Richard Meikle

Richard Meikle (10 October 1929 – 2 June 1991) was an Australian actor who worked extensively in radio, theatre, and television, (TV movies and guest in serials[1]), He was the father of screenwriter and director Sam Meikle and he also worked in England.[1]

Meikle began his career as a stage actor. His first recorded role was in the Metropolitan Theatre's 1947 production of Ned Kelly. He also appeared in Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night.[2]

In the 1950s, Meikle moved into radio acting, most prominently with Grace Gibson Productions. He landed many major roles with the company, as both an actor and an announcer. Meikle was included in Reg James' list of his favourite Grace Gibson performances, for his starring role alongside John Unicomb in the serial Becket.[3] Meikle's ability to perform his own sound effects, saw him highly sought after, as Grace Gibson Productions' budget did not cover a professional sound effects person. He would often compete for rights to do sound effects with his co-stars Ron Roberts and James Condon.[4]

In 1959, Meikle was cast alongside Gregory Peck as London-based spy Guy Marriott, Stanley Kramer's in Melbourne-filmed anti-nuclear love story On the Beach.

1966 produced several roles for Meikle. He had the dual role of Mickey Higgens and narrator (reading the opening credits) in The Shame of Sefton Ridge, an adaptation of Hamilton Basso's novel The View from Pompey's Head. He also played Paul Kruger in Phillip Mann drama The Red Gardenia, as well as reading the end credits of a few episodes. Another major role in the 1960s was as Logan Berkeley in Ross Napier's adaptation of the novel Borrasca. Borrasca was another example of Grace Gibson using Meikle as an announcer.

The early 1970s also proved to be a busy time for Meikle, with Grace Gibson and Crawford Productions TV series. He had another actor/announcer job in the form of Ross Napier's So Help Me God in 1970, where he read the credits for each episode and played criminal Toby Laird. Meikle had starring roles in the 1971 shows I Killed Grace Random and I, Christopher Macaulay, where he played copywriter Curtis Miller and the titular character respectively.

As local television production started to become more prevalent, Meikle began to branch out in the late 1970s. He appeared in several television movies, including Harvest of Hate, where he replaced Sir Robert Helpmann in the role of vineyard owner John Camden.[5][6] In 1976, Meikle had a major role as Martin Gruman in the one hour pilot episode of the television drama Bluey.

In 1982, Meikle returned to Grace Gibson Productions, joining the cast of the company's most popular serial, The Castlereagh Line, playing Jim Holly.

Meikle was the son of Leslie Meikle, an engineer, and Alma May Meikle (née Milsted).[7][full citation needed] Meikle married twice, firstly in 1955 to Lola Edna Brooks, an actress, with whom he had a son. He married again in 1968, to Helen Millicent Madgwick, by whom he had another four children.

Meikle died in Gosford, New South Wales, on 2 June 1991.[1]

• Richard Meikle at IMDb
• Richard Meikle at National Film and Sound Archive