Reg Lye

Wikipedia:
Reginald Thomas Lye (14 October 1912 – 23 March 1988), was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at the time, as well as on stage and radio. Lee Robinson called him "one of the best character actors in Australia." He moved to England in the early 1960s but returned to Australia when the film industry revived in the 1970s. He won the Australian Film Institute award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1975 production Sunday Too Far Away, opposite Jack Thompson.

Reg Lye's characters in films included more than one with 'Old' in the name. In Burke and Hare (Vernon Sewell, 1971 - not Australasian) he was 'Old Joe', in Sunday Too Far Away (Ken Hannam, 1975) - in which his character dies - 'Old Garth', and in Molly (Ned Lander, 1983) - in which his character again dies - 'Old Dan'. In Freedom (Scott Hicks, 1982) he's an 'old farmer'.

Eureka Stockade (Harry Watt, 1949) Ealing Studios, prod. Michael Balcon, assoc. prod. Leslie Norman, wr. Harry Watt, Greenwood & Ralph Smart, dp George Heath; Chips Rafferty (Peter Lalor), Jane Barrett, Jack Lambert, Peter Illing, Gordon Jackson, Peter Finch, Reg Lye; events of 1854; 102 min.

King of the Coral Sea (Lee Robinson, 1953) produced by Southern International (Lee Robinson & Chips Rafferty); Chips Rafferty, Charles Tingwell, Ilma Adey, Rod Taylor, Reg Lye

Smiley (Anthony Kimmins, 1956) London Films, an Alexander Korda Production; Colin Petersen (Smiley), Bruce Archer, Ralph Richardson, John McCallum, Chips Rafferty, Reg Lye; sequel: Smiley Gets a Gun

Walk into Paradise (Lee Robinson & Giorgio Pagliero, 1956) aka Walk into Hell; produced by Southern Films International (Lee Robinson & Chips Rafferty); Chips Rafferty, Françoise Christophe, Reg Lye; filmed in both French and English in PNG; action adventure, exploring for oil in PNG; 93 min.

Dust in the Sun (Lee Robinson, 1958) Southern International; novel, Justin Bayard, by Jon Cleary; Jill Adams, Ken Wayne (Justin Bayard), Maureen Lanagan, James Forrest, Robert Tudawali (Emu Foot), Jack Hume, Henry Murdoch, Reg Lye, Alan Light; Justin Bayard is a Northern Territory policeman taking an Aboriginal captive, Emu Foot, to Alice Springs to be tried for a tribal killing

Stowaway (Lee Robinson & Ralph Habib, 1958) aka Le passager clandestin; novel by Georges Simenon; Southern International; dp Desmond Dickinson, assistant editor Anthony Buckley (his first feature); Martine Carol, Karlheinz Böhm, Serge Reggiani, Arletty, Roger Livesey, Reg Lye, Maea Flohr; aventure drama

Restless and the Damned, The (Yves Allégret, 1959) aka L'ambitieuse, The Climbers, The Dispossessed; French/Italian/Aust coprop; last of features (partly) from the Lee Robinson & Chips Rafferty production team; ; filmed partly in Tahiti; Edmond O'Brien, Richard Basehart, Andréa Parisy, Nicole Berger, Nigel Lovell, Reg Lye; drama; commercially unsuccessful

Sunday Too Far Away (Ken Hannam, 1975) prod. Gil Brealey, Matt Carroll, South Australian Film Corporation, wr. John Dingwall, dp Geoff Burton, music Patrick Flynn; Jack Thompson, Max Cullen, Robert Bruning, Jerry Thomas, Peter Cummins, John Ewart, Sean Scully, Reg Lye, Graham Smith, Ken Shorter, Lisa Peers, Ken Shorter; 90 min.

