Vincent Martin BallOAM is a retired Australian character actor of stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He is best known for film and television series, including roles in A Town Like Alice, Phar Lap, Breaker Morant, and Muriel's Wedding.
Biography
Early life
Ball was born in Wee Waa, New South Wales in 1923, to a father who worked as a linesman on the railways, With the outbreak of the Second World War, he left his job with the Australian General Electric Company and after military training in Canada became a wireless air gunner with the Royal Australian Air Force serving in Britain. After the war he returned to Australia and his old job in 1945 but soon decided to try amateur dramatics. To correct his accent which had now morphised into part Canadian, part Cockney and part Australian he sought out elocution lessons - where he met his teacher, leading Sydney actress Doreen Harrop; they have three children and live at Chittaway Point, New South Wales.
Acting career in Britain
He began writing letters asking for auditions. One of these was to the Rank Organisation who, impressed with his enthusiasm, gave him a job as stand in for Donald Houston in an underwater fight with an octopus in the 1949 British version of film The Blue Lagoon. He then won a scholarship to RADA from there now having relocated living in Stowting, Kent he appeared mostly in supporting and uncredited roles in the UK for the next two and a half decades. He was a juvenile lead inRain Before Seven, Barnett's Folly and Nitro, before moving into slightly larger parts in such as A Town Like Alice, Robbery Under Arms, and Danger Within. His television credits in Britain includes: Compact, Man in a Suitcase, The Troubleshooters, Dixon of Dock Green, and a recurring role on the long-running UK soap opera Crossroads.
Career in Australia
Returning to Australia from 1974, he performed in a variety of cinema and television roles. He is best known for his career in Australian film and television series, including film roles in A Town Like Alice, Phar Lap, Breaker Morant, and Muriel's Wedding. His television credits in Australian serials includes: Cop Shop, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors, The Flying Doctors, Grass Roots and All Saints. His many roles in Australian mini-series or made for television films include Against the Wind, and the epic Anzacs. In 2014, aged 91 he came out of retirement briefly to play a Second World War veteran named Tom Knight in the Australian soap Home and Away, whom Alf Stewart meets in hospital, the scenes went to air during April 2015, just before ANZAC Day
Honours
Ball was honoured with the OAM in the 2016 honours list.
