Brian James (actor)
Brian James (5 July 1918 – 2 November 2009) was an Australian radio, stage, television and film actor. Early life, radio and theatre. Brian James was born in Melbourne, the son of the Bishop of St. Arnaud and started his career as a teacher at Ivanhoe Grammar School for four years, in 1933 joining the Royal Australian Navy, after which he was demobilised five years later, and decided to pursue a career as an actor, attending Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, making his stage debut in 1947 and he featured in the 1952 J.C.  Williamson production of "Seagulls Over Sorrento". He would also appear in the 1960 TV production of the play. According to Richard Lane "in that first decade of television it seemed that Brian James was everywhere." He also appeared in ABC radio plays. Television. James appeared in several ABC drama plays in the late 1950s, including "Duke In Darkness" and "Killer in Close-Up: The Wallace Case" in 1957, "Gaslight", "The Small Victory", "The Public Prosecutor", and "The Governess" (all 1958), "Crime Passionel", "Treason", and "The House By The Stable" (1959). He had the lead role as Dr Geoffrey Thompson in  the early medical drama ""Emergency"" (1959). He also appeared in commercial dramas "Shadow of a Pale Horse" and "Seagulls Over Sorrento" in 1960, along with ABC dramas "Heart Attack", "Eye of the Night", and "Mine Own Executioner", and was awarded the TV Week Logie award for "Best Actor" for the plum role of Governor William Bligh in the 1960 ABC drama serial "Stormy Petrel" (a role which he reprised in a 1974 episode of the anthology series "Behind The Legend"). Other ABC drama play appearances included "The Ides Of March" (1961), "The Physicists", "Luther", and "The Wind From The Icy  Country" (all 1964). In 1962, he took the lead role of Jonah Locke in the ATN-7 drama series "Jonah". In 1964, James appeared as a presenter on "This Is It!", the opening night program for ATV-0 in Melbourne. He also featured as Ian Bennett in "Bellbird". He appeared as George Tippett in the soap opera "Skyways" (1979–81) – a character he continued in the ill-fated series "Holiday Island" in 1981. He is probably best known to international audiences for his part in the cult soap opera "Prisoner" (aka "Cell Block H") as friendly officer and later prison handyman Stan Dobson , having previously appeared in the series briefly as Dr. Kennedy. He also appeared as John Worthington in "Neighbours" in the late 1980s. Film. On film, he made an uncredited appearance as a naval officer in the 1959 Stanley Kramer film "On the Beach". He also played screen father to Meryl Streep in "A Cry in the Dark", the 1988 movie about the Lindy Chamberlain court case. Personal life and death. Brian James had served with the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. He died at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, of complications following a fall in 2009 aged 91. Brian