19-615: Hopgood is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Alan Hopgood (born 1934), Australian actor and writer Don Hopgood (born 1938), Australian politician Carl Hopgood (born 1972), British sculptor Hoon-Yung Hopgood (born 1974), American politician Jeff Hopgood (1948–2006), Australian rules footballer Kev Hopgood (born 1961), English comic artist Paul Hopgood (born 1973), Australian rules footballer Stephen Hopgood (born 1965), British political scientist [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
38-578: 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. Bellbird (TV series) Bellbird is an Australian soap opera serial broadcast by the ABC and written and created by Barbara Vernon , it screened for 10 seasons between 1967 and 1977, with
57-559: 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. Hopgood won AWGIE awards for The Cheerful Cuckold and The Bush Bunch and writing several feature films including Alvin Purple and
76-504: A regular cast of 46 actors over its 10-year run (see links, for actor information). The National Archives of Australia holds a collection of 43 black and white prints from 1977, identifying over 30 actors involved at that time, The show was based on a short treatment by Colin Free then developed by original story editor Barbara Vernon . The original story team included Vernon, Alan Hopgood and Michael Wright . The first executive producer
95-770: Is available to be viewed at the Australian Mediatheque at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, while several colour episodes are known to exist in the hands of private collectors. The series was the first soap opera in Australia to spin off into a feature film version and tie-in novel, entitled Country Town (1971). It focused on Bellbird's problems during a severe drought. Many future soaps followed suit, spawning their own film versions, including Number 96 and The Sullivans . In 1971, Bellbird
114-491: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Alan Hopgood 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 . Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania , and grew up in
133-548: The National Archives of Australia , it was reported that the ABC taped over the master tapes of the series, which was a common practice of the time something which series cast member Alan Hopgood had complained about in a TV Times article in 1976: "They just wiped [them] off and another episode [was] run over them .... This failure to preserve the program is criminal, to my way of thinking." One complete black and white episode
152-410: The surname Hopgood . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hopgood&oldid=950394935 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
171-497: The 7:00 pm evening news bulletin. In 1976, the series was screened as a single one-hour episode each week, before switching to three half-hour instalments per week during its final season. The show's storylines followed the lives of the residents of the small fictional country town that gave the show its title. While the series plots concentrated mainly on small-scale interpersonal, domestic and local relationships, issues and conflicts, there were occasional moments of high drama. One of
190-695: 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
209-572: 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. 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). Alan Hopgood developed prostate cancer and published
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#1733086197416228-416: The few segments from the early years of the series that has survived. Other notable deaths during the course of the series included those of local farm girl, Hagar Grossark (Barbara Ramsay), who drowned during a flood, and the 1974 death of major character Rhoda Lang, played by foundation cast member Lynette Curran , who was killed when her car was struck by a train at a level crossing. Bellbird featured
247-551: The most celebrated was the death of the local stock and station agent, Charlie Cousens, played by foundation cast member Robin Ramsay . When Ramsay decided to leave the series in 1968, his character was written out in dramatic fashion, with Cousens plunging to his death from the top of a wheat silo. The death scene has figured prominently in retrospectives of great moments in Australian television, and its celebrity meant that it became one of
266-536: The opening titles filmed at nearby Daylesford . Bellbird screened from 28 August 1967 to 23 December 1977 and although it was not Australia's first television serial (the first was Network Seven 's Autumn Affair ), it was the first successful soap opera and even spawned a feature film and tie-in novel. The show's ratings were modest but it had a devoted following, especially in rural Australia. During most of its 10-year production run, 15-minute episodes of Bellbird screened from Monday to Thursday nights, leading in to
285-494: The series centring around the residents of the small fictional Victorian rural township of the series title. Bellbird has the distinction of being the longest-running soap opera/serial ever produced by the ABC. It ended the same year as commercial broadcast series Number 96 and The Box , which had run for six and four years respectively. The series was produced by the ABC at the Ripponlea Studios in Melbourne, with
304-481: 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. Hopgood's first successful play, And
323-563: 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
342-575: Was Brett Porter . The original directors were James Davern and Oscar Whitbread . Episodes of Bellbird were screened in the United Kingdom in 1972. After the initial 52 episodes had been screened, Actors Equity in Australia insisted the ABC increase the price of the episodes so as to pay the actors more. As a result of the price increase, the UK broadcaster purchased no further episodes. Although an extensive selection of episodes survive and reside with
361-601: 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. 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
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