Ken Blackburn (actor)

Blackburn was born in April 1935, at the Bristol Royal Infirmary in England and was raised alongside his older brother John. He attended Clifton College from 1948 to 1952. After the Second World War ended, his family emigrated to New Zealand, where he completed his education at Wellington High School.^[2][3][4]

His experiences as a child in World War II England are documented in his memoir "Blitz Kids", about the Bristol Blitz, in which as a wartime refugee, he repeatedly ran away from billets, while trying to return to his family. The book was published in 1995, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of VE Day.^[2]

In the mid 1950s, Blackburn appeared in an early New Zealand Players production of Saint Joan.^[2] He then headed back to England, where he acted under American director Sam Wanamaker in Liverpool for a year, but soon relocated to New Zealand.^[2] Finding the early Australasian theatre scene unsustainable, Blackburn spent five years as a high school teacher, before the advent of Wellington's Downstage Theatre in 1964 afforded him to act full time for the following decade.^[2]

Blackburn's first television role was in the 1963 TV play All Earth to Love.^[2] In 1975 he appeared in soap opera Close to Home, as Clive Foster.^[2] He also had a main role in Hunter’s Gold, which aired internationally.^[2] In 1977, he appeared in Australian series Glenview High, as teacher Mr Phillips and New Zealand drama Moynihan.^[2] He also began starring in more prominent film roles, with a lead in 1978 film Skin Deep.^[2]

Blackburn's best-known screen role in New Zealand was as the boss in office sitcom Gliding On, from 1981 to 1985, and based on Roger Hall's hit play Glide Time.^[2] In the 1980s, he also appeared in miniseries Brotherhood of the Rose.^[2] Other television credits include Sea Urchins, Mortimer's Patch, The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson, and White Fang.^[2]

In the early 1990s, Blackburn appeared in a recurring role in long-running soap opera Shortland Street, playing Sir Bruce Warner.^[2] Further film roles included Bad Blood, Pictures, and 1996 Peter Jackson film The Frighteners.^[2] He also featured in drama Life is for Living (2015), which went on to win numerous festival awards.^[2] The same year, he appeared in two internationally-directed films, American western Slow West alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender and Ben Mendelsohn and British period drama Sunset Song.^[2]

Blackburn is best known internationally for his roles in American fantasy series Xena: Warrior Princess and Australian/American sci-fi series Farscape.^[2] His more recent television credits include New Zealand series The Brokenwood Mysteries and American fantasy series Legend of the Seeker, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Sweet Tooth.^[5]

Blackburn has also an extensive career as a stage performer, including appearing in self-devised show An Evening with Dickens and touring with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as narrator for A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[2] In 1999, his performance as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot earned him the Best Actor award at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.^[6] In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the performing arts.^[7]

In 2022, Blackburn featured in television commercials for Amazon and Kiwi Lager.^[5]

Blackburn lives in Wellington, New Zealand, together with his wife Carolyn.^[4]

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