Name: Maggie Kirkpatrick

Statement:

No statement has been received from this suspect.

Supporting Evidence:

An Encyclopaedia of Australian Film (John Stewart, 1984)

Maggie Kirkpatrick (1941- )

NSW actress of stage, TV and film, famous as Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson on TV's The Prisoner '81-'83 [Remember this book was published in 1984 BK].

Films include:
Summer of Secrets '76
The Claim '76 - short
The FJ Holden '77
Getting of Wisdom '77
The Night The Prowler '79
Lesley '80 - short
Pirate Movie '82

Biography from the now defunct 'Maggie Kirkpatrick Newsdesk' (1996)

From Pirates to Prisoners
Maggie Kirkpatrick - Australia's finest

MAGGIE KIRKPATRICK has long been regarded as being among Australia' s very finest actors. Perhaps best known for her theatre work, this changed when she made her powerful first appearance in Channel lO's top rated drama series PRISONER as malevolent warder Joan Ferguson. The role turned Maggie into a star with an avid following worldwide, but that is far from the whole story of this extraordinary lady.

Born Margaret Ann Downs, the daughter of Chrissie and James Downs, on 29th January 1941 in the New South Wales border town of Albury, Maggie's father was tragically killed whilst on active service as a soldier in North Africa just six months after she was born which left Chrissie to bring up her baby daughter and older son Adrian by herself. The acting bug manifested itself when Maggie was at school where she appeared in several productions and upon leaving school at 15 her mother, sensing a flair for the stage, enrolled Maggie in drama lessons which would pay off when Maggie got her first professional job with John Alden's Shakespeare Company during 1961. Having completed this engagement Maggie (billed at this time as Margaret Anderson) drifted into a variety of jobs ranging from working in a dress shop to being a doctor's receptionist. Having met merchant seaman Norman Kirkpatrick, born in Northern Ireland, they were married in September 1963. Around the same time Maggie resumed her career at the New Theatre in Sydney with productions such as The World of Shalom Alecheim and The Hostage, however a full time career would have to be put on hold with the arrival of daughter Caitlin who would dominate Maggie's life over the next few years. As Caitlin got a little older Maggie found that she could do some more acting which resulted in small roles in several ABC series and as the seventies dawned some prestigious theatre work followed which saw Maggie playing opposite Peggy Mount in The Band Wagon and Sir Michael Redgrave in A Voyage Around My Father during the process building herself a fierce reputation for quality performances.

Film work beckoned most notably in Jim Sharman's The Summer Of Secrets and Bruce Beresford's The Getting of Wisdom leading to a major appearance in Ken Annakin' s musical re-working of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates Of Penzance, The Pirate Movie. It was this film that caught the eye of Grundy Television's casting directors when they were looking for an actress to play the important new role of Joan Ferguson in PRISONER. Maggie had auditioned many years before for the role of Vera Bennett (which eventually was handed to Fiona Spence) but now made a dramatic debut as the sadistic warder whom inmates quickly refered to as "The Freak". From the very first entrance the character of Joan Ferguson was to dominate the activities inside Wentworth Detention Centre like no other, this warder was corrupt, vindictive and anyone who got in her way was bashed into oblivion or transferred to the hell hole of the state prison system, Blackmoor. Viewers across the world have tuned in week after week to see the titantic clashes between The Freak and a succession of Wentworth 'top dogs' as the prison rocked with the struggle for absolute supremacy within it's walls. Ferguson took on all comers and one by one demolished any opposition with cruel physical and mental torture. The character of The Freak has since gone on to become one of the most popular characters in a serial worldwide, a woman viewers love to hate. A tribute to the power of PRISONER here in Britain is that even though the show was never networked and frequently shown well past midnight in the small hours it never the less became a huge cult success which spawned a hit single (Lynne Hamilton's theme song "On The Inside") and two sell out stage plays.

After some 405 episodes and rave reviews Maggie left the claustrophobic world of Wentworth Detention Centre for the more sedate middle class life of Alan Ayckbourn as she made a welcome return to the theatre in his play Absurd Person Singular. It wasn't long before television beckoned once again, this time at Richmond Hill where a year long stint playing bar owner and socialite Ivy Hackett consolidated Maggie Kirkpatrick's position as one of Australia's most popular actresses. Fortunately for Maggie not long after Richmond Hill faced the axe she was tackling a fresh challenge, this time back on stage appearing as Mrs. Evangeline Harcourt in the smash hit musical Anything Goes which toured Australia and on to New Zealand. It was also to New Zealand that Maggie was flown to play Betty, a kindly foster mum, in the children's television series Betty's Bunch which proved another interesting departure in a colourful and varied career. In recent years Maggie has kept up her love of theatre most notably appearing as the battleaxe mother-in-law Emma Hornett in the old comedy Sailor Beware! for a season at the Marian Street Theatre, Sydney and on tour in Lend Me A Tenor. Television has featured too with guest appearances in many popular Australian series including Marilyn's selfish Aunty Jean in Home and Away, politician Margaret Gilmore in Dearest Enemy and even as Sister Maureen, nun extraordinaire, in an episode of Hey Dad! Maggie spent most of 1992 in Britain embarking on two highly successful personal appearance tours which gave her an opportunity to meet thousands of her devoted British fans for the first time.

On the home front Maggie divorced from her husband in the seventies and now lives near the beautiful New South Wales town of Windsor with daughter Caitlin and her partner Michael, the house is made more colourful by Maggie's grandchildren 6 year old Daniel and 2 year old Megan and by faithful dog Bingo. Aside from her stalwart work in showbusiness Maggie has been a long time campaigner in the fight against HIV / AIDS and has been instrumental in raising many thousands of dollars over the years and by taking the platform at various functions has helped overcome ignorance and fear of the disease by the community at large. The gay community in Sydney presented Maggie with a well deserved DIVA Award in recognition of the hard work she has put in over the years and one which Maggie cherishes.

1995 saw Maggie having completed work on two films - Billy's Holiday, Lilian's Story - and an acclaimed guest appearance in one of Australia's longest running serials G.P. Just days before flying into Britain Maggie finished a sell out run in John Misto's play The Shoe Horn Sonata at the Ensemble Theatre, Sydney which earned her and co-star Melissa Jaffer stunning reviews for their moving portrayals of two women thrown together in a Japanese POW camp during World War II and subsequently reunited fifty years later. However the spectre of PRISONER loomed once again as Maggie Kirkpatrick revived The Freak for the first time since the programme finished filming almost a decade ago in the outrageous new stage presentation Prisoner Cell Block H: The Musical which had it's world premiere at the Queen's Theatre and received much praise.

1996 has already seen Maggie star in the London production of The Shoe Horn Sonata at the King's Head Theatre with Susannah York prior to embarking on a UK tour of Prisoner Cell Block H: The Musical once again playing opposite Lily Savage.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAID ABOUT MAGGIE KIRKPATRICK in PRISONER CELL BLOCK H: THE MUSICAL
"A brilliant piece of camp parody..." - Jack Tinker, Daily Mail
"The amazing Maggie Kirkpatrick..." - Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph
"The show's highlight is Maggie Kirkpatrick's jackbooted warder The Freak doing an hilarious number extolling the virtues of leather." - Veronica Lee, The Guardian
" ..the evening belongs first and foremost to Maggie Kirkpatrick as Ferguson. dominates the proceedings, and rightly rouses a storm of pantomime booing." - John Gross, Sunday Telegraph