Peter Cummins

Peter Cummins was born on 2 June 1931, in Melbourne, Victoria. Before becoming an actor, he was a plumbing teacher.^[2]

Cummins was part of the Carlton group that were influential in Australian theatre of the early 1970s, which also included David Williamson, Max Gillies, Graeme Blundell and Bruce Spence.^[3] He performed extensively for the stage, working for all of Australia's major theatre companies, including the Melbourne Theatre Company for whom he appeared in The Christian Brothers, The Threepenny Opera, Glengarry Glen Ross,^[4] Trumpets and Raspberries, The One Day of the Year, Heartbreak House, The Servant of Two Masters, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like, And the Big Men Fly and A Respectable Wedding.^[5]

He also undertook a two year contract with Adelaide's Lighthouse Theatre^[4] (now State Theatre Company of South Australia) under the artistic direction of Jim Sharman from 1982 to 1984, alongside fellow actors Geoffrey Rush, Melissa Jaffer, Gillian Jones, Melita Jurisic, Russell Kiefel, Robert Menzies, Robert Grubb, Kerry Walker and John Wood.^[6]

Cummins won the Sammy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1976 Australian film The Removalists, based on the 1971 play of the same name by David Williamson.^[4] which he had also performed on stage several times. That same year he also starred in the film adaptation of Colin Thiele's Australian literary classic Storm Boy.^[4] Other film credits include Stork (1971), Between Wars (1974), Sunday Too Far Away (1975), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), and Blue Fire Lady (1977),^[4] Twelfth Night (1986), Ground Zero (1987) and The Man from Snowy River II (1988).^[5]

Cummins has also appeared in numerous television series, including miniseries Power Without Glory, children's series Come Midnight Monday, police procedural series' Division 4 and Cop Shop, Australian classic The Sullivans, legal drama Carson's Law, miniseries' Against the Wind^[4] and The Great Bookie Robbery and medical drama A Country Practice.^[5]

Cummins was a long-term resident of Fitzroy, Victoria.^[7][8] He died on 4 October 2024, at the age of 93. He was survived by nieces Jane and Juliet.^[9][8]