| Mark Gottlieb | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbours character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Bruce Samazan | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Alan Coleman | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1993–95 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 13 August 1993 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 29 November 1995 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 6 September | ||||||||||
| Home | Sydney | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Head chef at Lassiter's Hotel (1993–95) Owner of The Holy Roll (1995) |
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Mark Gottlieb (né Cosmic Gottlieb) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Bruce Samazan. He made his first on-screen appearance on 13 August 1993 and he departed on 29 November 1995.
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Following the cancellation of E Street in May 1993, Samazan joined the cast of Neighbours as Mark.[1] Samazan told Shelli-Anne Couch of The Sydney Morning Herald that he hoped a stint on Neighbours would help him further his aspirations of becoming a popular Australian actor.[1] Samazan made his first on screen appearance on 13 August 1993.[1]
Born to Dave Gottlieb and Sally Dawes in their hippy commune, Mark, who was christened "Cosmic", was one of three children. As Mark grew, he followed in the footsteps of his brother Stephen (Lochie Daddo) and rejected their parents' ways. One night at a party Mark spiked Stephen's drink, leaving him unable to drive his fiance Libby home. Mark was also too drunk to drive and Libby had no choice but to take a cab which crashed, killing her instantly. Stephen blamed Mark for the accident and relations were frosty between the brothers. Mark fled to France to train as a chef and began working in many top hotels around the world.
Mark arrives in Erinsborough and immediately takes a job at Lassister's Hotel posing as a french chef. Annalise Hartman (Kimberley Davies) soon uncovers the ruse and Mark asks her to keep quiet. It soon emerges that Mark is there to find Stephen to reconcile their differences. When Mark visits Stephen at his home in Ramsay Street, he is shocked to find him in a wheelchair following the explosion of the local pub The Waterhole. Stephen suffers a relapse triggered by Mark's arrival. Mark wants to make amends, but Stephen's wife, Phoebe (Simone Robertson) and friend Wayne Duncan (Jonathon Sammy-Lee) want him to stay away from Stephen, Mark is undeterred and eventually makes a breakthrough and Stephen forgives him. After Stephen and Phoebe leave the area to manage a record store in Ansons Corner, Mark moves into the house with Beth Brennan (Natalie Imbruglia).
Mark later finds himself the object centre of attraction to local women including Annalise, Gaby Willis (Rachel Blakely) and Lucy Robinson (Melissa Bell). In the end Mark decides that it is Annalise he wants and proceeds to woo her with grand gestures. Mark and Annalise soon become a couple and their relationship is fraught with many arguments. Soon Mark receives a letter from his mother who is dying of cancer and he finds this hard to take as he has not seen her or his father in a number of years. Mark visits the commune and clashes with his father, but soon relents and makes his peace with Sally on her deathbed. Annalise also attends and things between her and Mark are strengthened.
Mark later proposes to Annalise and she accepts, but on the day of the wedding, he jilts her and decides he wants to become a priest. This decision hurts Annalise and soon Mark begins alienating his friends when he becomes serious about his new life path and becomes sanctimonious. Things comes to a head when Mark slips and falls while cleaning Lou Carpenter's (Tom Oliver) gutters. Mark is left comatose for several weeks, but eventually regains consciousness, much to the relief of his sister, Serendipity (Raelee Hill) who has been by his bedside. After a brief memory loss, Mark begins having flashbacks to his pious behaviour prior to the fall and realises he had become an unlikeable person. Shortly after being released from hospital, Mark begins seeing Annalise's half-sister Joanna (Emma Harrison), but he ends things with her as he feels things are too weird as he was engaged to Annalise the previous year.
After realising being a chef is what he wants to do with his life, Mark is offered a job on hit television show Healthy, Wealthy and Wise based in Sydney. After encouragement from housemate Cody Willis (Peta Brady), Mark has one final breakfast at Number 30 and leaves for Sydney.
The BBC said Mark's most notable moment was "Calling off his wedding to become a priest."[2] Matthew Clifton, writing for entertainment website Heckler Spray included Mark in his list of "The Best Ever Mid-90s Neighbours Characters." [3] Of Mark, Clifton said "Joined the soap pretending to be a French chef to get a job at the coffee shop, Marcel Amadeu 'a votre service'. Mark had a religious conversion after nearly been killed by a kitchen knife accident, and in the end jilted strumpet Annalise to become a priest. He also changed the name of the café to The Holy Roll".[3]
During a feature on Neighbours actors turned pop stars Iain Hepburn of the Daily Record did not remember Samazan's character, saying "Bruce played Mark Gottlieb – no, we didn't immediately remember him either."[4] All About Soap magazine placed Annalise and Mark's wedding at number eight on their twenty greatest soap weddings list.[5] The magazine said "Annalise looked more likely to make a priest renounce his vows than drive a man into the arms of the church, but that's exactly what happened when Mark ditched Neighbours' hottest babe at the altar to devote his life to God. Strange but true..."[5]