30 Facts About Bud Tingwell

Charles William Tingwell AM, known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian actor.

In 1941, aged 18, Bud Tingwell volunteered for war service overseas with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Consequently, Bud Tingwell trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942.

Bud Tingwell was posted to the Mediterranean Theatre and underwent operational training with No 74 Operational Training Unit RAF, in British Palestine, and qualified to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire.

Bud Tingwell was promoted to flying officer in June 1943 and flight lieutenant in December 1944.

Towards the end of the war, Bud Tingwell was transferred back to Australia.

Bud Tingwell was posted to No 5 Operational Training Unit RAAF as a flying instructor in June 1945, and then in December 1945, after the war had ended, he was posted to No 87 Squadron RAAF, flying photo-reconnaissance Mosquitoes, until his demobilisation in March 1946.

Bud Tingwell joined Doris Fitton's Independent Theatre company and appeared on stage from the mid-1940s in such classics as The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman and Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot.

Bud Tingwell had an excellent supporting role in Bitter Springs, made by Ealing Studios with Chips Rafferty; Bud Tingwell played Rafferty's bigoted son.

Bud Tingwell had a similar role in Kangaroo, a Hollywood-financed film shot in Australia for 20th Century Fox.

Bud Tingwell then appeared in I Found Joe Barton, the first TV show filmed in Australia.

Bud Tingwell played the lead in King of the Coral Sea alongside Rafferty.

The Australian film and radio industry slumped with the advent of television and Bud Tingwell decided to move to the UK.

Bud Tingwell used the opportunity of a role in Ealing's The Shiralee, which was filmed in Australia and London.

Bud Tingwell travelled to England to complete his scenes and decided to stay.

Bud Tingwell had small roles in Ealing's Dunkirk, then Bobbikins, Cone of Silence, and Tarzan the Magnificent.

Bud Tingwell had the lead in a TV series An Enemy of the State.

Bud Tingwell was the recurring character of motel manager Kevin McArthur in Crossroads in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Bud Tingwell had a small role in Nobody Runs Forever with Rod Taylor.

Bud Tingwell appeared in many other films during his time in Britain, spending a total of 16 years as a "London Aussie".

Bud Tingwell played the recurring role of farmer Ted Campbell in the soap A Country Practice in the late 1980s and early 1990s and as the Narrator from The Flying Scotsman in Australia.

Bud Tingwell's career went through a quiet period during the late 1980s and early 1990s, until he took on the role of 'Gramps' in "Charlie the Wonderdog", a recurring segment on The Late Show, in 1993.

Bud Tingwell later stated that this role helped him to recover from the death of his wife the previous year.

Bud Tingwell would appear on sketch show Totally Full Frontal, playing himself, as well as a recurring guest role in the soap opera Neighbours from 2000 to 2003, playing Henry O'Rourke.

Bud Tingwell had previously appeared in the soap in 1993 as Bert Willis.

Bud Tingwell appeared as John Conroy in the musical theatre production The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular, which toured Australian capital cities twice during 2002.

Bud Tingwell continued to act regularly until his death, in a number of films and TV programmes including eight episodes of Bed of Roses that aired in 2010.

Bud Tingwell was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame in 1994.

Bud Tingwell was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1999.

Bud Tingwell died in Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, thirteen years later, after a long battle with prostate cancer, on 15 May 2009.