Janice Adele (14 April 1935 – 27 February 2000) better known as Jan Adele, was an Australian actress and entertainer with a career spanning over 50 years, in circus, vaudeville, theatre, television and film. She was best known for her role as showgirl Trixie O'Toole in the 1970s soap opera Number 96.

Early life

Adele was a fourth-generation performer. Her grandfather Roy Kelroy had worked for Barnum and Bailey circus in America and her aunt Eilleen Pascoe Webb ran an elocution and dance school in Melbourne. Her mother, was known professionally as Eris O'Dell, worked for the Tivoli circuit and J.C. Williamson, as a singer, actress and dancer and also played piano, and was an assistant producer to Jack Davey at the Macquarie theatre radio and to Wallace Parnell at the Tivoli. Adele did not know her father.

Adele appeared in pantomime from the age of three at Mark Foy's. As a teenager she performed in the circus as an acrobat on the high wire, and as a contortionist. At the age of 19 she began a three-year stint entertaining US troops in Korea and Japan. In 1971 she was part of the New South Wales Concert Party, entertaining Australian troops in Vietnam. After this she performed steadily in vaudeville theatre and as a show girl.

Career

Television In the 1970s, Adele moved into television, with guest spots in the Crawford Productions police dramas Homicide and Division 4.

Subsequent to this, she was spotted by Number 96 producer, Bill Harmon, in a pantomime show from which he devised the recurring character of Trixie O'Toole – a warm and funny vaudevillian showgirl and nightclub entertainer who has been treading the boards for years – for her.

Some of the humour of her Number 96 character was built around Adele's 15 stone figure. When joining the series Adele happily signed the nudity clause present in all cast member's contracts, reasoning that she would never be called upon to strip. She was later horrified to learn she would need to appear semi-nude for a comedy sequence in the show, but went ahead with the scenes. She often shared scenes with co-stars Wendy Blacklock and Mike Dorsey.

In the late 1970s, Adele was a frequent comedy performer on The Mike Walsh Show. She was also a frequent guest on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton. Later television guest credits included Bony (1992), Heartbreak High (1994), Home and Away and 42nd Street.

Film Adele subsequently acted in several Australian films. These included High Tide (1987), for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Award from the Australian Film Institute, Daisy and Simon (1988), ...Almost (1990), Greenkeeping (1992), Fatal Bond (1992) and The Sum of Us (1994).

Personal life Adele was married at 17. Her second husband, actor Rick Marshall, was bisexual. Her third marriage was to musician David Anderson in 1962. Adele had two daughters, Mandy and Jody.

Awards Year Work Award Category Result 1977 Jan Adele Mo Awards Comedian of the Year 1982 Jan Adele and Lucky Grills – Fun Follies Mo Awards Variety Show of the Year 1987 High Tide Australian Film Institute Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Type 1976 Caddie Daisy Feature film 1981 Winter of Our Dreams Woman Feature film 1987 High Tide Bet Feature film 1988 Daisy and Simon (aka Where the Outback Ends) Daisy Feature film 1990 Wendy Cracked a Walnut (aka ...Almost) Majorie Feature film 1991 Fatal Bond Mrs. Karvan Feature film 1992 Greenkeeping Doreen Feature film 1994 The Sum of Us Barmaid Feature film

Television Year Title Role Type1960 The Bobby Limb Show Guest performer The Joe Martin Show Guest performer 1969 In Melbourne Tonight Guest performer 6 episodes 1969–1985 The Mike Walsh Show Guest performer 1971–1972 The Bob Rogers Show Guest performer 1973 Homicide 1 episode 1974 Division 4 1 episode 1974–1975 Number 96 Trixie O'Toole 63 episodes 1976 Mummy and Me TV pilot 1978 Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks Panelist 1981 Personality Squares Contestant 1 episode 1985 Blankety Blanks Contestant 3 episodes 1987 Have a Go Guest judge 6 episodes 1988 Rafferty's Rules Mrs. Gunning 1 episode 1990 Home and Away Helen Cody 2 episodes1991 A Country Practice Mrs. Howie 1 episode The Miraculous Mellops Customer 2 episodes 1992 Bony Mrs. Adele 1 episode 1994 Heartbreak High Ruby 26 episodes

Theatre Year Title Role Type 1975 The Seahorse UNSW, Old Tote Parade Theatre, Sydney 1979 Fun Follies Palais Royale, Newcastle, NSW tour with Vidette Productions 1981 Gypsy Rose Rockdale Town Hall, Sydney 1982 My Kind of Music Singer Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney 1984 Better Known As Bee Q Theatre, Penrith 1988 Variety for AIDS Paddington-Woollahra RSL 1990 Barnum His Majesty's Theatre, Perth with Western Australian Theatre Company 1991 Fabulous Follies Dancer Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide 1992 Alive, Alone, Adele Creator / performer Tilbury Hotel, Sydney, Queanbeyan School of Arts Cafe 1993 Nunsense 2 La Mama, Melbourne with Edgley International 1997 42nd Street Maggie Jones Theatre Royal, Hobart

References

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