Bruce Allpress
New Zealand actor (1930–2020)
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Bruce Robert Allpress (25 August 1930 – 23 April 2020) was a New Zealand actor.
Biography
Allpress grew up in Dunedin, the second son of William and Gladys Allpress.[1][2] He began performing in the 1960s in a vaudeville minstrel show called the Cheeseman Singer Series.[1] He began working in television drama with a role in the series Hunter's Gold, then spent several years as a regular character on the late 1970s soap opera Close to Home.[3]
He appeared in many television dramas and also presented on television and radio productions. In the mid-1980s, he was a regular on The Billy T. James Show,[1] as well as featuring alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the pirate adventure film Nate and Hayes.[4] He also played the role of a blind piano tuner in The Piano (1993) directed by Jane Campion.[5] His most known role is Aldor, archer of Rohan that accidentally shot the first Uruk-hai from their army in the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.[3]
Allpress died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at the age of 89 on 23 April 2020.[6]
Awards
In 1981 and 1983, Allpress was awarded the Feltex Television Award for Best Actor in the series Jocko.[3]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Beyond Reasonable Doubt | Detective Sam Keith | |
| 1981 | Bad Blood | Inspector Calwell | |
| 1982 | The Scarecrow | Uncle Athol | |
| 1983 | Nate and Hayes | Mr. Blake | |
| 1985 | Came a Hot Friday | Don's Dad | |
| 1985 | Should I Be Good? | Neville Oswald | |
| 1987 | Erebus: The Aftermath | Peter Grundy | TV miniseries |
| 1990 | The Shrimp on the Barbie | Mr. Ridley | |
| 1993 | The Piano | Blind Piano Tuner | |
| 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Aldor | |
| 2006 | Ozzie | Charles "Charlie" Foster | |
| 2007 | The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep | Jock McGowan | |
| 2008 | Power Rangers Jungle Fury | Master Phant | |
| 2011 | No Rest for the Wicked | Mr. Maxwell |