Vincent Martin Ball, (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired actor of film, theatre and radio active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain starting in the late 1940s and then his native Australia. Ball, a Royal Air Force military veteran, has also authored a number of books.
Ball is best known for film roles in British and Australian films and television films, including A Town Like Alice, Breaker Morant, Phar Lap, Muriel's Wedding and The Man Who Sued God.
In the mid-1950s Ball hosted Associated TeleVision (ATV)'s Sunday afternoon Children's Television, introducing such childhood favourites as The Roy Rogers Show, The Adventures of Noddy and The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series). He became "the hero of thousands of children" and received enormous amounts of fan mail every week.
Ball appeared in numerous television roles, primarily in cameo guest roles, but had recurring roles in serials including the British serial Crossroads, Rush, The Young Doctors, A Country Practice and Home and Away.
Ball cited film stars Virginia McKenna and Chips Rafferty and Australian actor Ray Meagher as among his co-stars and friends in the entertainment industry.
Ball also worked variously in theatre, including Shakespeare, with productions of Henry IV, Part 1 and Romeo and Juliet and a musical based on Charles Dickens famous novel Great Expectations.
In 2003, Ball retired, but briefly returned to television in 2014. He turned 100 in December 2023.
Early life and marriage Vincent Martin Ball was born in the town of Wee Waa, New South Wales, on 4 December 1923, one of eight children to a father who worked as a linesman on the New South Wales Government Railways. Ball said he wanted to be an actor from an early age, particularly a "cowboy in the movies", as he loved going to the movies as a youngster and seeing Western stars like Tom Mix.
Ball married Sydney actress Doreen Harrop in 1949; she was also his elocution teacher and taught speech therapies. They had three children and reside at Chittaway Point, a suburb on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
Military service Ball left his job with the Australian division of the now defunct British firm General Electric Company after the Second World War broke out and, after military training in Canada, became a wireless air gunner with the Royal Australian Air Force, serving in Britain.
After the war, he returned to Australia and his old job. To correct his accent, which had by then morphed into part Canadian, part Cockney and part Australian, he took lessons in elocution and became interested in amateur dramatics.
Professional career Acting profession in Britain Ball then from Sydney was working as an accountant in 1949, but decided he wanted to enter showbiz, so he set out writing letters asking for auditions. One was to the film studio the Rank Organisation which, impressed with his enthusiasm, told him to come to England and they would give him a screen test for a part in the 1949 British film version of The Blue Lagoon. By the time he got to England, production was under way, but he got a job as stand-in for Donald Houston in an underwater fight with an octopus. He was then cast as Jack Warner's son in Smiling Irish Eyes, (Talk of a Million).
He was working as a bricklayer, when he then won a scholarship to study drama at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Having moved to Stowting, Kent, he appeared in supporting and uncredited film roles in the UK for the next two and a half decades. He was a juvenile lead in the TV films Rain Before Seven, Barnet's Folly and Nitro, before moving into slightly larger parts in films such as A Town Like Alice, Robbery Under Arms, Sea of Sand, and Danger Within. In 1969, he played Cecil Carpenter in Where Eagles Dare, alongside Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
His television credits in Britain include Gym Teacher, Jenkins, Compact, Man in a Suitcase, The Troubleshooters, Dixon of Dock Green, and a recurring role on the long-running UK soap opera Crossroads.
Acting career in Australia Ball who was then living in Canterbury, Kent, returned to Australia in 1973. He was soon very busy acting in films, theatre and television. ,
Ball is best known for his work in Australian films and television series, including film roles in Breaker Morant, Phar Lap and Muriel's Wedding. His credits in Australian television serials include Cop Shop, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors, The Flying Doctors, Grass Roots and All Saints. His many roles in Australian mini-series or made-for-television films include Against the Wind, and the epic Anzacs.
