27 Facts About Bille Brown

William Gerald Brown AM professionally known as Bille Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor, director and acclaimed playwright.

Bille Brown initially had aspirations to become a painter, attending a summer painting school in Brisbane at the age of 16.

Bille Brown subsequently undertook tertiary studies at the University of Queensland to be a history and geography teacher, and while doing so, became involved with the student drama company Dramsoc.

Bille Brown made his professional debut with the Queensland Theatre Company in 1971, working alongside Geoffrey Rush.

Bille Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and a Postgraduate Diploma of Education in 1973.

Bille Brown's career took him abroad to Britain, where he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was the first Australian commissioned to write and perform in their own play The Swan Down Gloves.

Bille Brown appeared in the RSC's premiere production of The Wizard of Oz in the roles of the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch, for which he was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award in 1988.

Bille Brown performed in the West End, at the Aldwych and Haymarket Theatres, the Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera and Dublin Theatre Festival.

Bille Brown made his Broadway debut as an actor in 1986 in Michael Frayn's Wild Honey with Ian McKellen, directed by Christopher Morahan, and as a playwright with his adaptation of a benefit performance of A Christmas Carol in 1985, featuring Len Cariou as Scrooge.

Bille Brown had an outstanding career on stage and performed for many leading Australian theatre companies, including Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare Company, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Company B, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Marian St Theatre, La Boite and the Old Tote Theatre at the Sydney Opera House.

Bille Brown had huge success with his role as Count Almaviva in Beaumarchais' The Marriage of Figaro, with Geoffrey Rush, which opened the new Playhouse in Brisbane in September 1998.

In 2009, Bille Brown wrote and performed in Queensland Theatre Company's The School of Arts, a production about 'College Players' who toured Shakespeare through Queensland in the late 1960s.

Bille Brown wrote Bill and Mary, based on imaginary conversations between the poet Mary Gilmore and the portrait painter William Dobell while she was sitting for him.

Bille Brown was the recipient of a 2009 Helpmann Award for his role as King Arthur in the musical Monty Python musical Spamalot.

Bille Brown appeared in several other films, including Oscar and Lucinda as Percy Smith, The Dish as the Prime Minister, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as Coriakin, Killer Elite as Colonel Fitz and Singularity as Egerton.

Bille Brown had a 13 episode recurring role as Lightfoot in drama series Big Sky in 1999.

Bille Brown played Howard in miniseries A Difficult Woman, and Booth in miniseries The Farm.

Bille Brown guested in US series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones and UK series Heartbeat.

Bille Brown played former Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in the made for television film Curtin.

Bille Brown was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for his supporting role as George Ritchie in the 2009 television film 3 Acts of Murder.

Bille Brown was Artist-in-Residence at the State University of New York in 1982, a visiting professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and Writer-in-Residence at The Acting Company, New York.

Bille Brown received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the university in 2011.

Bille Brown was Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Australian Catholic University, Queensland University of Technology, The Michael Chekhov Studio and University of New York.

Bille Brown was often referred to as "The Boy from Biloela".

Bille Brown had a sister, Rita Carter, who was a primary school teacher in Kenmore, Brisbane.

Bille Brown had two long-term relationships, including a male live-in partner in the US, but had girlfriends.

Bille Brown died after a year-long battle with bowel cancer on 13 January 2013, two days after his 61st birthday, in the suburb of Chermside in Brisbane.