1. Ian Turpie was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2011 and died the following year, aged 68.
14 Facts About Ian Turpie
1. 2.
Ian Bruce Turpie was born on 6 November 1943 at Ferntree Gully's Bush Nursing Hospital to Don Turpie, a shipping clerk and Joyce and grew up with six siblings.
3.
Ian Turpie attended nearby Boronia State School, where he performed gymnastics and school plays.
4.
Ian Turpie's first starring role, in a school play, was as the titular character in Toad of Toad Hall, at the local Progress Hall, in August 1954.
5.
Ian Turpie began his entertainment career at the age of 10, when he was accepted at the Hector Crawford Drama School.
6.
Ian Turpie played a radical student, who is shot dead in a bank robbery, in the opening scene of the debut episode of Crawford Productions' police procedural TV series, Homicide.
7.
Ian Turpie performed on Bandstand, Time for Terry and The Graham Kennedy Show during the early 1960s.
8.
Ian Turpie replaced Johnny O'Keefe for a stint as national host on TV pop music show, Sing, Sing, Sing.
9.
Ian Turpie was an early boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John, with whom he appeared in a 1965 Australian musical telemovie, Funny Things Happen Down Under, which was Newton-John's debut performance.
10.
Ian Turpie provided guitar when Newton-John auditioned for Johnny O'Keefe's Sing, Sing, Sings talent quest in September 1964, which she won.
11.
In 2005, Ian Turpie pleaded guilty to drink driving after driving in Manly, New South Wales, with a blood alcohol level of 0.08.
12.
Ian Turpie was fined $867 and had his driver's licence suspended for six months; however, this was overturned on appeal.
13.
Ian Turpie told reporters he was sorry for doing a "stupid thing".
14.
Ian Turpie was involved with the following charities: Australia Day ambassador, Make a Wish Foundation, Merry Makers, Sunnyfield Association, Meningococcal Association, Children with Cancer, Lifeforce, Sydney Children's Hospital, Alzheimer's Australia NSW and Rotary Club.