Judy Lynne
Judy Lynne, is an Australian former actress, journalist and reporter, who became prominent for her role as Dr. Susan Richards in the TV soap opera The Young Doctors, after leaving the acting profession in 1986, she subsequently became a hot air balloonist and businesswomen until retiring in 2007.
Early life
Lynne was born in Gary, Indiana, U.S. and trained at Northwestern University, Illinois from 1961 to 1965, studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in drama and minoring in journalism. She moved to Australia in 1971.Career
Acting
From 1971, Lynne worked in Sydney, as a journalist and television reporter for A [Current Affair (Australian TV program)|A Current Affair], and as a Nine News Sydney weather presenter, while taking on television guest roles – before eventually turning to acting full time.Lynne has had roles in numerous TV serials including Number 96, Spyforce, Ryan, Boney and Alvin Purple. She is best known however, for her role in television serial The Young Doctors as Dr. Susan Richards, from 1977 to 1980.
Lynne also worked in theatre, and briefly as wardrobe mistress.
She left her television career in 1983, to become a commercial hot air balloon pilot, although she returned for an episode of Return to Eden in 1986.
Hot air ballooning
In 1975, as a journalist, Lynne interviewed a hot air balloonist, who was one of only four in Australia at the time. This piqued her interest in the sport, leading her to become a pilot herself. In 1980, she formed a business partnership with world champion balloonist, Peter Vizzard, starting the company, Balloon Aloft Australia in the Hunter Valley, operating commercial passenger rides, using them for advertising, and staging balloon festivals.Lynne won the National Hot Air Balloon Championships in 1985 and went on to represent Australia in the 1985 World [Hot Air Ballooning Championships] in Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S. the same year, competing against Vizzard. She retired from commercial ballooning in 2007.