Jan Adele
Australian actress and entertainer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Janice Adele (14 April 1935[2] – 27 February 2000), better known as Jan Adele, was an Australian actress and entertainer with a career spanning over 50 years, in circus, vaudeville, theatre, television and film. She was best known for her role as showgirl Trixie O'Toole in the 1970s soap opera Number 96.[1]
- vaudevillian
- circus performer
- actress
- singer
- dancer
Early life
Adele was a fourth-generation performer. Her grandfather Roy Kelroy had worked for Barnum and Bailey circus in America and her aunt Eilleen Pascoe Webb ran an elocution and dance school in Melbourne. Her mother, was known professionally as Eris O'Dell, worked for the Tivoli circuit and J.C. Williamson, as a singer, actress and dancer and also played piano, and was an assistant producer to Jack Davey at the Macquarie theatre radio and to Wallace Parnell at the Tivoli. Adele did not know her father.
Adele appeared in pantomime from the age of three at Mark Foy's. As a teenager she performed in the circus as an acrobat on the high wire, and as a contortionist. At the age of 19 she began a three-year stint entertaining US troops in Korea and Japan. In 1971 she was part of the New South Wales Concert Party, entertaining Australian troops in Vietnam.[3] After this she performed steadily in vaudeville theatre and as a show girl.
Career
Television
In the 1970s, Adele moved into television, with guest spots in the Crawford Productions police dramas Homicide and Division 4. Subsequent to this, she was spotted by Number 96 producer Bill Harmon in a pantomime show and he devised the recurring character of Trixie O'Toole – a warm and funny vaudevillian showgirl and nightclub entertainer who has been treading the boards for years – for her.
Some of the humour of her Number 96 character was built around Adele's 15 stone figure. When joining the series Adele happily signed the nudity clause present in all cast member's contracts, reasoning that she would never be called upon to strip. She was later horrified to learn she would need to appear semi-nude for a comedy sequence in the show, but went ahead with the scenes. She often shared scenes with co-stars Wendy Blacklock and Mike Dorsey.
In the late 1970s, Adele was a frequent comedy performer on The Mike Walsh Show. She was also a frequent guest on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton. Later television guest credits included Bony (1992), Heartbreak High (1994), Home and Away and 42nd Street.[1]
Film
Adele subsequently acted in several Australian films. These included High Tide (1987), for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Award from the Australian Film Institute, Daisy and Simon (1988), ...Almost (1990), Greenkeeping (1992), Fatal Bond (1992) and The Sum of Us (1994).[1]
Personal life
Adele was married at 17. Her second husband, actor Rick Marshall, was bisexual. Her third marriage was to musician David Anderson in 1962. Adele had two daughters, Mandy and Jody.[2]
Awards
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Jan Adele | Mo Awards | Comedian of the Year | Won |
| 1982 | Jan Adele and Lucky Grills – Fun Follies | Mo Awards | Variety Show of the Year | Won |
| 1987 | High Tide | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Won |
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Caddie | Daisy | Feature film |
| 1981 | Winter of Our Dreams | Woman | Feature film |
| 1987 | High Tide | Bet | Feature film |
| 1988 | Daisy and Simon (aka Where the Outback Ends) | Daisy | Feature film |
| 1990 | Wendy Cracked a Walnut (aka ...Almost) | Majorie | Feature film |
| 1991 | Fatal Bond | Mrs. Karvan | Feature film |
| 1992 | Greenkeeping | Doreen | Feature film |
| 1994 | The Sum of Us | Barmaid | Feature film |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | The Bobby Limb Show | Guest performer | |
| The Joe Martin Show | Guest performer | ||
| 1969 | In Melbourne Tonight | Guest performer | 6 episodes |
| 1969–1985 | The Mike Walsh Show | Guest performer | |
| 1971–1972 | The Bob Rogers Show | Guest performer | |
| 1973 | Homicide | 1 episode | |
| 1974 | Division 4 | 1 episode | |
| 1974–1975 | Number 96 | Trixie O'Toole | 63 episodes |
| 1976 | Mummy and Me | TV pilot | |
| 1978 | Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks | Panelist | |
| 1981 | Personality Squares | Contestant | 1 episode |
| 1985 | Blankety Blanks | Contestant | 3 episodes |
| 1987 | Have a Go | Guest judge | 6 episodes |
| 1988 | Rafferty's Rules | Mrs. Gunning | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Home and Away | Helen Cody | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | A Country Practice | Mrs. Howie | 1 episode |
| The Miraculous Mellops | Customer | 2 episodes | |
| 1992 | Bony | Mrs. Adele | 1 episode |
| 1994 | Heartbreak High | Ruby | 26 episodes |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | The Seahorse | UNSW, Old Tote Parade Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1979 | Fun Follies | Palais Royale, Newcastle, NSW tour with Vidette Productions | |
| 1981 | Gypsy | Rose | Rockdale Town Hall, Sydney |
| 1982 | My Kind of Music | Singer | Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney |
| 1984 | Better Known As Bee | Q Theatre, Penrith | |
| 1988 | Variety for AIDS | Paddington-Woollahra RSL | |
| 1990 | Barnum | His Majesty's Theatre, Perth with Western Australian Theatre Company | |
| 1991 | Fabulous Follies | Dancer | Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide |
| 1992 | Alive, Alone, Adele | Creator / performer | Tilbury Hotel, Sydney, Queanbeyan School of Arts Cafe |
| 1993 | Nunsense 2 | La Mama, Melbourne with Edgley International | |
| 1997 | 42nd Street | Maggie Jones | Theatre Royal, Hobart |