Phelan also performed in a range of local television series including Homicide, Blue Heelers and Neighbours

This article is more than 10 months old

This article is more than 10 months old

Australian actor Anne Phelan, best known for her role in long-running television series Prisoner – known as Prisoner Cell Block H in the UK – has died at the age of 75.

Phelan has been a well-known face on Australian screens since her television debut in 1968, with recurring roles in popular and acclaimed local series including Homicide, Blue Heelers, Neighbours, and Winners and Losers.

After a role in 70s rural soap opera Bellbird, Phelan got her big break in as Myra Desmond in Prisoner in 1979. She would play the role until 1985.

She went on to make appearances in a wide array of Australia’s most well-known television shows, including Matlock Police, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, and more.

Phelan had a prolific stage career, performing in more than 50 productions with major Australian theatre companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, and Playbox.

In film, Phelan was widely lauded for her performances in the screen adaptations of Ruth Park’s seminal novels, The Harp in the South and Poor Man’s Orange. Phelan received nominations and awards from the Australian Film Institute and the Television Society of Australia’s Penguin awards for her performance as Mumma Darcy.

She featured in a handful of other Australian films, most recently in the Michelle Payne biopic Ride Like a Girl.

Phelan’s agent at BGM, Marea Jablonski, said in statement that Phelan’s health had “only recently” taken “a very sudden turn for the worst”.

“She had an incredible ability to create very true characters,” Jablonski said.

Phelan won a Green Room award for best supporting actress for her turn as Rachael in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Season’s Greetings.

She also won two best actress awards from the Television Society of Australia for her work on Prisoner.

In 2000, Phelan was the recipient of an AFI best actress award for her role in the drama series Something in the Air, alongside Eric Bana and later Vince Colosimo.

Phelan was a long-time member of the performing arts union and in 2016, won the equity lifetime achievement award presented by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

She was also a committed member of Actors for Refugees and supporter of Positive Women, which supports women living with HIV, and received awards for her community activism.

In 2007, Phelan was awarded an Order of Australia for service to the arts and the community.