Henry Murdoch

Henry Murdoch (17 September, 1920 - 24 April, 1987), born as George Henry Murdock, was an Australian aboriginal actor and stockman who appeared in Australian films of the 1940s and 1950s. He was working as stockman in Rockhampton when discovered by Ralph Smart, who was helping make The Overlanders (1946). The film's director, Harry Watt, later claimed Murdoch and fellow aboriginal actor Clyde Combo "proved to be first-class actors and were exceedingly quick witted and intelligent. They certainly disproved the conventional idea that the Australian aboriginal is an animalistic caveman."

Murdoch thought that was the end of his acting career, but he was called back to make several films by visiting companies in Australia. "I'd like to be a full-time actor and a part-time stockman", he said in 1949. "Film work's good—if there's enough of it." He later made two films for Lee Robinson.

Chips Rafferty claimed Murdoch carried a volume of Shakespeare with him.

Select Credits

• The Overlanders (1946)
• Eureka Stockade (1949)
• Bitter Springs (1950)
• Kangaroo (1952)
• The Phantom Stockman (1953)
• The Shiralee (1957)
• Dust in the Sun (1958)
• Whiplash (1961) (TV series)

External links

• Henry Murdoch at the Internet Movie Database
• Henry Murdoch at Australian Dictionary of Biography