Dinah Hilary Shearing (12 February 1926 – 14 June 2021) also known as Dinah Hilary Milgate,was an Australian actress and singer, active in all facets of the industry, in particular theatre.
Early life and education Dinah Hilary Shearing was born on 12 February 1926 in Sydney, to English parents, while they were visiting Australia. Growing up alongside two sisters, she attended school in Birmingham in the UK, before the family permanently relocated to Australia when Shearing was twelve, where she attended a public school in Sydney.
With a talent for art, at the age of 15, Shearing gained a scholarship at the East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School) At the end of her third year, she worked at a Sydney department store during a three month break from school. Upon seeing some of her art, her manager offered her a position as a sketch artist for the store. Having fallen behind in her art studies, Shearing opted not to complete them. During this time, she was also studying singing at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where she attained honours in exams to A.Mus.A in 1945.
Career Shearing appeared on stage, radio, television and films in a career that spanned more than 60 years.
After graduating from her studies, Shearing performed in a small musical comedy group, touring army camps. She then began acting with May Hollinworth's Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney, landing her first role in the play Winterset.
After further roles with the Metropolitan Theatre, Shearing's "distinctively mellifluous voice" led to her being recruited into radio during its so-called "Golden Era". Her first broadcast was on the Macquarie Network in a play entitled The Mariners. She soon became a national favourite in Grace Gibson Productions serials such as Dr Paul (in which she played the leading character for ten years), Tudor Princess and Tudor Queen, as well as Dossier on Dumetrius. Other radio serials and programmes included The Colgate Hour, Macquarie Radio Theatre, Lux Radio Theatre and most notably, work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
From there, Shearing was drafted into the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and later, the Old Tote Theatre Company and gave performances that "transcended her young years", touring nationally from her Sydney base. Most memorably, she gave what critics called "the definitive" performance of Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. She also worked with the Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company and Independent Theatre. Her performances drew admiring reviews from Sydney critics, including Lindsay Brown, Harry Kippax, and Geoffrey Thomas.
Shearing also appeared in some of Australia's earliest television dramas. making her TV debut in the ABC play A Phoenix Too Frequent in 1957. She also starred as Lady Macbeth in 1960 TV production of Macbeth. After taking a hiatus from performing to raise a family, Shearing returned to the small screen in 1970, with a guest appearance in the drama series Delta.
Further television credits included TV Spells Magic, Catwalk, The Sullivans, All The Rivers Run, Five Mile Creek, The Harp in the South, E Street, A Country Practice, G.P., All Saints and the TV movie Man of Letters. She also had a regular role in soap opera Family and Friends. Her final television appearance was in the sci-fi series Farscape in 2002.
Shearing became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 1993.
Honours and awards Year Work Award Category Result Ref. 1952 One Way Street Macquarie Award Best Female Lead 1985 Man of Letters Penguin Award All the Rivers Run 1993 Coriolanus Critics Award Lifetime of Excellence Glugs Theatrical Award Dinah Shearing Queen's Birthday Honours Member of the Order of Australia 1999 A Delicate Balance Glugs Theatrical Award Norman Kessell Award
Personal life Shearing met playwright and painter Rodney Milgate in London and 18 months later, on 9 May 1960 they were married in Woollahra, Sydney at All Saints Church – the same church in which her parents were married. The couple had two sons.
Shearing was a speaker for Heart Research Institute from 1993 to 1999, and a volunteer reader for Royal Society for the Blind in the 1960s.
Later life and death In later life Shearing resided at Erina, New South Wales, on the Central Coast, and was active in community arts programmes, volunteer work, and had also branched into directing not long before her death.
She died on 14 June 2021, aged 95. She was survived by her two sons and four grandchildren. Her husband, Milgate died in 2014.
