of a heart condition later that year.
He married again, to Patricia Anna Parr (1929 – 26 January 2013) in 1956, having met through work with Sydney's Metropolitan Theatre. They had two children – Simon Lovell, a helicopter pilot, and Jenny Lovell, an actor known for her role in the television series Prisoner. Patricia Lovell had a significant career in radio and film both before and after their divorce.