Judy McBurney
| Judy McBurney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Judith McBurney 19 May 1948 Sydney, Australia |
| Occupation | Television actress, model, voice-over artist, healer |
| Years active | 1969- |
| Website | http://www.judymcburney.com |
Judy McBurney (born 19 May 1948) is an Australian actress best known for several TV-series.
Early career
Before acting she started a successful career as a model, employed by June Dally-Watkins. One of McBurney's first acting roles was in late 1969, in a supporting role in Peter Weirs short-movie "Michael", one of three short movies released under the title Three to Go. It followed by small parts in ABC TV-plays and guest-roles in lots of TV-series. Her first leading role was in 1972 as Ella Belairs in ABC's adaption of The Cousin from Fiji based on a novel by Norman Lindsay. Another memorable role was as Aldith in the Award winning "Seven Little Australians".
Television soap operas
In late 1973 McBurney was cast in the role of key new character Marilyn McDonald in Number 96 but before any of her scenes had gone to air and with about 30 scenes in the can she had to withdraw from the role due to illness. This left her replacement, Frances Hargreaves, to reshoot all of Marilyn's scenes. Around the same time she had appeared in stage play in Melbourne, "Don't just lie there, say something", there she played the lover of British actor Terry-Thomas. McBurney then went into the ongoing role of plain-Jane secretary Jane Fowler in The Box in late 1975, and later played the brief role of Jodi in Number 96. Subsequent to this McBurney became immensely popular playing the part of nurse Tania Livingston, love interest of at times Tony Garcia (Tony Alvarez) and Peter Holland (Peter Lochran), in The Young Doctors. She played the role from 1977 until the series ended in 1982. She followed this with another popular character, that of breezy romantic Sandra "Pixie" Mason in Prisoner. She played Pixie on a recurring basis from 1983 until 1985. A spin-off sitcom based around the character was apparently once proposed, but never saw the light of day. McBurney is also famous for her voice-over work and also starring in commercials, in particular a very cheeky, controversial ad from the 1980s for Palmolive Gold, which she features in a bed with fellow The Young Doctors actor Peter Bensley. McBurney leaves a cake of soap under his pillow, which led to the famous jingle and saying "Don't wait to be told". Judy has appeared in a few episodes of Always Greener.
More recent work
She is now semi-retired from acting. Today, McBurney is an educated healer and is doing healing sessions in a studio at her home, as well teaching modelling and acting for young people.