Elspeth Ballantyne (born 1939) is a retired Australian actress, who appeared in theatre, television and film roles over a career that spanned nearly 60 years, a veteran of the industry having started her career as a child actor and becoming a staple of the theatre starting from 1947, in a production of Macbeth and by the age of 15 in 1954 had turned pro., performing in stage roles for the next 37 years, including a stage play tour of the United Kingdom of her iconic Prisoner role at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. Ballantyne is probably best known for her small screen roles in numerous TV serials. Her first major TV role was in the serial Bellbird in 1967 as librarian Laura "Lori" Chandler (formerly Grey), opposite actor Dennis Miller, whom she would marry the following year, she remained in the role until 1971. She became best known for her role in the TV cult series Prisoner (known internationally as Prisoner: Cell Block H) from 1979 to 1986 as original character Prison Officer Meg Jackson. She was the only actress to appear in the series' full 8-season run.

Early life

Elspeth Ballantyne was born into a show business family in Adelaide, South Australia, the daughter of Gwenneth Ballantyne (nee Richmond ), an actress and teacher, and Colin George Sandergrove Ballantyne, a prominent theatre entrepreneur, who would give lectures to the young Elspeth on the likes of Shakespeare, Jonson, Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg her father began his career as a photographer, before becoming a stage actor, producer and director and theatre impresario as an arts administrator who was head of the South Australian Theatre Company, (the predecessor as the State Theatre) Company. Ballantyne admitted that she not initially inspired to take up acting and became a laboratory technician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital instead. Professor Robert Quentin from the University of NSW suggested she audition for the National Institute for Dramatic Arts (NIDA). She was awarded a scholarship and became NIDA's first intake in 1959. After NIDA, her father wanted her to join the Young Elizabethans; instead she chose to work with Raymond Westwell and Joan MacArthur in Perth, while they were establishing the National Theatre Company. Subsequently she and her brother Guy appeared in plays by her father, including as the apparition of MacBeth, and then took roles in the Alan Hopgood "football play" And the Big Men Fly and A Cheery Soul by Patrick White

Career

She became a staple of the early Crawford Production serials in the 1970s, including Division 4, Matlock Police and Homicide. Ballantyne appeared in three iconic small screen roles, starting with the ABC serial Bellbird in which she played librarian Lori Chandler. After her character married Tom Grey, played by Tom Oliver, Ballantyne was written out. She subsequently moved to commercial TV playing firm but compassionate prison officer Meg Jackson (later Morris) in the soap opera Prisoner. Ballantyne was the only actor to stay with the series for its entire eight-year run, making her the longest serving cast member. She admitted that she stayed with the show because she enjoyed it and she also had two sons to bring up. She later reprised her role of Meg in the original stage tour of Prisoner: Cell Block H – The Stage Play, which toured the UK in 1989. After Prisoner was cancelled, Ballantyne filmed a lead role as Maude Bum in Fool's Shoe Hotel for the ABC. She also appeared in an episode of The Flying Doctors, a production for the Melbourne Theatre Company, and was cast in children's series The True Story of Spit MacPhee, along with John Bach, Ray Meagher and Linda Cropper. She guested in an episode of G.P. in 1991. In 1992, Ballantyne began regularly appearing in the soap opera Neighbours as coffee shop owner Cathy Alessi, the wife of Benito Alessi (George Spartels) and the mother of Rick and Marco Alessi (played by Dan Falzon and Felice Arena), as part of a new Italian family that was introduced to the series. She left the show the following year. Subsequently, she appeared in guest parts on TV dramas Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us, All Saints, City Homicide, and miniseries Paper Giants: Magazine Wars (2013). She has appeared in feature films The Caterpillar Wish as Mrs. Woodbridge, and in Moonlight & Magic as thrift shop owner Desma. Ballantyne also appeared in the drama short film Twenty Five Cents (2007), Red Hill (2010), and as the wheelchair-bound matriarch in the short The Last Tupper (2011). She played Maxine Danials in the Boronia movies Boronia Boys (2009) and Boronia Backpackers (2011).

Personal life

Ballantyne was married to actor Dennis Miller from 1968 to 1977. Both had leading roles in the long-running series Bellbird. They have two sons together: Matthew and Tobias.

Filmography