By Mikayla van Loon
Having graced screen and stage for decades, John Wood is a household name when it comes to iconic Australian dramas.
Since the 1970s Wood has been an esteemed actor but it was his roles in hit TV shows Rafferty’s Rules and Blue Heelers that saw him become an integral part of the Australian acting community.
Residing in Wandin, not straying too far from his home suburb of Croydon, Wood will share his tale of talent with the Lilydale and District Historical Society on Saturday 7 September as the monthly guest speaker.
Despite taking a break from on screen acting for 10 years, Wood was still starring in stage shows, most recently David Williamson’s comedy The Great Divide at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney.
He’s also been working on his own touring show with vocalist entertainer Dave Allen called Rock and Roll Journey, learning to play the congas in just six months, and piecing together the history of some of the world’s most well known songs.
But remembering the good old days of regular work and long running TV dramas, particularly with Blue Heelers, Wood said “that sort of thing just doesn’t happen anymore, it’s a real shame”.
“It was a great gig, really. It was 12 years of work, and 12 years of working from home. I didn’t have to travel interstate. It was great,” he said.
“It was a pretty high quality show. The storytelling was pretty good and the rest of the cast were fantastic people, so we all did very well.”
The driving force in Wood’s selection of acting roles, he said, was the script quality, the cast and what was going to fulfil his cup.
“I tend to take the best job that’s being offered. When I was offered Rafferty’s Rules, for example, I think I had six or eight offers for jobs at the same time but I took the one I thought would be the most rewarding.
“And I don’t mean financially, I mean the most fun to do. Rafferty’s had very high quality scripts and it was very rewarding work, it was tremendously rewarding. So that’s always been my motto.”
The now 78-year-old remembers his interest in acting being sparked when he was a student at Ringwood Tech school and it was just something he couldn’t shake even as he went to work on the railways.
“I had a job for the railways and I had an office down near Festival Hall, it was the dining car depot on Dudley Street, that end of the railway yard, the Spencer street railway yard,” he said.
“We used to service the interstate trains. I was a clerk. We used to service the Southern Aurora and the Spirit of Progress. It was also the location where they made Railway Pies, which were delicious, and they used to send them all over because they used to send them wherever the trains went.”
Wood said one of his fondest memories of the railways and the pies was listening to the bickering of Bertie the baker and Max the butcher.
The culmination of decades on screen resulted in Wood’s many Logie awards and ultimately his Gold Logie, which he said has been well loved having travelled from place to place with him, just like it will for the upcoming Historical Society talk.
“It is very well travelled. It’s well loved. It is but more by other people than by me. But it’s great that people are so interested and it’s good that just ordinary people get a chance to have a hold.”
While grateful for the accolades, Wood said there have been two standout moments in his career.
“One is David Williamson’s The Club where I played John, who’s the old, ex captain, ex coach, ex player, and it’s probably the funniest play ever written.
“The other character that I really loved playing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside Geoffrey Rush.”
It was the role of Falstaff, however, that Wood always wished he could have played.
All are welcome to join the Lilydale and District Historical Society from 2.30pm at Old Lilydale Court House, 61 Castella Street, Lilydale. A gold coin donation is appreciated.
