Fiona Spence

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Fiona Spence

Born	December 30, 1949 (1949-12-30) (age 58) Kent, United Kingdom
Occupation	Television actor
Years active	1978-1990; 2000-2002
Domestic partner(s)	Unnamed fiance (1971) Unnamed fiance (1981)

Fiona Spence (b. 30th December 1949) is a British-born television and stage actress. One of the most recognizable Australian television stars during the early 1980s, she is best known for her roles in the Australian television series Prisoner and Home and Away.

[edit] Biography

Spense was born in Kent, England to an Irish mother and an Australian-born father serving with the British Army. When her father finally left the service, Spence and her family moved to Australia in the late 1950s. ^[1] After leaving school, she was trained as a secretary and later traveled to Montreal where she was a hostess for the Australian Pavilion at the Canadian Expo. ^[2] After living in Canada for a year, she left for England and lived in London for a time working as a saleswoman for Fortnum & Mason. It was while seeing several plays in London's West End, she became interested in acting. ^[3]

She eventually returned to Australia and joined the Independent Theatre School where she trained for three years, before she began acting professionaly during the late 1970s. ^[4] While living in Sydney, Australia, she appeared in her first television role in the teen drama Glenview High. ^[5]

However, she first found fame playing the sour, authoritarian prison officer Vera Bennett in cult soap opera Prisoner. The role continued from the show's premiere in 1979 until 1981, episodes 1 to 224. In the first episode she was coldly sadistic. Later developments showed other more sensitive angles of her personality and explored the idea that her tough behaviour in the cell block was connected to her loneliness and social awkwardness outside the prison. Spence who played Vera with her hair in a tight bun, was hardly recognizable if she let her hair down. Spence herself commented she wasn't readily recognized in real life, as Vera whenever she wore her hair down. ^[6]

When producer John McRae took over day-to-day running of the series in 1981, plans were made to write Spence out of the series. Her character had become immensely popular during her two-years on the show and, when news of her departure was announced, the Ten Network received at least 100 phone calls and countless fan mail asking for Spence to remain on the show. Spence however quietly left the show later stating "I loved playing Vera. But it was time to wash that dame right out of my hair." ^[7]

During her last year with the show, Spence appeared in minor roles in both the television mini-series Women of the Sun and the television movie I Can Jump Puddles, which also featured a number of other former Prisoner co-stars including Sigrid Thornton, Sandy Gore, Lesley Baker and Anne Phelan. Other minor characters from the series included Ian Smith, Terry Gill, Don Barker, Maurie Fields and Edward Hepple.

From 1988 until 1990, Spence became well known for playing spinster Celia Stewart in Home and Away. While working on the show, she attended Monash University earning an arts degree in English. ^[1] She also made sporadic television appearances during the next several years as a celebrity guest on game shows Cluedo and Sale of the Century as well as making a guest appearance on the television series Law of the Land.

Spence made her theatre acting debut in the early 1990s recreating the role of Vera Bennett in a British stage play version of Prisoner. She also starred in a theatrical pantomime of Aladdin with fellow Home and Away co-star Greg Benson at the Theatre Royal in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent during December 1991 and January 1992. ^[8]

A commentary and exclusive interview with Spence features on volume 14 (episodes 209 - 224) of the ongoing DVD releases or Prisoner: Cell Block H.