Gary Files
Encyclopedia
Gary Files was born in Melbourne, Australia and is an Australian-Canadian actor, writer and director who has resided in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has lived in Australia since 1976.

Early life

Files started his career in early Australian television and semi-professional theatre in 1956 and left for Canada in 1959. Once there he attended the National Theatre School of Canada
National Theatre School of Canada
The National Theatre School of Canada is a private college located in Montreal, Quebec.Established in Montreal in 1960, the National Theatre School of Canada offers professional training in English and French in a setting that unites all the theatre arts: acting, playwriting, directing, set and...

 at both Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and Stratford, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 – joining the second acting year of the school in 1961 and graduating three years later. Almost immediately he joined John Hirsch's Manitoba Theatre Company for a season during which he appeared in The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...

starring Len Cariou and a seminal production of Mother Courage
Mother Courage
Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...

starring the Australian actress Zoe Caldwell
Zoe Caldwell
Zoe Caldwell, OBE is an Australian-born actress.-Early life:She was born as Ada Caldwell in Melbourne, Australia and was raised in the suburb of Balwyn in Yongala Street. Her father, Edgar, was a plumber and her mother, Zoe, was a taxi dancer. Caldwell's mother, Zoe, had a Peugeot of 1950 vintage...

. Returning to Toronto he played leads in The Provok'd Wife and Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...

at the Crest Theatre – winning a Telegram Award for the most promising newcomer for the latter. He then left Canada to pursue his career in the United Kingdom.

Whilst at theatre school, Files did numerous television productions for "Shoestring Theatre" at CBC – Montreal. He started working in CBC radio drama with several productions for Rupert Kaplan, who was one of the first to do Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

's plays on radio. He also appeared in two films for the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...

, Henry Hudson and The Selkirk Settlers.

In London

Once in London, Files joined the Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...

 London's tour of Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...

to East Germany (for the Berliner Fest) West Germany and Belgium. Returning from Europe, he was asked to join the company of the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...

. He stayed there for a season and a half doing leads and supports in Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance, An Un-historical Parable is a play by English playwright John Arden, written in 1959 and premiered at the Royal Court Theatre on October 22 of that year. In Arden's introductory note to the text, he describes it as "a realistic, but not a naturalistic" play...

, Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...

, Bartholomew Fair, Andorra, The Creeper and finally The Tale of Two Cities. Back in London he worked for the International Theatre Club at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate
Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate
The Mercury Theatre was a small theatre in Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill Gate, London, notable for the productions of poetic dramas between 1933 and 1956, and as the home of the Ballet Rambert until 1987.- History :...

 in Clope and The Guy and finally went to the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

 with their production of Sancticity which was done at the Traverse Theatre
Traverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...

. He also worked at Colchester Rep. for several productions, played Marat in The Promise for the Liverpool Rep. and finally appeared in the West End rock musical Your Very Own Thing at the Comedy Theatre – before heading back to Canada.

During this UK period Gary also did television for the BBC, playing Maurice in Bruno, Konstantin in The Young Visiters
The Young Visiters
The Young Visiters or Mister Salteena's Plan is a 1919 novel by Daisy Ashford. Ashford wrote the novel at the age of nine, in 1890, in an exercise book. Full of spelling mistakes, each chapter was also written as a single paragraph...

and Joseph Warr in Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...

, He also played Igor Gouzenko in the docu-drama The Spies. As well he did a lot of radio work for the BBC – the best being Stoney Jackson in Arnold Wesker
Arnold Wesker
Sir Arnold Wesker is a prolific British dramatist known for his contributions to kitchen sink drama. He is the author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive journalism, poetry and other assorted writings...

's Their Very Own and Golden City. He was also in the MGM movie The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...

. His ability with accents proved very useful when he was invited to join the team of actors voicing Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....

's Supermarionation features and series at Century 21 Productions. He started with the movie Thunderbird 6, then went on to do voices for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...

, Joe 90
Joe 90
Joe 90 is a late-1960s British science-fiction television series documenting the exploits of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, who embarks on a double life as a schoolboy turned spy when his scientist father invents a pioneering machine capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and...

and finally one of the leads in The Secret Service. He also appeared in the pilot episode of Gerry Anderson's live-action TV series UFO.