In 2014, aged 91, he came out of retirement briefly to play a Second World War veteran named Tom Knight, in the Australian soap opera Home and Away, whom series regular Alf Stewart (played by Ray Meagher) meets in hospital. The scenes went to air during April 2015, just before Anzac Day.Alf not the sole veteran in Home and Away's Anzac storyline. News.com.au, 19 April 2015. Accessed 30 April 2015
Publications (selected)
Title Year/Release Publisher ISBN Words of Silence 21 May 2008 DoctorZed Publishing The Ivory Starr Collection 12 October 2008 Xlibris The Cathedral Tree 06 May 2013 Equilibrium Books Patrick Downs 31 July 2013 Equilibrium Books Regency Rebel 01 March 2014 Equilibrium Books (Rockingham, Australia Buck Jones: Where are You 01 September 2014 Equilibrium Books (also available audio CD)
National honours Ball was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2016 Australia Day Honours.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1949 Warning to Wantons Footman Uncredited Stop Press Girl Hero featuring in "cinema sequence" Poet's Pub Stacey Uncredited The Interrupted Journey First Workman 1950 Come Dance with Me Secretary1951 Talk of a Million Jack Murnahan Encore Young Husband segment : "Winter Cruise" 1952 Made in Heaven Man at Party Uncredited 1953 The Drayton Case Henley's Assistant Scotland Yard film series1954 The Dark Stairway Sergeant Gifford Scotland Yard film series Imposter's Gold Leonard Hughes TV film Dangerous Voyage John Drew Devil's Point Williams The Black Rider Ted Lintott1955 Barnet's Folly Richard Barnet TV film Nitro Jeff TV film John and Julie Digger The Stolen Airliner Flight Sergeant Watkins Stolen Time Johnson The Blue Peter Digger 1956 A Town Like Alice Ben The Secret of the Forest Mr. Lawson The Long Arm P.C. at Hospital uncredited Reach for the Sky Thelma's cousin uncredited The Baby and the Battleship Second Sailor at Dance uncredited The Battle of the River Plate Barnes – HMS Achilles uncredited1957 Face in the Night Bob Meredith Robbery Under Arms George Storefield1958 Blood of the Vampire John Pierre Sea of Sand Sergeant Nesbitt1959 Danger Within Captain Pat Foster Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Dowd1960 Identity Unknown Ken Dead Lucky Mike Billings Dentist in the Chair Michaels1961 Feet of Clay David Kyle Very Important Person Higgins uncredited Nearly a Nasty Accident Sergeant at Crybwyth Highway to Battle Ransome A Matter of WHO Dr. Blake Middle Course Cliff Wilton1962 The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day Horrie Darcel TV film Carry On Cruising Jenkins1963 The Mouse on the Moon Pilot Echo of Diana Bill Vernon 1967 Follow That Camel Ship's Officer1968 Nobody Runs Forever Australian Policeman uncredited Where Eagles Dare Carpenter 1969 Oh! What a Lovely War Australian Soldier1971 Not Tonight, Darling Alex Clinic Exclusive Bernard Wilcox1974 The Spiral Bureau TV film Lindsay's Boy Jim Lindsay TV film 1975 Games for Parents and Other Children TV film1976 Arena Bill Scott TV film Deathcheaters Commander Carson1978 The Irishman Bailey Clark Bit Part Sherry TV film 1979 Demolition Ainsley TV film 1980 Breaker Morant Colonel Hamilton 1981 Alison's Birthday Dr. Jeremy Lyall1982 The Highest Honor Lieutenant Commander Hubert Marsham ..Deadline.. Prime Minister TV film 1983 Phar Lap Lachlan McKinnon1986 Whose Baby? Robert Monahan, K.C. TV film Double Sculls Stuart TV film1987 The Year My Voice Broke Headmaster Hot Ice Harry Romano TV film 1988 The Boardroom Jonathon Hutt TV film 1990 Call Me Mr. Brown Captain Richie 1991 The Private War of Lucinda Smith Colonel Foster TV film1993 Love in Limbo Cyril Williams Frauds Judge Butterfly Island Sergeant Pat Connolly TV film1994 Sirens Bishop of Sydney Muriel's Wedding Priest 1997 Paradise Road Mr. Dickson 2001 The Man Who Sued God Cardinal 2002 Black and White Chief Justice Napier 2003 The Night We Called It a Day Rex Hooper
Television