Ron Shand

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Ron Shand as Herbert Evans in Number 96.

Ron Shand (born 3 February 1906, died 8 August 1993) was Australian actor and comedian who worked extensively in theatre, vaudeville and television.

Shand started his career in the circus with his parents as a clown, and later performed as a song and dance man in vaudeville, did tent shows and performed comedy. Was in the Tivoli theatre circuit for many years playing in revue and pantomime, before joining the J C Williamson theatre troup for several seasons in musical comedy. Roles with J C Williamson included Pyjama Game, Can Can, The Sentimental Bloke, and Sail Away produced by Noel Coward.

Shand was then one of the original members of the John Alden Shakespearean Company that toured all the capital cities of Australia. Shand played in several straight dramatic roles with the company, appearing in such plays as The Man Who Came to Dinner, Arsenic and Old Lace, Love Thy Neighbour and Bell, Book and Candle. Through the 1960s Shand also acted in several Australian television drama series.

Shand subsequently found his widest audiences in the 1970s on television through his portrayal of hen-pecked pensioner Herb Evans, husband to shrill gossip Dorrie (Pat McDonald), in the phenomenally successful sex-comedy soap opera Number 96. Comedy characters Dorrie and Herb became two of the show's most popular figures and continued in the series its entire 1972-1977 run. After the series ended Shand acted in television dramas A Country Practice and Prisoner and appeared in the acclaimed miniseries Poor Man's Orange. He also was part of the cast of a 1977 Benny Hill TV special made in Australia, in place of Hill's usual short, bald stooge Jackie Wright.