In Canada

On returning to Canada Files joined the company of the Manitoba Theatre Centre
Manitoba Theatre Centre
Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country...

 for three plays Hail Skrawdyke, Harry Noon and Night and The Snow Queen. He then joined the Stratford National Theatre at the National Arts Centre
National Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...

, in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, to play the Hostage in The Hostage and appeared in three plays by Mrozek.

From there he went to the Calgary Theatre Company for a season doing The Knack, The Father, The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...

, Trip, Dracula and The Birthday Party. He then joined the Stratford Festival Company for two plays The Italian Straw Hat and There's One In Every Marriage. For the next several years he played leads and supports in many Canadian companies starting with Philadelphia Here I Come for Theatre New Brunswick, then Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....

for the Saidye Bronfmann Centre, The Trial and Twelfth Night for Toronto Arts Theatre. A Quiet Day in Belfast for the Tarragon Theatre, Loot again for Theatre Plus, AC/DC for the New Theatre, Twelfth Night again for the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead for the Press Theatre, Butley in Butley for the Bastion Theatre, Relatively Speaking
Relatively Speaking
Relatively Speaking was a game show that aired in syndication from September 5, 1988 to June 23, 1989. The series was hosted by comedian John Byner, with John Harlan announcing....

for Theatre Calgary and finally a review The Best of Jest for the Teller's Cage restaurant in Toronto – before heading off back to Australia.

During this time in Canada, Files also did continuing radio drama for CBC – Radio as well as being a presenter on the children's television show Polka Dot Door
Polka Dot Door
Polka Dot Door was a long-running children's television series produced and broadcast by TVOntario from 1971 until 1993. The show, which aired Monday to Friday, was set in a large playhouse...

for O.E.C.A.; He also did a drama Prophecy for them. Then Angie in A Very Quiet Street with Keenan Wynn for Sterno Productions and finally Hardin in the TV series The Frankie Howerd Show starring Frankie Howerd for CBC – TV. He also began a writing career with CBC – Radio beginning with several programmes in the series The Age of Elegance then three programmes in The Bush and the Salon series, as well as adapting the sci-fi classics Gas Mask and Tomorrow's Child. Also a 17 episode series The Many Faces of Music and ongoing satirical skits for As It Happens with Don Cullen.

Australia

On his return to Melbourne, Files played the lead in City Sugar for the Melbourne Theatre Company
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...

 before joining the South Australian Theatre Company in Adelaide for City Sugar again, then Henry IV (1&2)
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...

and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (novel)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a novel written by Horace McCoy and first published in 1935. The story mainly concerns a dance marathon during the Great Depression...

. Sydney and the Opera House were next doing The Lady From Maxims for the Old Tote Theatre Company
Old Tote Theatre Company
The Old Tote Theatre Company began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art and was the precursor to the Sydney Theatre Company.. It was one of the leading Australian theatre companies of the period.The Old Tote began in a converted tin shed on...

. Back to Melbourne for the Playbox Theatre Co. to do Edgar in The Dance of Death then Buried Child and The Curse of the Starving Class which went to the Adelaide Festival as well. Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...

for Playbox followed by Crimes of the Heart for the MTC. Woodworm and Insignificance
Insignificance
Insignificance may refer to:*Insignificance , a 1985 film directed by Nicolas Roeg*Insignificance , an album by Jim O'Rourke named after the film*Insignificance , a song by Pearl Jam*Insignificance...

for the Playbox – the latter touring to the Festival of Sydney and another appearance at the Opera House. To which he returned months later to play Harry Brock in Born Yesterday for the Sydney Theatre Co.

Over the next several years Files continued playing leads and supports in theatre. Recent work starts with Shorts At The Wharf for the S.T.C. then Mickey in Hurley Burley for the M.T.C., Stalin in Master Class for the H.V.T.C., George Coppin in Occupation Comedian for the Writer's Theatre, Gerald in Woman in Mind
Woman In Mind
Woman in Mind is the 32nd play by English playwright, Alan Ayckbourn. It was premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, Scarborough, in 1985. Despite pedestrian reviews by many critics, strong audience reaction resulted in a transfer to London's West End...

for the M.T.C. then A Hard God for N.E.T.C. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

 in Oscar Wilde at the Cafe Royale for the Melbourne International Festival, For Better For Worse for Chapel Off Chapel, Alive At Williamstown Pier at the Beckett Theatre, Mysteries for the Keene/Taylor Company, Go In Tight for La Mama, Father Smythe in the Australian musical Eureka at Her Majesty's Theatre, Dr Sweet in Bug for Red Stitch Theatre, Uncle Konrad in The Revisionist for Summers/Blackman and the Rev. Tooker in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" for the M.T.C.

