An acting icon best known for his supporting roles across a range of some of the most iconic films and TV shows ever produced in Australia has died aged 74. <\/p>\n
Gary Waddell died earlier this week after a short battle with dementia. Waddell\u2019s career on Australian film and TV spanned nearly 50 years and included parts in iconic shows like Blue Heelers, Home and Away, A Country Practice and Rake. <\/p>\n
He also appeared in films including Charlie\u2019s Country and Chopper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing the role of a criminal or a psychopath, you have to make that person a human being,\u201d Waddell told ABC Radio in 2011.<\/p>\n
Tributes for the actor are lauding his ability to turn supporting roles into gripping, raw performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cGone but not forgotten! Gary Waddell brought a genuine and very rare street level authenticity to the Australian screen,\u201d French-Australian actor Christian Manon said.<\/p>\n
Waddell was nominated for an AACTA Award for best supporting actor for his role in the 2012 feature The King Is Dead! \u2013 written and directed by Rolf de Heer. Waddell\u2019s appearances in de Heer\u2019s subsequent films were his final acting exploits.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had many unforgettable roles both on the big and small screen,\u201d one person said on a popular Australian film forum.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease send condolences on behalf of us all who have worked with Gary and held him in such high regard,\u201d said another well wisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the finest actors anywhere, entirely self-taught,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n
Family, friends and former colleagues have sung the praises of the \u201chilarious, beautiful, charming\u201d and \u201cnaughty\u201d Victorian, who first appeared on Australian screens as the leading man of edgy 1975 drama Pure Sh*t, in which he played a heroin addict.<\/p>\n
Singer-songwriter Lo Carmen said Waddell was a \u201cone-of-a-kind, heart-of-f**king-gold dude\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used to turn up at our place with little cars and books and old cool toys and gifts for our son Dutch, just because he was full of love,\u201d Carmen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d stand around talking about books and films and food and nothing and everything and laughing our heads off for the next two hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be in tears of laughter. I don\u2019t know why on earth he wasn\u2019t cast in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waddell\u2019s talent managers said he \u201cpassed away peacefully\u201d after living with dementia \u201cover the last few years\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGary was one of a kind, a true artist in every sense of the word, and his body of Australian work was so utterly impressive,\u201d they wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SJM team send their love to Gary\u2019s family at this time. Thanks for everything Gary, you will be missed. We\u2019ve hat a lot of fun over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waddell most recently appeared in the 2022 film The Survival of Kindness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An acting icon best known for his supporting roles across a range of some of the most iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":930210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[496864,419610,387325,496884,409399,496876,496877,496887,377607,496865,387047,386209,496870,496863,496906,475553,411286,496869,376730,496891,431010,378100,496879,496904,6972,9716,496895,471027,393962,64,496896,63,496902,496893,496908,12601,378532,427957,496890,496914,168989,23698,496880,51800,350049,496912,9757,379476,129,496886,134,417373,496900,2456,1972,486381,496901,9371,525,214340,496894,496888,496866,404503,380045,496874,380910,496909,19881,496871,106079,221073,496907,17357,496892,496897,187436,496898,37473,436487,496873,496882,205737,496905,496889,496911,496881,496903,46206,392922,496910,496899,379529,496878,496875,496883,420788,496872,378824,44684,496868,496913,477522,376555,496915,496885,410029,380074,379417,378871,7475,496867],"class_list":["post-930209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-authentic-aussie-acting-legend","tag-s-appearances","tag-s-career","tag-s-country","tag-s-family","tag-s-subsequent-films","tag-s-talent-managers","tag-2011-tributes","tag-377607","tag-a-one-of-a-kind","tag-a-battle","tag-a-country-practice","tag-a-criminal","tag-a-genuine-and-very-rare-street-level-authenticity","tag-a-heroin-addict-singer-songwriter-lo-carmen","tag-a-human-being","tag-a-kind","tag-a-kind-champion","tag-a-lot","tag-a-popular-australian-film-forum","tag-a-psychopath","tag-a-range","tag-a-short-battle","tag-a-true-artist","tag-abc-radio","tag-actor","tag-an-aacta-award","tag-an-acting-icon","tag-another-well-wisher","tag-au","tag-aussie-actor-gary-waddell","tag-australia","tag-australian-film-and-tv","tag-australian-screens","tag-australian-work","tag-beautiful","tag-behalf","tag-blue-heelers","tag-books-and-films-and-food-and-nothing-and-everything","tag-both-the-big-and-small-screens","tag-carmen","tag-charlie","tag-charming-and-naughty-victorian","tag-chopper","tag-condolences","tag-de-heer","tag-dementia","tag-earlier-this-week","tag-earth","tag-edgy-1975-drama-pure-sht","tag-entertainment","tag-every-sense","tag-everything-gary","tag-facebook","tag-films","tag-former-colleagues","tag-french-australian-actor-christian-manon-said-waddell","tag-friends","tag-fun","tag-gary","tag-gary-waddell","tag-gripping","tag-heart-of-fking-gold-dude","tag-his-ability","tag-his-body","tag-his-final-acting-exploits","tag-his-role","tag-his-supporting-roles","tag-home-and-away","tag-iconic-shows","tag-kindness","tag-laughter","tag-little-cars-and-books","tag-love","tag-many-unforgettable-roles","tag-nearly-50-years","tag-newswire-news","tag-old-cool-toys-and-gifts","tag-one-person","tag-our-heads","tag-our-place","tag-our-son-dutch","tag-parts","tag-rake","tag-raw-performances","tag-rolf-de-heer","tag-such-high-regard","tag-supporting-roles","tag-tears","tag-that-person","tag-the-2012-feature","tag-the-2022-film","tag-the-actor","tag-the-australian-screen","tag-the-big-and-small-screen","tag-the-finest-actors","tag-the-hilarious","tag-the-king-is-dead","tag-the-last-few-years","tag-the-leading-man","tag-the-most-iconic-films","tag-the-next-two-hours","tag-the-praises","tag-the-role","tag-the-sjm-team","tag-the-survival","tag-the-word","tag-the-years","tag-their-love","tag-this-time","tag-tv-shows","tag-waddell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}