Robert James Ellis was an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator.
17 Facts About Bob Ellis
1.
2.
Bob Ellis lived in Sydney with the author and screenwriter Anne Brooksbank; they had three children.
3.
Bob Ellis says the "seminal moment" of his life happened when he was ten and his 22-year-old sister was killed while crossing the road.
4.
Bob Ellis attended Lismore High and then the University of Sydney on a Sir Robert Menzies scholarship, at the same time as other notable Australians including Clive James, Germaine Greer, Les Murray, John Bell, Robert Hughes and Mungo McCallum.
5.
Bob Ellis was a regular contributor to the Nation Review in the 1970s and subsequently contributed to Fairfax Media newspapers and The National Times.
6.
Bob Ellis wrote several film scripts, often in collaboration with others, notably Newsfront,.
7.
In 1980 Bob Ellis signed a contract with the New South Wales Film Corporation to write ten feature film scripts over two years for $7,000 for each script, with a payment of $12,000 for the second draft if they wanted to make the movie.
8.
Bob Ellis says he presented them with 33 ideas, they chose five and he chose five.
9.
Bob Ellis directed several films, including The Nostradamus Kid, Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train, Unfinished Business and Run Rabbit, Run.
10.
Bob Ellis's writing for television included the miniseries True Believers and Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal, with co-author Geoff Burton, made for Film Australia.
11.
Bob Ellis won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay three times: Newsfront, Goodbye Paradise, and My First Wife.
12.
Bob Ellis unsuccessfully contested the Federal seat of Mackellar as an independent candidate against the Liberal Party's Bronwyn Bishop in a by-election in 1994 as the ALP did not field a candidate in that by-election.
13.
Bob Ellis described Gillard as "not well informed" and "sudden, firm and wrong" in everything she does.
14.
Bob Ellis wrote speeches for South Australian Premier Mike Rann for a number of years.
15.
On 18 July 2015, Bob Ellis reported on his blog that he would be attending hospital for what he called "ominous" tests on his liver.
16.
Bob Ellis died on 3 April 2016, at his home in Sydney's Northern Beaches.
17.
Bob Ellis wrote two books, Goodbye Jerusalem and Goodbye Babylon, on his experiences of the Labor Party.