Film and television

Files has appeared in several Australian films, The Money Movers, The Club, Evil Angels, Mull and Dead End. He has also appeared in the short films "Remembering Nigel", Vigilant Healthy! Wholesome", "Desperate" and "The Wardrobe" (which he also wrote). As well as voicing two animated features The Littlest Convict and Abra-Cadabra, he also manipulated and voiced the lead muppets Simon Smedley and Aunt Matilda in The Arcade Show and Smedley's Weekly two TV series for children for the ABC. He has appeared in over 35 television series and features for Australian television, the most memorable being Desert Foxes, Corp. Andy Edwards in Rusty Bugles, Punishment, Fred Ferguson in Prisoner, Slasher Grey in The Great Bookie Robbery, Tom Ramsay in the series Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

, Fred Daly in The True Believers, Frankie in Rafferty's Rules, Zeke La Russo in Inside Running, Sam McHeath in Skirts, Henry Barnes in Correlli, Kevin Howard in two series of Pig's Breakfast, Fergus Marshall in the TV series MDA, Wally Chubb in "City Homicide" and 'Doc' Evatt in "I Spry". He also played Raymon Radley in both of the animated TV series of Dogstar. Other animated TV series he has appeared in have been Quads and Ocean Girl.

Director

Files started directing in 1993 when he co-founded the Period Pieces Company in an effort to revive classical theatre in Melbourne as it should be experienced. This was a company of Melbourne's finest actors (often locked into television series) who did performed readings of the classics with a complete cast – irrespective of the number of parts called for. Matching the right actors to the age of the character. Thus actors of all ages and experience worked together – something that proved immensely fulfilling – for cast, audience and director. He has directed There's One In Every Marriage, The Medieval Mystery Plays, A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear
A Flea in Her Ear is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque.-Plot:...

, Trelawny of the 'Wells'
Trelawny of the 'Wells'
Trelawny of the 'Wells' is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society.-Synopsis:...

, When We Are Married
When We Are Married
When We Are Married is a 1938 play by English dramatist, J. B. Priestley. It is the first play ever to be televised unedited from a theatre.-Productions:* 1938 World premiere, London, England* 16 November 1938 BBC live telecast...

, Rookery Nook
Rookery Nook (play)
Rookery Nook is a 1926 British comedic play written by Ben Travers. It was based by Travers on his own 1923 novel Rookery Nook, about a series of confusions over an unoccupied house. It was first performed at the Aldwych Theatre in London, and became one of the Aldwych Farces.-Adaptations:In 1930 a...

. The Devil is an Ass and the one act opera Lo Sposo Deluso by Mozart – all for Period Pieces.

In 1998 Files was artistic director of "Crossing the Line" doing performed readings of plays by screenwriters at the Melbourne Writer's Festival at the Malthouse. For that he directed Snoop and Gossamer. He also directed the play Allison's Rub for La Mama and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

 and has since directed Dorothy Parker Says for Michele Stayner at the Chapel Off Chapel.

Writer

Files writing career continued apace in Australia. He wrote the four part comedy serial Uncle Vinny's Wireless for ABC – Radio which won him an AWGIE from the Australian Writer's Guild. He has also written, part produced and performed the comedy series Bruce Roxon The All Australian Time Traveller for ABC – Radio. He has adapted and read to air the sci-fi classic The Man In The Maze and adapted Tomorrow's Child as a series for ABC – Radio Schools. He wrote and performed two programmes for the National Gallery of Victoria, Wedgewood- An 18th Century First and The Spirit of Art. He also wrote and performed the ABC-Radio series "Hindsight" episode called "To The Ends Of The Earth" about Australia's Canadian convicts.

Family

Files' daughter by the Canadian actress Elva Mai Hoover is horror writer Gemma Files
Gemma Files
Gemma Files is a Canadian horror writer, journalist, and film critic. Her short story, "The Emperor's Old Bones", won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Short Story of 1999. Five of her short stories were adapted for the television series The Hunger.- Biography :Gemma Files was born in...

.

External links

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