Bettina Welch


Bettina Catherine Welch was a New Zealand-born Australia-based actress, primarily in radio and theatre and of the latter in television roles. She was best known for her role in television soap opera Number 96 as Maggie Cameron, a scheming businesswoman and fashion editor.
The series creator and writer David Sale, stated she was the first major bitch on television, long before Alexis Carrington

Early life

Welch was born Wellington, New Zealand as Betty Kathrine in March 1921. to Desmond Welch and Cathrine Jameson, her father worked variously as a clerk, civil servant and farmer, and was a soldier, who during WWI in 1916, served with the British as a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Bettina studied music in London, at the Preparatory Trinity College of Music.

Acting career

Welch started her early career in radio whilst she was a teenager in 1934 in her native New Zealand, and continued her acting career in theatre and radio in 1940, having emigrating to Australia when she arrived in Sydney from New Zealand with her parents aboard the HMT Awatea on holiday. I
n Sydney she won a competition that led to her joining J. C. Williamson's theatre company, and she also began acting on Australian radio. Her training with J. C. Williamson led to a succession of theatre roles with the company. She married Dermot Patrick O'Brien on 20 February 1945 at St Canice's Catholic Church, Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales.
Welch was best known for her long tenure in theatre, when British actor Robert Morley conducted an Australian theatre tour in 1949 she played his young mistress in his co-scripted play Edward, My Son.
Her other stage roles include Australian productions of Harvey with Joe E. Brown, Simon and Laura and The Deep Blue Sea with Googie Withers and John McCallum, the lead role opposite Emrys Jones in Double Image, and a featured role with Sir Robert Helpmann in Nude with Violin by Noël Coward.
Welch appeared as the enchantress Morgan le Fey in J. C. Williamson's production of Camelot in the early 1960s, a role she played for two and a half years. She subsequently took one of the lead roles in four-handed comedy Any Wednesday, appeared in productions of There's A Girl In My Soup, and The Band Wagon. The nurse in Loot, by Joe Orton featured in A Delicate Balance, playing Julia by Edward Albee and took the lead role in a production of Frederick Knott's Wait Until Dark, a role for which she was critically acclaimed.
Welch played in Melbourne and Sydney in Hal Porter's Australian play Eden House. She had a major role in the Sydney Theatre Company's season of the Stephen Sondheim musical, A Little Night Music" at the Sydney Opera House in 1990.

Television roles

Welch started in TV roles from starting from the early 1960s with guest parts in Australian television drama series and she appeared in the Crawford Productions adventure series Hunter, and also played various guest roles in the top-rated Crawford Productions police dramas Homicide and Division 4.
In 1971 Welch appeared in an episode of a situation comedy series called The Group, being cast after the show's writer David Sale, had earlier been impressed by the performance she gave in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation-Artransa Films science fiction children's series Phoenix 5, he promised to write a longer running part for her especially next time.
When Sale created soap opera Number 96 he kept his word, creating especially for her the role of corrupt businesswoman and fashion editor Maggie Cameron, featuring from the show's inception in March 1972, her character emerged as a popular bitch-figure in the top-rated serial. Welch says she partly based her characterisation of Maggie on the Mrs. Robinson character played by Anne Bancroft in film The Graduate. she left the series temporarily the following year to again act on stage opposite Robert Morley, this time in How the Other Half Loves. She returned to the series after that, and also reprised the role in the feature film version in 1974, but by the following year the TV series had suffered a drop in ratings so a bomb storyline was developed as a dramatic way to write out several key characters. The story went to air in September, and Maggie was revealed to have been the person who planted the bomb and her character written out the series by being sent to prison. Welch returned for a guest appearance in 1976 when Maggie's trial was shown, and she appeared in the show's final episode in 1977 where it was explained that Maggie had been released from prison.
Post-Number 96 Welch continued to make appearances in television series, however in small guesting feature roles including Glenview High, The Outsiders, Young Ramsay, and the legal drama Case for the Defence. She had feature parts in television movies and feature films, including Undercover, and guest starred in two episodes of A Country Practice.
Welch died in Australia in 1993, aged 71.

