Military Wiki
Ernie Bourne
Personal details
Born
Ernest Alfred Bourne

(1926-08-01)1 August 1926
Dorset, England
Died 21 January 2009(2009-01-21) (aged 82)[1]
Prahran, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
  • Actor
  • entertainer
  • comedian
  • puppeteer

Ernest Alfred Bourne[3] (1 August 1926 – 21 January 2009) was an English Australian actor, entertainer, comedian and puppeteer, whose career locally spanned 50 years, having started his career in theatre in his native England, he became known for his regular roles in theatre and television in Australia, particularly in character roles, Bourne was probably best known locally and internationally for his role as prison chef Mervin Pringle, in the TV series Prisoner and as mechanic Rob Lewis in Neighbours

Biography[]

Bourne was born in Dorset, England and raised in Yeovil, Somerset where his mother ran a boarding house following the early death of his father. Leaving school and home at the age of 14, Bourne worked in a cafe before joining the British Merchant Navy during World War II, where he became interested in acting after appearing in a pantomime, he would appear regularly in English pantomime and in many stage productions in Bristol, before migrating to Australia.[2]

He emigrated to Australia in 1952, initially settling in Geelong joining the Geelong Musical Comedy Company, he appeared in numerous stage roles starting from 1955[4] and later moving to Melbourne. In the 1960s, he was loved (and booed) as a series of pantomime-style villains on Australian television such as Sir Jasper Crookley (in Magic Circle Club), and multiple similar baddies in Adventure Island including Sir Cedric Sneak, Captain Crook, Chummy Chums and Miser Meanie's sidekick Fester Fumble.

Throughout the early-to-mid 1970s he was a staple of Crawford Productions police dramas in a variety of character roles. In the 1980s he played prison chef Mervin Pringle in Prisoner (having earlier played two other minor roles) and garage mechanic Rob Lewis in Neighbours.

He also appeared in a series of television commercials for a retail sportsgear outlet (Sportsmart) as an older man (playing golf and tennis) who is perpetually laughed at by a young blonde man for spending too much money on his gear elsewhere. He has a daughter Sally Bourne who is also an actress and is best known for appearing in the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Bourne was married to Claire Bourne (formerly Smith) and he died on 21 January 2009, aged 82, at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.[1]

Filmography (selected)[]

Year Title Role
1960 You Too Can Have A Body unknown
1964 Consider Your Verdict John Drummond
1964 The Road (TV movie)
1964 Under Stress (film short)
1965 The Magic Circle Club (TV series) Sir Jasper Crookley
1967 Hey You! (TV series) Major. Hugh T. Worthington
1967 Adventure Island (TV series) Fester Fumble- Flower Potts, Miser Meanie
1969 Good Morning, Mister Double Day (TV series) Bentley
1969 Sounds Like Us (TV series) Fester Fumble
1973 Gully James
1973-1974 Ryan (TV series) Ned Robbins, Meechum
1974 It's Magic (TV series)
1975 Dick Down Under (TV series) Barman
1975 Cash and Company (TV series) Joshua Henry Biggs
1970-1975 Division 4 (TV series) 6 roles
  • "Shaky" Miller
  • Harry Jack
  • Willie Evans
  • John Hyland
  • George Mitchell
  • parking officer
1972-1975 Matlock Police (TV series) 6 roles
  • Jim
  • Andy Hill
  • Fred Harris
  • George Turner
  • Col Cameron
  • Dumpy
1970-1976 Homicide 9 character roles
  • Albert Canker
  • Marcos Mitrakis
  • Matthew Clarke
  • Dudley Roberts
  • George Stevens
  • George Hodges
  • William "Poker Face" Martin
  • Freddy Knight
  • Caretaker Faye
1976 The Sullivans University Lecturer
1977 The Picture Show Man Bookmaker
1976-1977 Bluey Davies/Timms
1978 Bobby Dazzler (TV series) Seymour
1978 Against the Wind (TV mini-series) Surgeon Beyer
1980 Sams Luck (TV series) Benno
1980 Young Ramsey (TV series) Blowfly
1980 The Last Outlaw (TV mini-series) Gloster
1981 Grendel, Grendel, Grendel | voice artist
1977-1981 Cop Shop (TV series) Various roles
1982 Squizzy Taylor Barber
1982 Lonely Hearts Man in Toilet
1983 All the Rivers Run Boat Builder
1984 Infinity Limited (TV series) Bernie
1984 Carson's Law (TV,series) Barney Tibbs
1979, 1981, 1984-1986 Prisoner Dr. Crewe, Peter Hope, Mervin Pringle (75 episodes)
1987–1989 Neighbours Rob Lewis (90 episodes)
1991 All Together Now (TV serial) Andy Williams fan
1993 Skytrackers Mr Krauss
1996 Mercury (TV series) Claude Cartwright
1998 Good Guys, Bad Guys (TV series) AlfieZinsinger
1999 Thunderstone (TV series) Pohl
2003 Blue Heelers Stan Butterworth

External links[]

References[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Ernie Bourne and the edit history here.