Killing of Angel Street, The (Donald Crombie, 1981) prod. Anthony Buckley for Forest Home Films, dp Peter James; Elizabeth Alexander, John Hargreaves, Reg Lye, Alexander Archdale; Hargreaves' character, Elliott, is based on Jack Mundey, and Elizabeth Alexander's character, Jessica Simmonds, is based on the Juanita Nielsen case, about the Sydney woman who disappeared in 1975 at the height of her involvement in the struggles of King's Cross residents and their supporters against a large-scale development project; political thriller; cf. Heatwave

Freedom (Scott Hicks, 1982) prod. Matt Carroll for South Australian Film Corporation, Endeavour Communications Corporation, wr. John Emery (later known as Josephine), dp Ron Johanson, music Don Walker, Cold Chisel, design Herbert Pinter, ed. Philip Reid; Jon Blake, Jad Capelja, Max Cullen, Kati Edwards, Chris Haywood, Candy Raymond, Charles Tingwell, Reg Lye; fantasy road movie; Eastman colour, 35mm, 95 min.

Molly (Ned Lander, 1983) prod. Hilary Linstead for Troplisa, wr. Ned Lander, Phillip Roope, Mark Thomas, dp Vincent Monton, music Graeme Isaac, Mick Conway, Jim Conway, design Robert Dein, ed. Stewart Young; Claudia Karvan, Ruth Cracknell, Slim de Grey, Melissa Jaffer, Reg Lye, Garry McDonald, Flying Fruit Fly Circus; Molly is (and really was) a singing dog; Eastman colour, 35mm, 90 min.

References and Links

Wikipedia entry - including this selected filmography:

Busman's Holiday (1948)
Man of Destiny (1952)
The Shop at Sly Corner (1953)
King of the Coral Sea (1954) - Grundy
The Proposal (1954, by Anton Chekhov)
Smiley (1956) - Pa Bill Greevins
Walk Into Paradise (1956) - Ned 'Shark-eye' Kelley
Three in One (1957) - The Swaggie (segment "Joe Wilson's Mates")
The Shiralee (1957) - Desmond
The Stowaway (1958) - Buddington
Smiley Gets a Gun (1958) - Pa Greevins
The Flaming Sword (1958) - Poggy
Dust in the Sun (1958) - Dirks
The Restless and the Damned (1959) - Matthews
The Dock Brief (1960, by John Mortimer) - Fowle
The One Day of the Year (1961, by Alan Seymour)
The Amorous Prawn (1962) - Uncle Joe (the poacher)
Reunion Day (1962, by Peter Yeldham) - Carmody
The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) - Reg Denton
The Counterfeit Constable (1964) - Le chauffeur de taxi fatigué
Stell (1964, by Peter Yeldham)
King Rat (1965) - Tinker Bell
The Wrong Box (1966) - Third Undertaker
A Challenge for Robin Hood (1967) - Much
Fathom (1967) - Mr. Trivers
Danger Route (1967) - Balin
The Magnificent Six and ½: It's Not Cricket (1968) - Angry Houseowner
Doctor Who (1968, British TV) - Griffin the Chef
The Lost Continent (1968) - Helmsman
Battle of Britain (1969) - Workman (uncredited)
The Games (1970) - Gilmour
Performance (1970) - Workman (uncredited)
10 Rillington Place (1971) - Tramp
Burke & Hare (1971) - Old Joe
Ooh… You Are Awful (1972) - Bogus Milkman (uncredited)
The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972) - Sexton
Dracula (1973) - Zookeeper
Sunday Too Far Away (1975) - Old Garth
Quiller (1975) - Chirac
Blind Man's Bluff (1977) - Uncle Fred
Jabberwocky (1977) - Hawker (uncredited)
Death on the Nile (1978) - Workman (uncredited)
Wombling Free (1978) - Assistant Surveyor
A Man Called Intrepid (1979) - Newsvendor
Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979) - Prisoner
Tarka the Otter (1979) - Dairy Farmer
The Killing of Angel Street (1981) - Riley
Freedom (1982) - Old farmer
Molly (1983) - Old Dan

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