Brian Crossley

Brian Stow Crossley (5 October 1926 – 8 September 2012) was an English-born actor and director and drama tutor, who after starting his career in his native country, emigrated to Australia. He appeared in and directed numerous roles in theatre and on television over a career spanning more than 50 years, including directing straight theatre, musicals, opera and operetta.

Brian Crossley
Born	Brian Stow Crossley 5 October 1926 Shipley, West Yorkshire, England
Died	8 September 2012 (aged 85) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	English-Australian
Education	Birmingham School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor director drama tutor
Years active	1950-?
Known for	Director of the National Theatre, Adventure Island, The Box as producer/director
Notable work	Gilbert and Sullivan

Biography

He was born in Shipley in West Yorkshire, England to engineering draughtsman Harry Crossley and Minnie Stow. He attended Birmingham College of Speech and Drama and performed as part of Birmingham Repertory Theatre, he appeared in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and in 1950 was invited to join the chorus for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, playing a variety of small roles. In 1952 he played in Gay's the Word on the West End, he emigrated to Australia in 1954, where he moved to Melbourne to join the Union Theatre Repertory Company. He toured Australia and New Zealand in 1956 with the J.C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, but with the arrival of television he turned his attention to the screen.[1]

He appeared in a variety of television programs, including Homicide, Division 4 and Consider Your Verdict, as well as directing for serial The Box. His most successful role was on children's series Adventure Island, where he played Mrs Flower Potts from 1967 to 1972. During this period he also directed for the stage; his first directing project was Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice for the Victorian State Opera; he subsequently directed Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Domenico Cimarosa's The Secret Marriage and Franz Joseph Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa and collaborated extensively with Dennis Olsen. He directed a wide variety of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and in 1973 was appointed a director of the National Theatre's Opera School. He moved to the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education in Queensland around 1982.[1]

Crossley died in Melbourne on 8 September 2012, a month before his 86th birthday.[1]

Television

Actor

Production	Year	Role
Sounds Like Us (TV series)	1969	Mrs. Flower Potts
Homicide	1970	Richards
Division 4 (TV series)	1969–1970	Trixie – Interior Decorator
Adventure Island	1976–1982	Mrs. Flower Potts

Director

Production	Year	Role
The Box	1974–1976	Director – 24 episodes
The Ioslanthe (TV movie)	1980	Director

Producer

Production	Year	Role
The Box (TV series)	1974	Producer – 10 episodes

Theatre (selected)

Production	Role
Patience	as himself Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta
Gays the Word		1952 (role unknown)
Orfeo ed Euridice	Director
The Rape of Lucretia	Director
The Secret Marriage	Director
L, infidelta Delusa	Director
The Pirates of Penzance	Director
My Fair Lady	Director
The Mikado	Director

References

1. Sinclair, Marion (20 October 2012). "Brian Crossley, 1926–2012". The Age.

External links

• Brian Crossley at IMDb