Iconic Australian actor Bill Hunter dies

Australian actor Bill Hunter poses before the camera. The veteran actor passed away Saturday, May 21, 2011, after battling cancer. AP Photo/Mark Morrissey & Associates

SYDNEY – Iconic Australian actor Bill Hunter, who starred in some of the country’s best-known films, has died from cancer aged 71, his manager said on Sunday.

The screen veteran, who made a name for himself playing the archetypal gruff Aussie bloke with a heart of gold, passed away surrounded by family and friends at a Melbourne hospice late Saturday.

“Bill was much-loved, a gentleman, an inspiration to fellow actors, a journeyman, and a rogue,” his manager Mark Morrissey said.

“He was a fine actor, a true story teller and a great friend. He will be sorely missed.”

Hunter’s credits resemble a history of Australian film and television, with appearances in more than 100 big and small screen productions.

Over a 50-year career he worked with most of Australia’s top names, including Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Jackman and Toni Collette.

The list also extended to the country’s major directors, such as Stephan Elliott, Peter Weir, P.J. Hogan and Phillip Noyce.

He got a taste for acting as an uncredited extra in Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner’s On the Beach in 1959 and never looked back.

Hunter starred as Major Barton with Gibson in Weir’s “Gallipoli”, played the meddling Barry Fife in Baz Luhrmann’s “Strictly Ballroom”, and starred as Collette’s father in “Muriel’s Wedding”.

Perhaps his best-known role was as lovable outback mechanic Bob in Hogan’s “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, starring alongside Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Weaving.

More recently, he worked on “Finding Nemo”, “Crackerjack” and Luhrmann’s “Australia”.

Born in Ballarat in Victoria state in 1940, Hunter cut his acting teeth in television in the 1960s and 70s, with roles in “Doctor Who”, “Skippy”, and even “Dynasty”.