Judith McGrath

Born in Brisbane, McGrath realised she wanted to be an actor from an early age. She began taking drama classes at Brisbane's Twelfth Night Theatre. She also took ballet and speech and elocution lessons.^[1]

McGrath began her professional acting career in theatre restaurants in Brisbane.^[1] She also had an early film role in 1969 film Age of Consent, playing the role of Grace.^[2]

In her twenties, McGrath relocated to London, where she worked in production for BBC radio's international news services^[1] and studied mine, dance and drama.^[3] After three years, she returned to Brisbane, rejoining Twelfth Night Theatre for 12 months.^[3] She then moved to Melbourne where she appeared extensively in theatre, including productions for Melbourne Theatre Company and Playbox Theatre Company.^[1] and appeared in Skyways and Young Ramsay.^[3]

McGrath was known for playing characters with a dry, often sarcastic wit.^[4] She was best known to international audiences for her role in the cult Network Ten soap opera Prisoner as fair-minded but sarcastic Deputy Governor Colleen 'Poface' Powell.^[5] Initially a minor character, appearing in 12 episodes in the first two series (1979–1980), she became a permanent cast member in 1981 and went on to appear in a total of 263 episodes. She chose to leave the series, her farewell episode airing in May 1984, during the show's sixth season.^[6]

After leaving Prisoner, McGrath appeared in guest roles in Special Squad, Neighbours (1985) and The Flying Doctors (1986; 1988) and 1986 miniseries Sword of Honour.^[7] In 1989, she appeared in the first series of the children's comedy series Round The Twist in 1989, playing Matron Cecilia Gribble (the wife of Frankie J. Holden’s character).^[1]

McGrath went on to become a regular cast member on A Country Practice, playing hippie Bernice Hudson from 1992 until 1993. Not long afterwards, the series was axed by the Seven Network, and McGrath returned for the final episode.^[7]

After a role in ABC drama Police Rescue,^[7] McGrath joined the cast of medical drama series All Saints on its debut in 1998, where she became known for playing the long-running role of nurse Yvonne 'Von' Ryan, opposite co-star Georgie Parker. She was the only original cast member to stay with the series until its conclusion in late 2009.^[8] The role saw her nominated for a Logie Award.^[9]

McGrath also starred in anthology series Naked: Stories of Men in 1996. Her final television role was as a counsellor in the series Winners & Losers.^[7]

McGrath died in Brisbane at the age of 70 on 20 October 2017.^[10][11]

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Source: ^[12]