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Ethel[lower-alpha 1] Muriel Ashton AM[1] (11 November 1903 – 21 October 1999), known professionally as Queenie Ashton, was a character actress, born in England, who had a long career in Australia as a theatre performer and radio personality, best known for her radio and television soap opera roles, although she did also feature briefly in films.

Queenie Ashton AM
Queenie Ashton, photographed by Noel Rubie in about 1950.
Born	Ethel Muriel Ashton (1903-11-11)11 November 1903 London, England
Died	23 October 1999(1999-10-23) (aged 95) Carlingford, New South Wales
Other names	Ethel Muriel Cover
Citizenship	Australian
Occupation	Actress (television and film) stage performer singer dancer radio personality
Years active	1917-1992
Known for	The Lawsons (radio serial) Blue Hills (radio serial)
Spouses	Lionel Lawson (married 1931–1940) Frederick John Cover (married 1946–1999)
Children	2
Awards	Macquarie Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Ashton alongside her contemporaries Grace Gibson, Amber Mae Cecil and Ethel Lang[2], as been described as a pioneer for females in radio. Her best known role's was in the long-running Gwen Meredith radio serial Blue Hills, as Lee Gordon[2]and later Grannie Emily Bishop a role she would later reprise for television, with the first Australian-produced soap opera Autumn Affair.[3]

Biography

Early life and stage

Ashton was born in London. She was an accomplished ballet dancer, and specialist in voice production and drama, who started performing when she was fourteen. She appeared in musical comedy on the London stage, on occasion appearing with playwright Noël Coward. She left England in 1927, and performed for Dame Nellie Melba while travelling to Australia through the Suez Canal.[2] She first appeared in Melbourne as a soprano on the concert stage,[4] then in musical comedy, alongside such stars as Gladys Moncrieff,[5] whom she understudied,[6] and Strella Wilson.

Radio

Ashton featured in radio from the 1930s, she appeared in musical comedy opposite Dick Bentley in Oh! Quaite. Her first straight drama role was in 1939, a period piece playing Marie Antoinette.[7]

She played Budge's mother in "Budge's Gang", a segment of the ABC Children's Session (c. 1941–45, and it was so popular it was made into a comic book). Most notably, she played the wife of Dr. Gordon[2] and the long-running role of Granny Bishop (a character many years her senior) in the radio serial Blue Hills, for the entire 27 years of the serial's run (1949–1976 – hers were the very first and last spoken parts). Ashton, as Granny Bishop, spoke:

"We don't have to see people every day of the week/to imagine them in their surroundings or even to live their lives with them. We can still use our imagination ... they can still be in our minds. They can still be with us and so you see, and it is isn't really very hard to say goodbye. to say goodbye and God bless."[8]

Television and film

Ashton also played this role on Australia's first television serial Autumn Affair. In 1957 she appeared in a one-off television play called Tomorrow's Child and played in Certain Women (as "Dolly Lucas"), She was a semi-regular cast member of A Country Practice (as "Lillian Coote") and G.P. (as "Mrs Sculthorpe").[9]

Film roles included both theatrical and telefilms Always Another Dawn in 1948 and The Farrer Story in 1949, she also had cameo's in Mama's Gone A-Hunting in 1977 and The Year My Voice Broke in 1987. She also appeared in many television commercials, most notably for Sara Lee. She was still performing in stage and cabaret plays in her nineties and was one of Australia's last great grand dames and one of the oldest entertainers still performing.

Personal life

Ashton married Lionel Lawson in 1931 (who died in 1950), a violinist, who became leader of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; they had a daughter, nurse Janet Lawson, in 1933 and a son, Tony Lawson, in 1935.[10] They divorced in 1940.[1]

Ashton remarried in 1946 to Frederick John Cover, a theatrical agent, and founder and managing director of the actors' casting firm, Central Casting.

She died on 21 October 1999, in Carlingford, New South Wales, aged 95.[2]

Selected stage appearances

Title	Year
Kid Boots with Leslie Henson at the Winter Garden, London	1926[11]
Sunny as "Sue Warren" at the Empire Theatre, Sydney	1927[11]
Rio Rita as "Carmen" at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne	1929[12]
Whoopee! at the Empire Theatre, Sydney	1929 [13]
The Patsy (play by Barry Conners) as the nasty elder sister	1944 [14]
Anna Christie for the John Alden Company with Leonard Thiele and Lyndall Barbour	1951[15]
A Victorian Marriage (1951 play by Warwick Fairfax)	1951[16]
The Glass Menagerie	1961
An Evening with Noël Coward	1965
The Boy Friend	1968/1969
The Old Fashioned Show	1977
Three Sisters (by Anton Chekhov Drama theatre, Sydney Opera House)	1977
Stevie	1982 source - selected credits from AusStage[17]

