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Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film Alvin Purple and made appearances in television shows such as Bellbird, Prisoner and Neighbours.

Early life

Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and grew up in the state. He acted in several dramatic roles in his childhood. He attended school in Melbourne and then studied at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) and a Diploma of Education. His first play, Marcus, was produced at Melbourne University while he was working as a school teacher. He left teaching to write full-time and start his acting career.

Career

Scriptwriting and screenwriting

Hopgood's first successful play, And the Big Men Fly, was about Australian rules football and was produced in 1963 by the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Russell Street Theatre in Melbourne with scripts by Brad Hopgood. The play was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973 and also a telemovie. In 1964, he followed with The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women. In 1966 he produced Private Yuk Objects, which he said was the first play anywhere in the world on the subject of the Vietnam War.

Hopgood has also written a number of film and television screenplays, including the comedy film Alvin Purple (1973), which was the most commercially successful Australian film of the early 1970s.

Screen actor: Television and film

Hopgood was an actor with the Melbourne Theatre Company for ten years and was an early 'soap' star in Bellbird, in which for six years he played the town doctor. He has also performed in the later soaps, Prisoner (for which he also scripted many episodes) and Neighbours as Jack Lassiter (a role he reprised in August 2013).

As an actor, his cinema credits include My Brilliant Career (1979), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Roadgames (1981), Evil Angels (1988, released as A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand) and The Man from Snowy River II (1988).

He worked with a large number of actors including Frank Thring, Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields, Sam Neill and Judy Davis.

In late 2021, Hopgood appeared in an exclusive interview for the official YouTube channel Talking Prisoner, in which he discussed his life and career. The episode was published in January 2022.

Honours

Hopgood won AWGIE awards for The Cheerful Cuckold and The Bush Bunch and writing several feature films including Alvin Purple and the documentaries The Prophecies of Nostradamus and The Fountain of Youth.

Hopgood was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in 2005 for his services to the performing arts as an actor, playwright and producer, and to the community through raising awareness of men's health issues.

Personal life

Hopgood resided in Melbourne with his wife Gay, with whom he had two children (Fincina and Sam), and four grandchildren (Jackson, Harrison, Ashwyn and Darcy).

Health issues and death

Alan Hopgood developed prostate cancer and published a book on the experience titled Surviving Prostate Cancer: One Man's Journey, which was widely praised. He ofter toured giving humorous lectures on men's health issues.

Hopgood died from prostate cancer at the age of 87 on 19 March 2022 at a hospital in Melbourne.

Filmography

Film

Television

As writer

Theatre

As actor

As writer / director / crew

References

1. "Alan Hopgood | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2005.
2. "Alan Hopgood theatre roles". AusStage. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
3. "Jack Lassiter returns to Erinsborough". Neighbours.com.au. Eleven. 8 August 2013. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
4. "A Cry in the Dark (1988) – Release dates". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
5. ^ "Australia's leading entertainment agency and directory". www.entertainoz.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 August 2006.
6. "Talking Prisoner Cell Block H EP 25 Interview with Alan Hopgood (Wally Wallace)". YouTube. 6 January 2022. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
7. "Health Play". Archived from the original on 24 August 2012.
8. "Alan Hopgood - the Boy's Sheer Poetry | AustLit". Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
9. "Surviving prostate cancer : one man's journey". Trove. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
10. "Surviving Prostate Cancer by Alan Hopgood". www.penguin.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
11. "Acting icon Alan Hopgood, 87, passes away". Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
12. Knox, David (22 March 2022). "Vale: Alan Hopgood". TV Tonight. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
13. Vagg, Stephen (2021). "Forgotten Australian TV plays: The Astronauts". Filmink. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
14. "AusStage". Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2020.

External links

• Alan Hopgood at IMDb
• Creative Representation - Alan Hopgood
• Bay Street Productions
• Holly's Heroes
• Alan Hopgood at AustLit
• Alan Hopgood discography at Discogs

• 1934 births
• 2022 deaths
• Australian dramatists and playwrights
• Australian male film actors
• Australian screenwriters
• Australian male soap opera actors
• Australian male stage actors
• Deaths from cancer in Victoria (state)
• Deaths from prostate cancer in Australia
• People from Launceston, Tasmania
• University of Melbourne alumni
• 20th-century Australian male actors
• 21st-century Australian male actors
• Members of the Order of Australia
• Works by Alan Hopgood