Oscar Whitbread: a man behind Aussie drama

Before Underbelly or Offspring, great Aussie dramas were brought to our screens thanks to the effort of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s pioneer producer Oscar Ralph Whitbread.

His achievements in Australian drama until the late 1990s have been recognised, with Mr Whitbread being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the Australian film and television industry.

When Mr Whitbread began his career in the fledgling Australian television industry of the 1960s, drama was still a new and promising area.

His work as a producer for the ABC brought to life classic television shows such as Bellbird (1967 and 1970-1977), which was Australia’s first successful soap opera, and Marion (1974).

Mr Whitbread was an executive producer on Rush (1974), which was set in Victoria during the gold rush of the 1850s and starred a young John Waters as Sergeant McKellar.

For more than 25 years until the late 1990s, Mr Whitbread was executive producer of ABC’s Drama One and his other producing credits include Power Without Glory (1976) and Burn the Butterflies (1979), which he also directed.

Mr Whitbread was a member of the Melbourne Producers and Directors Guild in the 1960s and has long been an advocate for Australian television production through the support of actors, writers and directors.

In 1977, he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal.

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