Colin McEwan (1941 – 21 August 2005) was a Scottish born Australian actor, host, comedian and radio announcer. He was best known for appearing on both the stage and TV versions of The Naked Vicar Show, and the sequel on which it was based, opposite Ross Higgins playing Ted Bullpitt's brother Bob Bullpitt in Kingswood Country and also appeared in the miniseries Day of the Roses. He worked as an announcer on Melbourne radio stations 3AK and 3XY, and was a regular guest on TV variety program In Melbourne Tonight.

Biography McEwan was born in Alloa, Scotland (1941). Following the death of his father, he immigrated to Melbourne, Australia (1947), with his mother and three brothers. McEwan's acting roles included parts in a large number of TV series and mini-series, including the regular roles of Detective Sergeant Dan Cullen in Ryan, Nick in Brass Monkeys, and numerous guest appearances in programs including Homicide, the television adaptation of And The Big Men Fly (1974), The Rise and Fall of Wellington Boots (1975), Cop Shop, Sam's Luck (1980), The Last Bastion (1984), The Boardroom (1988), Jackaroo (1990), and The Gift (1997).

He started his career in radio in 1957; early work included announcing on 3CV in central Victoria, and he moved to Melbourne's 3XY in 1960.'XY Announcer' Melbourne Age 'Radio-TV Supplement' 23 June 1960 p. 10 Publicity claimed that he was the youngest announcer in Australia at the time. He worked on overnight and breakfast shows.

In 1964, he joined the fledgling ATV-0 as a news reader and general announcer, but soon became the station's 'jack of all trades', playing the roles of Gasper Goblin, Cassius Cuckoo and Leonardo da Funbird in ATV-O's popular national 1960s children's TV show Magic Circle Club (1965–67), starring as Ocker Ramsay in the 1967 comedy series Hey You!, and appearing in many other ATV-O programs including Off to the Races (1967–69), Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go (1969–72), Musical Cashbox (1969–71, which he also produced for a brief period), and hosting programs including Carosello (1967–68), and 1968's Rendezvous (which he also produced and directed). He also played the roles of Miser Meanie and Gussie Galah in Adventure Island (1967–72), and appeared as a regular on The Ernie Sigley Show (1974–75), and Turpie Tonight (1982–83).

In 1967, TV Week told its readers that McEwan was shortly to marry Claudia Topusoff, who had been secretary of ATV0's publicity manager, at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Warrandyte.'Col's Painting the Town!' TV Week 5 August 1967 p. 21 In 1972 McEwan and his second wife Pamela had a son, David. In 1980, McEwan moved to Perth; discussing his motivation, he told Fiona Manning of the Australian Women's Weekly that 'I'd always wanted to go there and figured if anyone wanted me I could hop on a plane.' The following year, he married for the third time, to Rae Alty, who the Women's Weekly told readers was 'advertising sales manager for a WA magazine'. The two had met in Melbourne. In Perth, McEwan did advertising work and starred in a Perth TV show, The Entertainers, with Barrie Barkla and John Burgess.Jim Murphy, 'Colin McEwan - Escaping the Rat Race with his New Bride' Australian Women's Weekly 14 January 1981 p. 48 In 1981 he announced he had the license to launch a West Australian version of The Naked Vicar Show.Fiona Manning 'Oh Brother! Bob's Back' Australian Women's Weekly 7 October 1981 p. 139

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1988 The Boardroom Donald Malone TV movie

Television Year Title Role Notes 1964 ATV-0 News reader / general announcer TV news show 1964 Luther Monk TV play 1965-67 Magic Circle Club Gasper Goblin / Cassius Cuckoo / Leonardo da Funbird TV series 1967 Hey You! Ocker Ramsay TV series 1967-69 Off to the Races TV series 1969-72 Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go TV series 1969-71 Musical Cashbox (also producer for a brief period) 1967-68 Carosello Host TV series 1967-72 Adventure Island Miser Meanie / Gussie Galah TV series 1968 Rendezvous Host TV series (also producer & director) 1973-74 Ryan Detective Sergeant Dan Cullen TV series 1974 And The Big Men Fly Wobbly Coates TV series 1974-75 The Ernie Sigley Show Regular guest TV series Homicide Guest appearance TV series 1975 The Rise and Fall of Wellington Boots TV series 1978-80 Cop Shop Dave Kelly / Lou Evans / Stan Dawson TV series, 3 episodes 1980 Sam's Luck Uncle Harry TV series, 6 episodes 1980-84 Kingswood Country Bob Bullpitt TV series, 22 episodes 1982-83 Turpie Tonight Regular guest TV series 1984 Brass Monkeys Nick TV series 1984 The Last Bastion Frank Forde TV miniseries, 3 episodes 1990 Jackaroo Roy Mallory TV miniseries, 2 episodes 1997 Bullpitt! Bob Bullpitt TV series, 2 episodes 1997 The Gift TV series

Discography

McEwan released a number of comedy records, some under his own name, others under the name of Luigi Risotto, a heavily accented Italian character.Discogs - Luigi RisottoDiscogs - Open-End Interview

Albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chartpositions AUS Live from The Madge Burrows Room! / The Naked Vicar Show (with Ross Higgins, Kev Golsby and Julie McGregor) Released: 1978 Format: LP Label: EMI (EMC-2671) 84

Death He died of cancer after lapsing into a coma at a Gold Coast hospital on 21 August 2005.

References

External links

Hey You at Classic Australian TV Obituary at The Age