Theatre Year Title Role Type Ref.1946 Winterset Street Urchin Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney, St Peters Church Hall, Sydney Hotel Universe St Peters Church Hall, Sydney 1947 The Country Wife Lady Fidget Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney Ned Kelly Mrs Barry Deep are the Roots New Theatre, Sydney 1948 The First Joanna Joan Deveron Metropolitan Theatre Sydney A Midsummer Night's Dream Fairy Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, Killara Soldiers Memorial Hall 1949 Twelfth Night Viola 1950 Amphitryon 38 Independent Theatre, Sydney Young Wives' Tale Sabina Lux Radio Theatre on 2GB, 3DB, 4BK, 5AD 1951 King Lear Regan St James' Hall, Sydney with John Alden Company 1952 The Relapse Berinthia A Phoenix Too Frequent Dynamene Mercury Theatre 1953 The Holly and the Ivy Margaret 1956 Twelfth Night Viola Elizabethan Theatre, Sydney, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Playhouse, Perth with J. C. Williamson's 1956–1957 The Rivals Lydia Languish Australian tour Invitation to a Voyage Bell Book and Candle 1957 The Relapse Berinthia Elizabethan Theatre, Sydney, Playhouse, Perth 1957–1958 The Shifting Heart Maria Fowler Australian tour with AETT 1959 Man and Superman Ann Whitefield Elizabethan Theatre Sydney, Playhouse, Perth Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Fire on the Wind National Theatre, Launceston, Playhouse, Perth Julius Caesar Portia Elizabethan Theatre Sydney The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day Wilma Cartwright 1960 The Rape of the Belt Murder in the Cathedral Chorus University of Adelaide 1964 A Phoenix Too Frequent 1965 The Country Wife UNSW Old Tote Theatre, Sydney 1966 Tiny Alice Persephone Sydney Symphony Orchestra 1972–1973 An Ideal Husband Lady Chiltern Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane, Playhouse, Perth with MTC 1973 King Richard II Duchess of York Sydney Opera House 1973–1974 What If You Died Tomorrow? Carmel Scott Sydney Opera House, Canberra Theatre, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne 1974 Macbeth Sydney Opera House 1980 Children Mother Bondi Pavilion, Sydney Inside the Island Lillian Dawson Nimrod Theatre, Sydney 1987 Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Cavan Tyrone Marian St Theatre, Sydney 1989 Knuckledusters – The Jewels of Edith Sitwell Canberra Theatre, Russell St Theatre, Melbourne Shellcove Road Marian St Theatre, Sydney with Northside Theatre Company 1991 The Hundred Year Ambush Newtown Studio Theatre, Sydney Great Expectations – The Musical Seymour Centre, Sydney 1992 The Winslow Boy Sydney Opera House, Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane 1993 The Old Boy Ensemble Theatre, Sydney Coriolanus Sydney Opera House with STC 1995 Medee A Woman Sydney Opera House with Australian Opera 1998 A Delicate Balance Sydney Opera House with STC 2000 Mother’s Day Independent Theatre, Sydney with Ensemble Theatre A Cheery Soul Mrs. Lillie / Mr. Bleeker Sydney Opera House with Belvoir / STC 2001 Morning Sacrifice Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC 2003 La Serenissima: The Fascination of Venice Poetry recitals S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 2003, 2008 Poetry recitals Reader Gosford Regional Gallery 2005 International Women's Day Two monologues 2008 The Makropoulos Secret Australian Opera 2012 Christchurch Camerata Orchestra Reader Christchurch Camerata Orchestra
