Alan Hopgood
Alan John Hopgood AM credited also as Alan Hopwood, is an Australian actor of theatre, television and telemovies, producer, dramatist and playwright and screenwriter and musical librettist.
Early life
Hopgood was born in Launceston, Tasmania and grew up in Tasmania. He acted in several dramatic roles while still a child. He attended school in Melbourne, and attended the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Diploma of Education. Hopgood had his first play, Marcus, produced at Melbourne University while he was working as a school teacher. He left teaching to write full-time and act in the theatre.Career
Hopgood's first very successful play was And the Big Men Fly in 1963 produced by the Union Theatre Repertory Company. The script writer at the time was Brad Hopgood. The play was adapted for TV by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973. In 1964, he followed with The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women. In 1966 he produced Private Yuk Objects, which he claims was the first play anywhere in the world on the subject of the Vietnam War.Hopgood has also written a number of film and television screenplays, including the comedy film Alvin Purple, which was the most commercially successful Australian film of the early 1970s.
Hopgood was an actor with the Melbourne Theatre Company for ten years and was an early "soap" star in Bellbird, in which for six years he played the town doctor. He has also performed in the later soaps, Prisoner and Neighbours as Jack Lassiter.
As an actor, his cinema credits include My Brilliant Career, The Blue Lagoon, Roadgames, Evil Angels and The Man from Snowy River II. He has worked with a large number of actors including Frank Thring, Meryl Streep, Brooke Shields, Sam Neill, Judy Davis.
He contracted prostate cancer and his book on the experience Surviving Prostate Cancer – One Man's Journey was widely praised. He often tours giving humorous talks on men's health.
Honours
Hopgood won AWGIE awards for The Cheerful Cuckold and The Bush Bunch and writing several feature films including Alvin Purple and the documentaries The Prophecies of Nostradamus and The Fountain of Youth.Hopgood was awarded the A.M. in 2005 for his services to the performing arts as an actor, playwright and producer, and to the community through raising awareness of men's health issues.
Filmography
Actor
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1963 | And The Big Men Fly | - |
| 1964 | Barley Charlie | Written by 7 episodes |
| 1967 | Bellbird | - |
| 1968 | The World of the Seekers | Written by |
| 1969 | The Cheerful Cuckold | - |
| 1973 | Alvin Purple | Written by |
| 1974 | And the Big Men Fly | - |
| 1974 | Alvin Rides Again | Written by |
| 1975 | The True Story of Eskimo Nell | Written by |
| 1976 | Alvin Purple | creator 13 episodes written 13 episodes |
| 1979 | Gulpilil: Man of Two Worlds | - |
| 1980 | The Quick Brown Fox | - |
| 1980 | Pacific Banana | Written by |
| 1981 | And Here Comes Bucknuckle | - |
| 1981 | The Man Who Saw Tomorrow | Screenplay |
| 1981 | The Cliffhanger | - |
| 1981 | The Bush Bunch: 1.1 the Cliffhanger | - |
| 1982 | Breakfast in Paris | As Morris Dalton |
| 1982 | Prisoner | written by - 1 episode |
| 1983 | A Slice of Life | Screenplay |
| 1985 | From Opera with Love | - |
| 1989 | Sugar and Spice | 8 episodes |
| 1990 | Flair | - |
| 1989-1991 | Pugwall | scriptwriter - 42 episodes |
| 1988-1991 | The Flying Doctors | 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Blue Heelers | 1 episode |
| 1998-2001 | Neighbours | written by - 22 episodes |