Filmography

FILM

Year	Title	Role	Type
1948	Always Another Dawn	Molly Regan	Feature film
1949	Strong Is the Seed aka 'The Farrer Story'	role unknown	Feature film
1980	Age Before Beauty	Herself - Narrator	Film short
1987	The Year My Voice Broke	Mrs. O'Neil	Feature film

TELEVISION

Year	Title	Role	Type
1957	Tomorrow's Child	Role unknown	ABC TV Teleplay
1958-1959	Autumn Affair	Regular role: Granny Bishop	TV series, 156 episodes
1959	Lady in Danger	Role unknown	ABC TV Teleplay
1959	Pardon Miss Westcott	Lead role: Lydia Patterson	TV Teleplay Musical
1960	Whiplash	Guest role: Miss Culbert	TV series, 1 episode
1962;1964	Consider Your Verdict	Guest roles: Adelaide Upton	TV series, 2 episodes
1965-1970	Homicide	Guest roles: Emily Simpson / Mrs. Miriam Pinkerton / Mrs. Hamilton / Dulcie Reynolds	TV series, 4 episodes
1967	My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?	Guest role: Miss Fitchett	TV series, 1 episode
1968	Hunter	Guest role: Mrs. Pankhurst	TV series, 1 episode
1969-1973	Division 4	Guest roles: Emily Harrison / Elizabeth King / Mary Larkins / Mother O'Connell / Mrs. Wilde / Mother O'Connel	TV series, 6 episodes
1969	Pastures of the Blue Crane	Regular role	ABC TV series
1971	Matlock Police	Guest roles: Mrs. McIntyre / Mrs. Macintyre	TV series, 4 episodes
1971-1972	The Godfathers	Guest recurring role: Mrs. Frenchman	TV series, 4 episodes
1972	Crisis	Role unknown	TV pilot
1973	Elephant Boy	Guest role: Doreen Graham	TV series UK/WEST GERMANY/AUSTRALIA, 1 episode
1973-1976	Certain Women	Regular lead role: Dolly Lucas	ABC TV series, 257 episodes
1974	The Evil Touch	Guest role: Elspeth Pfeiffer	TV series, 2 episodes
1976	Solo One	Guest role: Annie Robinson	TV series, 1 episode
1977	Image of Death	Support role: Mrs. Brooks	TV film
1977	Mama's Gone A-Hunting	Old Woman in Restaurant	TV film
1977	Say You Want Me	Role unknown	TV film
1977	The Restless Years	Guest role: Jessica Metcalf	TV series, 1 episode
1978-1981	Cop Shop	Guest roles: Agnes Hinch / Mrs. Roberts / Evelyn Armstrong / Betty Walton	TV series, 6 episodes
1978	This Is Your Life	Herself	TV series, 1 episode
1979	Skyways	Guest role: Mrs. Fow	TV series, 1 episode
1980	Young Ramsay	Guest role: Dolly Farrell	TV series, 1 episode
1981	The Love Boat In Australia	Guest role: Mrs. Selkirk	TV film US/AUSTRALIA, 2 episodes
1981	The Love Boat	Guest role: Mrs. Selkirk	TV series US/AUSTRALIA, 2 episodes
1982,1990	A Country Practice	Guest role: Mrs. Coote / Mrs. 'Coote' Duggan	TV series, 2 episodes
1983	Warming Up	Support role: Mrs. Marsh	TV film
1985	Double Sculls	Pianist	TV film
1986	Mother And Son	Guest role: Elsie	ABC TV series, 1 episode
1987	Poor Man's Orange	Support role: Mrs. Casement	TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1987	Dearest Enemy	Role unknown	ABC TV pilot
1988	Rafferty's Rules	Guest role: Mrs. Capra	TV series, 1 episode
1988	The Dirtwater Dynasty	Old Patient	TV miniseries, 1 episode
1990	A Country Practice	Recurring Guest role: Mrs. Lillian Coote	TV series, 19 episodes
1991	The Miraculous Mellops	Guest role: Customer	TV miniseries, 1 episode
1991-1992	G.P.	Recurring Guest role: Mrs. Jessica Sculthorpe	ABC TV series, 6 episodes

Radio

Year	Title	Role
1949–1976	Blue Hills (radio serial)	Granny Bishop

Recognition

In 1950 she won the Macquarie Network's award for "best performance by an actress in a supporting role" (in "Edward, My Son").[18]

In 1980, she was appointed by her stage name Queenie Ashton a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the performing arts.[19]

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

• Read more about Queenie Ashton, and listen to an oral history interview done with her on the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's website.
• Visit the National Film and Sound Archive's Women in Early Radio collection for more information about the history of women in radio in Australia.
• Queenie Ashton at IMDb

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