Dinah Shearing

Dinah Hilary Shearing was born on 12 February 1926 in Sydney, to English parents.[1]

She attained honours in exams to A.Mus.A at Sydney Conservatorium in 1945.[2]

Shearing appeared on stage, radio, television and films in a career that spanned more than 60 years.[2]

Subverted from her initial intention of becoming a commercial artist or a singer, she began acting with May Hollinworth's Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney after graduation. Soon, her "distinctively mellifluous voice" led to her being recruited into radio during its so-called "Golden Era" where she became a national favourite on serials such as Dr Paul (in which she played the leading character for ten years), Tudor Princess and Tudor Queen (all three, 1950s Grace Gibson productions,[2]plus Dossier on Dumetrius. Other radio serials, programmes and appearances included the Colgate Hour, The Macquarie Radio Theatre, Lux Radio Theatre, and most notably, work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,

From there, Shearing was drafted into the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and later, the Old Tote Theatre Company and gave performances that "transcended her young years",[3] touring nationally from her Sydney base. Most memorably, she gave what critics called "the definitive" performance of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.[4] She worked with the Sydney Theatre Company Melbourne Theatre Company, Independent Theatre and many others.

Her performances drew admiring reviews from Sydney critics, including Lindsay Brown, Harry Kippax, and Geoffrey Thomas.

Shearing also appeared in some of Australia's earliest TV dramas.[5] She worked with the Nine Network, Crawford Productions, ABC, the Seven Network, Disney International, and many others.

She became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993.[6]

Recognition for her work included the following awards:

• 1952: Macquarie Award, female lead role, for her performance in One Way Street, awarded by the Macquarie Broadcasting Service and 2GB Radio[7]
• 1985: Penguin Award for Man of Letters
• 1985: Commendation in the Penguin Award, for All the Rivers Run (1985)
• 1993: Critics Award for Coriolanus
• 1993: Glugs Award for Lifetime of Excellence[8]
• 1999: Norman Kessell Award for A Delicate Balance, in the Glug Awards[8]

At the peak of her career, and spurning an offer from the head of BBC drama in England to work there, Shearing married playwright and painter Rodney Milgate and retired from full-time acting. The couple had two sons.

Shearing was a speaker for Heart Research Institute from 1993 to 1999, and a volunteer reader for Royal Society for the Blind in the 1960s.

In later life Shearing resided at Erina, New South Wales, on the Central Coast, and was active in community arts programmes, volunteer work, and had also branched into directing not long before her death.[9]

She died on 14 June 2021, aged 95.[10][11]

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See also "National Library of Australia Collection". Papers of Shearing, Dinah. (Ref: MS 5186)-National Library of Australia, Canberra, ACT.