Hazel Phillips

Hazel Julia Phillips (née Lovegrove) OAM (born November 1929)^[1][2][3] is a Gold Logie-award winning English-born singer, entertainer and television personality, with a notable career in Australia, with a career spanning every facet of the showbiz industry, including film, television, theatre, radio, cabaret and journalism. She has written several plays for stage.

Biography

She was born in Battersea, London. At the age of 20, she became engaged to her husband Bill, and they emigrated to Australia as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1950–51, marrying shortly afterwards and having two children, Mark (born 1953) and Scott (born 1955). In 1961, the family was involved in a serious car accident, with Phillips sustaining severe injuries to her chin. Her husband left them some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin and an ectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up of their marriage. She started her career at radio 2UE, having won a talent contest for Miss television in Australia. Active in television since its inception in Australia, when she became one of the first personalities on Network Seven. in 1963, Phillips made her break into show business with a role on the talk show Beauty and the Beast with Eric Baume. She also began to appear on The Mavis Bramston Show, which she became a regular on after being told to choose between Bramston and Beauty and the Beast.^[4]

By 1967, Phillips had left Channel 7 and was hosting the midday talk show Girl Talk on the fledgling Network Ten, for which she won the Gold Logie Award for the most popular female personality on Australian television, jointly winning with Graham Kennedy who won the male award.^[4] Guest roles on numerous television shows including Number 96 (as a nude swimmer), Matlock Police, A Country Practice, G.P. and Pacific Drive. Films include The Set, Midnight Dancer and Walking Home Emily. Theatre roles include The Circle, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice and The Merry Wives of Windsor. She also appeared in the mini-series Brides of Christ.

Honours

Phillips was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005, for service to the entertainment industry, particularly in the areas of the performing arts and television, and to the community as a fundraiser for charitable groups.^[5]

She was the second woman in Australian entertainment to win the Gold Logie, after singer and actress Lorrae Desmond

Author: autobiography

In 2008, her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star (ISBN 9781921406171), was published by Zeus Publications.^[6]

Health and Australian Idol

Miss Phillips, who is an activist for alternative medicine, suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and had subsequent hip replacement surgery. In 2011, after some 40 years out of the spotlight, and at 81 years young she returned to television performing in the fifth series of Australia's Got Talent.^[7]and performed the Frank Sinatra song You Make Me Feel So Young. She reached the semi-finals in the over-55 category, but however was eliminated in the public vote.

References

External links

• Hazel Phillips at the Internet Movie Database
• Hazel Phillips on Myspace