Colin McEwan

McEwan's acting roles included parts in a large number of TV series and mini-series, including the regular roles of Detective Sergeant Dan Cullen in Ryan, Nick in Brass Monkeys, and numerous guest appearances in programs including Homicide, the television adaptation of And The Big Men Fly (1974), The Rise and Fall of Wellington Boots (1975), Cop Shop, Sam's Luck (1980), The Last Bastion (1984), The Boardroom (1988), Jackaroo (1990), and The Gift (1997).

He started his career in radio in 1957; early work included announcing on 3CV in central Victoria, and he moved to Melbourne's 3XY in 1960.^[1] Publicity claimed that he was the youngest announcer in Australia at the time. He worked on overnight and breakfast shows.

In 1964, he joined the fledgling ATV-0 as a news reader and general announcer, but soon became the station's 'jack of all trades', playing the roles of Gasper Goblin, Cassius Cuckoo and Leonardo da Funbird in ATV-O's popular national 1960s children's TV show Magic Circle Club (1965–67), starring as Ocker Ramsay in the 1967 comedy series Hey You!, and appearing in many other ATV-O programs including Off to the Races (1967–69), Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go (1969–72), Musical Cashbox (1969–71, which he also produced for a brief period), and hosting programs including Carosello (1967–68), and 1968's Rendezvous (which he also produced and directed). He also played the roles of Miser Meanie and Gussie Galah in Adventure Island (1967–72), and appeared as a regular on The Ernie Sigley Show (1974–75), and Turpie Tonight (1982–83).

In 1967, TV Week told its readers that McEwan was shortly to marry Claudia Topusoff, who had been secretary of ATV0's publicity manager, at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Warrandyte.^[2] In 1972 McEwan and his second wife Pamela had a son, David. In 1980, McEwan moved to Perth; discussing his motivation, he told Fiona Manning of the Australian Women's Weekly that 'I'd always wanted to go there and figured if anyone wanted me I could hop on a plane.' The following year, he married for the third time, to Rae Alty, who the Women's Weekly told readers was 'advertising sales manager for a WA magazine'. The two had met in Melbourne. In Perth, McEwan did advertising work and starred in a Perth TV show, The Entertainers, with Barrie Barkla and John Burgess.^[3] In 1981 he announced he had the license to launch a West Australian version of The Naked Vicar Show.^[4]

McEwan released a number of comedy records, some under his own name, others under the name of Luigi Risotto, a heavily accented Italian character.^[5][6]

He died of cancer after lapsing into a coma at a Gold Coast hospital on 21 August 2005.^{[citation needed]}