Nigel Lovell
Nigel Tasman Lovell was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama.
History
Lovell was born in Sydney, the son of Tasman Lovell, Professor of Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sydney University, living at Honda Road, Neutral Bay.He was educated at "Shore" and studied law at Sydney University, graduating BA in 1938, and was an active member of the Sydney University Dramatic Society under director May Hollinworth.
While with SUDS he was spotted by the director of drama for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Frank Clewlow, who gave him small roles in several radio plays.
Handsome, well-connected and gregarious, his name frequently cropped up in Sydney's social pages.
In 1950 he joined the Metropolitan Theatre, again under Hollinworth, and when she fell ill he took over production.
In 1951 he won a Commonwealth Jubilee Arts Scholarship in Drama, a travelling scholarship awarded by the British Council to study production in England.
He continued acting for the ABC under producers Eric John and Frank Zeppel in the last decade of Australian radio drama, and in several ABC-TV historical plays.
In 1959 Lovell appeared as the main protagonist in the convict-themed Pardon Miss Westcott, which was the first Australian musical written specially for live television. He had a small role in the feature The Restless and the Damned.
He was also a regular in Crawford Productions for commercial TV; notably as the avuncular spy chief on late 60s series Hunter. During the 1970 to 72 seasons of Crawfords' long-running Melbourne police series Homicide, he served as a line producer and television dialog director before it moved completely into being a fully-filmed program. In 1972 he returned to Sydney joining the staff of ABC Radio as a producer of education programmes.
Personal life
Lovell was a brother of Dr. Bruce Tasman Lovell and Guy Tasman Lovell. Former cricketer Geoff Lovell is a nephew.Lovell married Sue Dalton in 1941 and had a daughter Catherine Lovell on 1 January 1947. His wife died of a heart condition later that year.
He married again, to Patricia Anna Parr in 1956, having met through work with Sydney's Metropolitan Theatre. They had two children – Simon Lovell, a helicopter pilot, and Jenny Lovell, an actor known for her role in the television series Prisoner. Patricia Lovell had a significant career in radio and film both before and after their divorce.