Radio Year Title Role Notes Ref. The Mariners Macquarie Network 1940s–1950s Cashmere Bouquet Show 2UE 1947–1948 Lilian Dale Affair Lilian Dale The Devil's Duchess 2UW / 2KO Office Wife Marcia 1950 I Hate Crime Episode: "The Case of the Montana Mauler" on 2UE Episode: "The Clue of the Scratched Brief-Case" on 2UE 1950s Dinner at Antoine's Odile St Amant 2UW Gabrielle 2UW / 5AD My Heart's Desire 4IP Romances of the Pacific Radio Cab 1951 Dossier on Dumetrius Hedy Bergner 2UE A Woman Scorned 2UW Paula Lehmann 2UE 1951–1960s Hart of the Territory Felicity Wayne 2GB 1952 One Way Street Macquarie Broadcasting Service & 2GB The Night Was Our Friend The General Motors Hour on 3AW Dutch with Dames 2UE 1953 It Never Rains 4BH 1954 Tudor Princess Young Elizabeth 2UW / 3KZ Tudor Queen Queen Elizabeth I For Love of a Woman 2UW Reach for the Sky 2UE / 3DB 1955 Fallen Angel c.1955 Starlight Theatre Volume 1 1955–1956 The Clock Leah / Enid / Cora / Dianna Episode 6: "The One-Eyed Cat", Episode 14: "The Bank Vault", Episode 28: "Retribution", Episode 36: "The Dream Home", Episode 42: "Trouble at Key West" 1958 The Alcestis Alcestis ABC Radio The Ponyman 2GB 1959 As You Like It Rosalind 2BL-NC-CN / 4QR 1960 Passage of the Tangmar Ilona Fedorov 1960s Give Me No Pity Jane Worthington 1960s–1970s Dr Paul Virginia Martin 2UW c.1962 The Scarlet Frontier Isabelle c.1963 This Side of Innocence Amalie Maxwell 1970s Clayton Place Catherine Marlowe 3AW A Relative Affair Strange Homecoming 1979 The Drowned Phoenician Sailor Laura ABC Radio Sydney Alladyce and the Holy Virago Isobel A Wicked Pack of Cards Laura Becket Queen Eleanor Big City The Knave of Hearts Peggy Browning Romantic Stories Amanda Gray 1990 Summer of the Aliens BBC Radio
Filmography
Television Year Title Role Type Ref. 1957 A Phoenix too Frequent Dynamene TV movie 1958 Sixty Point Bold Maria Charvet TV play 1960 Macbeth Lady Macbeth TV movie 1961 Delta Hannah Thompson 1 episode 1972 The Survivor TV movie Catwalk Moya Sandford 1 episode 1982 Cop Shop Sophia Caruso 1 episode 1982–1983 The Sullivans Mary Sullivan 45 episodes 1983 All the Rivers Run Aunt Hester Miniseries, 3 episodes Learned Friends 1984 Man of Letters Beth Serry TV movie Singles Allison's mother Miniseries, 5 episodes Saturday Saturday 1985 Five Mile Creek Mrs Armstrong 5 episodes Special Squad Minister 1 episode Emmett Stone Muriel TV movie 1985–1993 A Country Practice Heather Moss / Monika Schnelle 4 episodes 1986 Dancing Daze Miniseries 1987 The Harp in the South Sister Beatrix 3 episodes 1988 Rafferty's Rules Vera Grey 1 episode 1989 E Street Helen Kennedy 8 episodes 1990 Family and Friends Antoinetta Rossi 1993 Police Rescue Mrs Conway Season 3, 1 episode 1994 G.P. Rose Browning 1 episode 1998 Wildside Anna Weissman 1 episode 1998; 2000 All Saints Caroline Edgewater / Judith Ashton 2 episodes 1999 Time and Tide Irene TV movie 2000 The Lost World Anna Summerlee 1 episode 2001 Flat Chat 1 episode 2002 Farscape Elack's Pilot (voice) Season 4, 3 episodes
Film Year Title Role Type Ref. 1983 Buddies Merle Feature film 1985 A Spy in the Family Feature film 2001 The Long Wet Feature film
Directorial and crew Year Title Role Type Ref. 1947 Lady Windermere's Fan Costume Designer Metropolitan Theatre Sydney 1948 A Midsummer Night's Dream Costume Designer Metropolitan Theatre Sydney, Killara Soldiers Memorial Hall 2003 Archibald Prize: The Play Co-director The Actor's Forum Winners Director 2006 Collected Stories Director 2006–2007 The Actor's Forum Director The Actor's Forum 2007 Lettice and Lovage Director 2008 The Fortunates 2009 Katandra Players Katandra Players 2010 Wilde Woman Director Stopover Flaws in the Looking Glass Director
References
See also "National Library of Australia Collection". Papers of Shearing, Dinah. (Ref: MS 5186) National Library of Australia, Canberra, ACT.