Judi Farr AM
Born	Judith Mary Stuart Farr (1938-10-05)5 October 1938 Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Died	30 June 2023(2023-06-30) (aged 84)
Other name	Judy Farr
Occupations	Actress, director[1]
Years active	1956-[1]–2020[1]
Television	A Place to Call Home Please Like Me Grass Roots Kingswood Country

Judith Mary Stuart Farr^[2] AM (5 October 1938 – 30 June 2023), also credited as Judy Farr,^[1] was an Australian actress of theatre, film and television, with a career spanning some seven decades, she was best known locally for several situation comedy roles starting from the early 1960's to the early 1980's, in the early days of Australian television

She later had small roles in the internationally successful drama series Please Like Me (2013) A Place to Call Home (2013-2015)

Farr also appeared in Australian films such as Walking on Water, for which she won an AFI award and December Boys^[3]

Early life

Farr was born in Cairns, Queensland in 1938, and was the first born child of Phyllis and Herbert 'Bert' Farr. Her father's death in Borneo during World War 2 prompted her mother to move the family to Bondi, Sydney, where Judi and her brother Michael, grew up by the beach in their grandmother’s unit.

At the age of nine Farr won an elocution competition, reciting William Shakespeare at Sydney Town Hall. She studied ballet for 10 years, quitting in her teen years. She attended Holy Cross School in Woollahra.

Farr enrolled in drama school for 3 months and soon after, joined The Colony Players, an amateur Sydney theatre group, and acted in satirical revues at the Phillip Street Theatre. At age 19, she had her lucky break at the Genesian Theatre in The Skin of Our Teeth.^[4]

Career

Honours & awards

Farr was awarded the 1992 Theatre Critics Award for her stage role in Women of Troy and was the winner of the 2002 AFI Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2002 film Walking on Water.

She received a 2016 Sydney Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

Farr was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the performing arts as an actor" in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours.^[6]

Personal life

In 1963, Farr married Derry Macgillicuddy, after meeting him while performing together in a Genesian Theatre production. The couple had three children – Sean, Sarah and Bridie.^[4]

Illness & death

Farr retired from the industry in 2015, after a cancer battle. She had been diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma in her parotid gland, during her time working on the A Place to Call Home. The operation to remove it resulted in unilateral facial disfigurement, which was cause for several reconstructive surgeries. Judi had a stroke in 2016.^[7]

Farr died of respiratory failure on 30 June 2023 after a long illness, at the age of 84.^[2][8][4]

Filmography

Theatre

References

External links

• Judi Farr at IMDb
• Judi Farr discography at Discogs