# John Gregg (actor)

John Gregg (12 January 1939 – 29 May 2021) was an Australian actor, who worked steadily over six decades.

## Early life

Gregg was born on a dairy farm in Campbell Town, a remote rural district in southern Tasmania. In his early years he milked cows and ploughed fields for neighbouring farms, and was interested in Aussie Rules football, cricket and rowing.
Gregg auditioned for NIDA at the age of 18, and started studying with its first intake of students in 1959, alongside Robyn Nevin, Elspeth Ballantyne, Elaine Cusack, Teddy Hodgeman and Peter Couchman.

## Career

After graduating from NIDA, Gregg was chosen to work with the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. He appeared in The Merchant of Venice with the John Alden Shakespeare Company in 1961.
From the 1960s, Gregg worked with the newly formed ABC drama department on television series including Contrabandits, Delta and The Oracle, while continuing to work in theatre.
In the early 1970s, Gregg headed to London to work successfully in theatre and then television. One of his most notable roles was as Lycett in Doctor Who. On his return to Australia he continued to work both on stage and screen.
Other television appearances included: Grass Roots, Special Branch, Armchair Thriller, Bodyline, Heatwave, Bootleg, Captain James Cook, Done Away with It, and was a featured player in Frederic Raphael's semi-autobiographical miniseries The Glittering Prizes for the BBC.
Gregg was Chair of the Actors Benevolent Fund (ABF) for six years from 2013, having joined the Committee in 2008. He passed the position on to Bruce Spence in 2019 upon his retirement.

## Personal life

Gregg met his future wife Jane Seldon on the set of David Hare's 1991 production of Racing Demon at Sydney Theatre Company, where Jane Seldon was working as Wardrobe Mistress. He had four children, Sophie Gregg (who is also an actor), Alice, Ben and Sam, and eight grandchildren, as well as two stepsons and step-grandchildren through his marriage to Jane.

## Death

Gregg died on 29 May 2021, aged 82.(1861)

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | Heatwave | Philip Lawson | Feature film |
| 1985 | Burke & Wills | Alfred Erwin | Feature film |
| 1985 | Bootleg | T. C. Brown | Feature film |
| 1987 | Travelling North | Jim | Feature film |
| 1988 | Two Brothers Running | Nelson | Feature film |
| 1991 | Deadly | Minister | Feature film |
| 1994 | Ebbtide | Chalmers | Feature film |
| 1996 | Turning April | Attorney-General | Feature film |
| 2001 | To End All Wars | Camp Doctor Coates | Feature film |
| 2002 | Black and White | Rohan Rivett | Feature film |
| 2008 | The View from Greenhaven | Tobe | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1965 | Tartuffe | Oleante | TV play |
| 1966 | Done Away with It | | TV play |
| 1967 | Contrabandits | | TV series |
| 1969 | Delta | Mallow | TV series |
| | Special Branch | | TV series |
| 1975 | Doctor Who | Lycett | TV series, Story arc: The Ark in Space |
| | Armchair Thriller | | TV series |
| 1979 | The Oracle | Steve Black | TV series |
| 1984 | Bodyline | Percy Fender | TV miniseries |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Golodkin | TV series |
| 1985 | Captain James Cook | Joseph Banks | TV miniseries |
| 1989 | This Man... This Woman | Joe Laurence | TV series |
| | Grass Roots | Morgan Bartok | TV series |

## Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1959 | Our Town | | UNSW |
| 1959 | Julius Caesar | Citizens, soldiers, messengers, senators etc | Elizabethan Theatre |
| 1959 | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial | Orderly / Lieutenant Stephen Maryk (second cast) | UNSW |
| 1960 | The Beautiful People | Owen Webster | UNSW |
| 1960 | The Green Pastures | Adam / Third Gambler / Head Magician / Hezdrel | The New Auditorium, Kensington |
| 1960 | Love's Labour's Lost | Lord Dumaine | UNSW |
| 1961 | Othello | | Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Elizabethan Theatre, Cremorne Orpheum |
| 1961 | The Merchant of Venice | Shylock | Palace Theatre, Sydney, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Elizabethan Theatre, Cremorne Orpheum with John Alden Shakespeare Company |
| 1961 | Macbeth | | Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Elizabethan Theatre, Cremorne Orpheum |
| 1963 | Hamlet | | UNSW Old Tote Theatre |
| 1963 | Camelot | Sir Sagramore | Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide |
| 1965 | Pinocchio | Fox | Comedy Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1966 | Chips with Everything | | Independent Theatre |
| 1966 | The Knack | | Russell Street Theatre |
| 1967 | The Servant of Two Masters | | Russell Street Theatre |
| 1967 | Incident at Vichy | | Russell Street Theatre |
| 1967 | The Right Honourable Gentleman | | Russell Street Theatre, Canberra Theatre |
| 1967 | A Flea in Her Ear | Camille Chandebise | Canberra Theatre, Russell Street Theatre, University of Melbourne |
| 1968 | The Crucible | | Russell Street Theatre, Canberra Theatre, Tasmania |
| 1968 | The Magistrate | | Russell Street Theatre, Canberra Theatre, Mildura Arts Centre, Broken Hill, King's Theatre Mt Gambier, Adelaide Teachers College |
| 1969 | Hamlet | Hamlet | University of Sydney |
| 1970 | The Prince and the Firebird | | UNSW Parade Theatre |
| 1970 | What the Butler Saw | | Russell Street Theatre |
| 1971 | So What About Love? | Dicky | Playhouse Theatre, Perth |
| 1971 | Long Day's Journey into Night | Edmund | Royal National Theatre |
| 1972 | Jumpers | Jumper | The Old Vic, National Theatre, Lyttelton, Royal Court Theatre |
| 1972 | The Great Exhibition | Jerry | Hampstead Theatre |
| 1972–73 | Macbeth | Caithness | Royal National Theatre, The Old Vic |
| 1973 | The Cherry Orchard | Extra | Royal National Theatre, The Old Vic |
| 1973 | The Bacchae | Extra | Royal National Theatre, The Old Vic |
| 1973 | Measure for Measure | Escalus | , Harlow Playhouse, The Old Vic, Royal National Theatre |
| 1974 | Next of Kin | Timothy Hayes | The Alexandra, Birmingham, The Old Vic with Royal National Theatre |
| 1974 | The Marriage of Figaro | Double-Main | The Old Vic |
| 1975 | Don's Party | | Royal Court Theatre |
| 1976 | While the Sun Shines | Earl of Harpenden | Theatre Royal, Windsor with Windsor Theatre Company |
| 1980 | Much Ado About Nothing | Don Pedro | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre with New Shakespeare Company |
| 1980 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Theseus, Duke of Athens | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, The Tilt Yard, Arundel with New Shakespeare Company |
| | The Threepenny Opera | | STCSA |
| 1980–81 | Celluloid Heroes | Mike Fontaine | Nimrod Upstairs, Theatre Royal, Sydney for Festival of Sydney |
| 1982 | Piaf: The Songs and the Story | | Princess Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1982 | The Importance of Being Earnest | John Worthing JP | Marian Street Theatre, Newcastle Civic Theatre |
| 1983 | The Perfectionist | | SGIO Theatre, Brisbane |
| 1984 | Medea | Jason | Melbourne Arts Centre |
| 1985 | Sons of Cain | Rex Harding | Theatre Royal, Sydney, Playhouse, Melbourne with Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 1986 | Pygmalion | | Phillip Street Theatre |
| 1988 | My Fair Lady | Colonel Pickering | Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney with Victoria State Opera |
| 1989 | Passion Play | | Sydney Opera House |
| 1990 | Henceforward... | | Marian Street Theatre |
| 1991 | Racing Demon | | Wharf Studio Theatre with Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1993 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Mr Gatch / TV Compere | University of Sydney, Lyric Theatre Sydney, His Majesty's Theatre, Perth |
| 1994 | Underwear, Perfume and Crash Helmet | Lionel | Malthouse Theatre |
| 1995 | Honour | George | Malthouse Theatre |
| 1996 | Coriolanus | Cominius | Melbourne Athenaeum, Sydney Opera House, Canberra Theatre |
| 2003 | These People | | Wharf 2 Theatre |
| 2004–05 | Flatfoot | Crassus Dives | Australian national tour |
| 2008 | Renaissance | Leonardo Da Vinci | Old Fitzroy Theatre |
| 2008 | The Happy Prince | The Statue | Newcastle Civic Theatre, Seymour Centre |