User:Rnodin/sandbox

Maurie Fields
Maurie Fields
Born	4 August 1926; Manly, New South Wales.
Died	18 December 1995 (aged 69); Melbourne, Australia.
Other names	Maurice Fields
Occupation(s)	Comedian, television actor, Vaudevillan.
Years active	1967-1995
Spouse	Val Jellay (1960–95)
Children	Marty Fields

Maurie Fields (4 August 1926 – 18 December 1995) ^[1] was an Australian actor, vaudeville performer and stand-up comedian. He became a well-known face on television thanks to his dramatic roles, as the conniving John Quinney in ABC TV's Bellbird, as well as in soap operas on commercial television including Cop Shop, The Box, Prisoner (a small part playing "crooked" screw, Leonard "Len" Murphy) and in The Flying Doctors, publican Vic Buckley. He was also a regular as Fred Farrell in situation comedy series Bobby Dazzler (1977) and did regular comedy segments on Hey Hey It's Saturday. He was also the editor of the jokes pages of the Australasian Post magazine for many years, a role continued by his son Marty after Maurie's passing.

He began performing at the age of six, playing drums and singing through a cardboard megaphone with his Mother and siblings in a family act - the Fields Family. ^[2]. He performed a Blackface double act - Fields and Kenny - with Al Kenny before joining Sollies Revue Company at the age of 22. Fields and Kenny - also known as Skit and Skat - performed Dixieland numbers at Sydney Leagues Clubs and on ABC radio through the late 1940s.

Fields performed in several plays during his career, including Dimboola, the Jack Hibberd play which ran for 17 months at the Chevron. His favourite role was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman at the Alexander Theatre ^[3].

Personal life[edit]

Fields was the son of an accountant and married twice. His first wife was Dorothy and they had three children, Lorraine, Eileen and Alan. He then married the actress Val Jellay, who was also his screen wife in The Flying Doctors. They played publicans Vic and Nancy Buckley. He was the father of comedian Marty Fields. He died on 18 December 1995, from a heart attack.

Fields was inducted into the Logie Awards, Logie Hall of Fame in 1996. The second posthumous honour, with the award being accepted by his wife, Val Jellay

During the first Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion show, Fields was rotocaptured into the set so that he was able to do the "Great Aussie Joke" with his son Marty.