Ian Turpie


Ian Bruce Turpie, sometimes referred to as Turps, was an Australian performer, actor, pop singer and presenter. He was the host of the teen pop music TV show, The Go!! Show and various TV game shows, The [Price Is Right (Australian game show)|The Price Is Right], and Supermarket Sweep. As a TV actor he portrayed Keith Warne on Swift and Shift Couriers and Wazza and Narrator in Housos. He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2011 and died the following year, aged 68.

Early life

Ian Bruce Turpie was born on 6 November 1943 at Ferntree Gully's Bush Nursing Hospital to Don Turpie, a shipping clerk and Joyce and grew up with six siblings. He attended nearby Boronia State School, where he performed gymnastics and school plays. His first starring role, in a school play, was as the titular character in Toad of Toad Hall, at the local Progress Hall, in August 1954. He began his entertainment career at the age of 10, when he was accepted at the Hector Crawford Drama School. For secondary education he attended a technical high school.

Career

Turpie also gained recognition as a juvenile actor working in radio. He appeared in radio programmes alongside Robert Helpmann and June Bronhill, and in the Crawford radio series, D24, which was recorded at the 3DB studios in Melbourne and broadcast nationally over the Major Broadcasting Network.
During his teens, Turpie began his music career and focused on playing guitar, songwriting and singing. By the age of 16, he was a seasoned radio and stage performer, touring Australia in Peter Pan, Auntie Mame and Bye Bye Birdie, and appearing in several National Theatre productions including Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Television

Turpie played a radical student, who is shot dead in a bank robbery, in the opening scene of the debut episode of Crawford Productions' police procedural TV series, Homicide. He had made his TV debut in May of that year in a guest role in the episode, "Queen Versus Wilson" of the courtroom drama Consider Your Verdict.
Turpie performed on Bandstand, Time for Terry and The Graham Kennedy Show during the early 1960s. He replaced Johnny O'Keefe for a stint as national host on TV pop music show, Sing, Sing, Sing. He was an early boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John, with whom he appeared in a 1965 Australian musical telemovie, Funny Things Happen Down Under, which was Newton-John's debut performance. He was chosen to host the teenage variety show The Go!! Show from mid-1965 until the end of 1966.
In the 1970s, Turpie moved to Sydney to work the club circuit, and he continued to make guest appearances on numerous television shows, including The Mike Walsh Show, The Bert Newton Show, A Guy Called Athol, and the ABC variety series Follies. In the following decade, Turpie became a nationwide figure as host of the game show The New Price Is Right. This was followed by two other game shows, Press Your Luck and Supermarket Sweep.
Turpie developed cult status following a four-year stint as Club President on Roy & HG's Club Buggery and its sequel, The Channel Nine Show. Known as the Giant of the G Chord, he performed renditions of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and, complete with suspenders, The Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Time Warp". Less serious Club Buggery appearances in sketches, "Turps About the House", "Captain Ajax" and "Sam Stain", showcased his comedic talents, as did a semi-regular role as cabaret-style singer Rolan Fields in drama series Always Greener. From 2000 he acted in the TV comedy series Pizza and had a lead role in Housos as Wazza Jones, who was also the program's narrator. He portrayed depot manager Keith Warne in Swift & Shift Couriers seasons one and two.

Personal life

Ian Turpie was the boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John for about five years from his nineteenth birthday. He provided guitar when Newton-John auditioned for Johnny O'Keefe's Sing, Sing, Sings talent quest in September 1964, which she won. Newton-John returned to England in 1966. They agreed not to date others unless they had been separated for more than three months; Newton-John remained in England for longer. By the time Newton-John briefly returned from England for a visit, Turpie was dating his future wife, Jan. Turpie married Jan Hamilton, a model, in 1968, and the couple had three children. Due to Turpie's career, the family relocated to Sydney in 1974.
In 2004, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission took legal action against Turpie for misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of the Trade Practices Act. The ACCC alleged that Turpie had made false claims in advertisements for an erectile dysfunction treatment spray from the Australian Medical Institute.
In 2005, Turpie pleaded guilty to drink driving after driving in Manly, New South Wales, with a blood alcohol level of 0.08. He was fined $867 and had his driver's licence suspended for six months; however, this was overturned on appeal. After taking into account Turpie's charity work and his need to drive to work, Judge Reg Blanch ordered that no conviction be recorded. Turpie told reporters he was sorry for doing a "stupid thing".

Death

On 18 February 2011, it was announced that Turpie, a heavy smoker, had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He died on 11 March 2012, aged 68. When The Price is Right debuted its reboot in 2012, host Larry Emdur dedicated the first episode in memory of Turpie.

Discography

Albums

TitleAlbum details
Turps Is The Talk of the Town
  • Released: 1996
  • Label: ABC Music
  • Formats: CD

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by Australian Recording Industry Association, which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the music of Australia. They commenced in 1987.
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Mo Awards

The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards, were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Ian Turpie won one award in that time.

Filmography

TV

Acting

Host regular

Guest appearances

  • The Young Entertainers
  • This is your Life
  • Love is in the Air
  • Long Way to the Top
  • All the Way
  • Theatre Royal
  • Revue 7
  • TeenTime
  • Kommotion
  • Bandstand
  • Steve Vizard Tonight
  • Bert Newton Show
  • Blankety Blanks
  • Family Feud
  • The Fat
  • Mike Walsh Show
  • Don Lane Show
  • Hey Hey It's Saturday
  • Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
  • Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
  • Penthouse Club
  • Bandstand
  • A Guy Called Athol
  • ABC Follies
  • The Melbourne Show
  • Supermarket Sweep
  • Spicks and Specks
  • ''We'll Call You''

Theatre

Credits:

Radio

Charity work

Turpie was involved with the following charities: Australia Day ambassador, Make a Wish Foundation, Merry Makers, Sunnyfield Association, Meningococcal Association, Children with Cancer, Lifeforce, Sydney Children's Hospital, Alzheimer's Australia NSW and Rotary Club.