Filmography

FILM
TitleYearRoleType
1974Number 96Maggie CameronFeature film
1983UndercoverDowagerFeature film
1986DepartureLady BracknellFeature film
1991GotchaGrandmotherFilm Short

Television
TitleYearRoleType
1961WhiplashGuest roles: Catha Cameron / Mary DillonTV series, 2 episodes
1962SuspectGuest role: Lady ConstTeleplay
1966HomicideGuest roles: Julie Temple / Maggie GlassonTV series, 2 episodes
1968HunterGuest role: Sheridan YorkTV series, 1 episode
1969;1970Division 4Guest role: Edna ShawTV series, 1 episode
1970Phoenix FiveGuest role: KarellaTV series, 1 episode
1970Division 4Guest role: Irene KempTV series, 1 episode
1971The GroupGuest roleTV series, 1 episode
1972-1976Number 96Regular role: Maggie CameronTV series, 166 episodes
1976Number 96... And They Said It Wouldn't LastHerself / Maggie CameronTV special
1977Maggi Ekhardt ShowHerself - GuestTV series, 1 episode
1977Number 96: The Final EpisodeHerself / Maggie CameronTV series, 1 episode
1977The OutsidersGuest role: Sylvia CanningABC TV series AUSTRALIA/GERMANY, 1 episode
1977Glenview HighGuest role: FionaTV series, 1 episode
1978Young RamsayGuest role: Rhonda ThompsonTV series, 1 episode
1978Case for the DefenceGuest role: Joan LattimerTV series, 1 episode
1979Chopper SquadGuest role: Mrs. DockerTV series, 1 episode
1979SkywaysGuest role: Jasmin LamontTV series, 1 episode
1981...Deadline...Support role: Mrs. AshbyTV film / pilot
1981A Country PracticeGuest role: Mavis CarmodyTV series, 2 episodes
1984BodylineGuest role: Lady Randall RogersTV miniseries, 1 episode
1986Kids 21st Birthday Channel Ten TelethonGuest - Herself with Number 96 cast: Johnny Lockwood, Pat McDonald, Elizabeth Kirkby, Vicki Raymond, Sheila Kennelly, Wendy Blacklock, Harry Michaels, Chard Hayward, Frances Hargreaves & Abigail taped appearance.TV special
1987Butterfly IslandGuest roleTV series, 1 episode
1988The Dirtwater DynastyGuest role: Mrs. Tilly SeymourTV miniseries, 1 episode

Theatre

Welch having worked in her native New Zealand, continuing in her theatrical career after emigrating to Australia
NOTE: Selected early productions PRODUCER is Styled as STAGE DIRECTOR, whilst Director is referred to as operating venue etc.
references attributed to AusStage compiled from Flinders University, Adelaide see here:
ProductionWriter/CompanyYearNo. of Shows.Production statusType/Genre
BiographyIndependent Theatre Company19401non-world premiereTheatre - Spoken Word
Charley's AuntBrandon Thomas - Minerva Theatre by. Whitehall Productions19401professional, non-world premiereComedy Farce - theatre spoken word
It's A GirlAustin Melford / Minerva Theatre for David N,. Martin Pty Ltd. 19401Professional, non-world premiereTheatre - Spoken Word * Comedy - Drama - Musical Theatre
Room for TwoGilbert Wakefield - Minerva Theatre for David N. Martin Pty. Ltd.19401Professional, non-world premiereTheatre Spoken Word - Comedy
Design for LivingNoël Coward/ Minerva Theatre19401non-world premiereTheatre - Spoken Word
Susan and GodRachel Crothers / Minerva Theatre. His Majesty's Theatre1941-19422Professional, non-world premiereTheatre - Comedy
You Can't Take it With YouMoss Hart/George S. Kaufman for J.C Williamson19421non-world premiereTheatre - Spoken Word
The Man Who Came to DinnerMoss Hart/George Kaufman - Presenting Company J.C Williamson Theatres for Whitehall Productions.19421US Text, non-world premiereTheatre Spoken Word - Drama
Reunion in Vienna19431Professional, non-world premiereTheatre Spoken Word - Drama
Robert's WifeSt. John Greer Ervine - Theatre Royal, Adelaide19431Professional, non-world premiere, part of a tourTheatre spoken work British play
My Sister EileenRuth McKenney - His Majestys Theatre, Brisbane19432non-worLd premiereTheatre - Spoken word Comedy/Drama