| Sir Bruce Warner | |||||||||||||||||
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| Shortland Street character | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Ken Blackburn | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Bettina Hollings | ||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Caterina De Nave (1992) Brian Lenanne (1993) Tony Holden (1994) Gavin Strawhan (1995) |
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| Duration | 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 12 June 1992 episode 15 |
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| Last appearance | 16 December 1995 episode 915 |
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| Classification | Former; recurring | ||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 16 December 1995 | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Doctor, Surgeon | ||||||||||||||||
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Sir Bruce Warner is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. He was portrayed by Ken Blackburn[1] and was introduced as Chris Warner's (Michael Galvin) womanizing father.
The character of Bruce was written as a antagonistic type of character, with his storylines often focusing on his rivalry with CEO Michael McKenna (Paul Gittins) and his attempts at taking over the hospital. He would often go behind his families backs and either try buy out the hospital or indulge in numerous affairs. Bruce's wish was finally granted in 1995 when Michael retired, however only after signing the ownership deal of the hospital did Bruce realize Michael had the last laugh as Bruce was shafted from any managerial positions, only being a silent partner.
Bruce's arrogant persona alongside his constant womanizing, had a severe effect on both of his sons with Chris becoming the mirror image of his father and Guy (Craig Parker) blaming Bruce for his drug addiction.
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Bruce was introduced into the show as the father of already established character Chris Warner and brought alongside him, wife Margot and son Guy. This was a step in the development of the character of Chris', with the involvement of his family helping the audience understand the character and his reactions.
After numerous stint's in the shows first 3 years, producers decided to write Bruce out in the development of key characters, Chris, Guy and Carmen, in which a dispute broke out over Bruce's will.
Sir Bruce is introduced as Chris' (Michael Galvin) arrogant father who was knighted for his services to medicine. He arrives in mid 1992 and it is obvious that he dislikes CEO Michael McKenna (Paul Gittins) and he attempts to buy the hospital to no success. Chris claims that he despises him. It is stated that Sir Bruce is the CEO of opposing clinic St. Katherines.
Sir Bruce returns in 1993, again wanting to take over the hospital. He invests money into the hospital, providing a new ward with the hope he will become CEO. He enlists Hone Ropata (Temuera Morrison) to help him but he is voted against and Michael remains as CEO while Bruce simply becomes a share holder. Sir Bruce's vendetta against Michael increases when Bruce's wife becomes lonely after Sir Bruce spends too much time away from her, she turns to alcoholism and a friendship with Michael. Sir Bruce's son Guy Warner (Craig Parker) also discovers that Chris is a twin with the girl being handicapped so Sir Bruce claimed she had died at birth but in reality given her to a clinic. Bruce grew annoyed at Guy's meddling and told him to back off.
In 1994 A woman that Sir Bruce was sexually attracted to, Dr. Grace Kwan (Lynette Forday) arrives at the hospital. Sir Bruce gets annoyed at Michael poaching his doctors. This is a front, however, as not too soon afterwards, Sir Bruce runs into Grace at Kennedy's and professes his love for Dr. Kwan. After Chris explains to Sir Bruce that he's making a spectacle of himself, he leaves.
In 1995 Sir Bruce is pleased to learn Carmen (Theresa Healey) is pregnant with his grandchild but stuns Guy and Chris when he announces he is dying from cancer. He finally buys the hospital from Michael but is devastated to learn he is only a silent partner. Sir Bruce also drops a bombshell when he announces that Guy's real mother was Chris' nanny. Bruce is happy to meet his granddaughter Tuesday Warner (uncredited actress) and gets on with her extremely well.
Sir Bruce dies in December 1995 with his will leaving out Guy. However Nick Harrison who was with Bruce when he died, claimed that Bruce had retracted his will on his deathbed. This led to an argument between the Warners which was halted when a truck came crashing into the hospital.
Even immediately following Bruce's death in 1995, Chris began to draw comparison's to his father, with Guy and Carmen stating that Chris is only involved in Bruce's funeral because of the money Bruce gave him in his will. During Guy's return in 2007, Chris was compared heavily to his father. Both Guy and Rachel McKenna have stated that Chris had developed into a copy of his father and even Chris himself stated that his father affected his life so badly that he has become the mirror image of the one thing he did not want to be.
In 2003, Dominic Thompson (Shane Cortese) arrived to town and soon announced he was Bruce's son, making him Chris' half brother. Though this was soon revealed to be false and Dom later tried to murder Chris.
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