Ian Bruce Turpie (6 November 1943 – 11 March 2012), sometimes referred to as Turps, was an Australian performer, actor (theatre, television, film), pop singer and presenter (television, radio). He was the host of the teen pop music TV show, The Go!! Show (1965–66) and various TV game shows, The Price Is Right (1981–1985, 1989), and Supermarket Sweep (1992–1994). As a TV actor he portrayed Keith Warne on Swift and Shift Couriers (2008, 2011) and Wazza and Narrator in Housos (2011). He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2011 and died the following year, aged 68.
Career
Early life
Ian Bruce Turpie was born on 6 November 1943 at Ferntree Gully's Bush Nursing Hospital to Don Turpie (1911–1990), a shipping clerk and Joyce (née Olson, 1917–1999) and grew up with six siblings.[1][2][3] He attended nearby Boronia State School, where he performed gymnastics and school plays.[4] 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.[5] He began his entertainment career at the age of 10, when he was accepted at the Hector Crawford Drama School.[6] For secondary education he attended a technical high school.[1]
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,[6][7] 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 (1957), Auntie Mame (1959) and Bye Bye Birdie (1961), and appearing in several National Theatre productions including Shakespeare's Macbeth.[6][7]
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 (October 1964).[8] 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.[9]
Turpie developed cult status following a four-year stint as Club President on Roy & HG's Club Buggery (1995–1997) and its sequel, The Channel Nine Show (1998). 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 (2001–03). From 2000 he acted in the TV comedy series Pizza and had a lead role in Housos (2011) as Wazza Jones, who was also the program's narrator. He portrayed depot manager Keith Warne in Swift & Shift Couriers seasons one (2008) and two (2011).
Personal life
Ian Turpie was the boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John for about five years from his nineteenth birthday.[10] He provided guitar when Newton-John auditioned for Johnny O'Keefe's Sing, Sing, Sing's talent quest in September 1964, which she won.[11] Newton-John returned to England in 1966.[10] They agreed not to date others unless they had been separated for more than three months; Newton-John remained in England for longer.[10] By the time Newton-John briefly returned from England for a visit, Turpie was dating his future wife, Jan.[10] Turpie married Jan Hamilton, a model, in 1968, and the couple had three children.[1] Due to Turpie's career, the family relocated to Sydney in 1974.[1]
In 2004, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) 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 (that he was losing his sexual potency) in advertisements for an erectile dysfunction treatment spray from the Australian Medical Institute.[12][13][14]
In 2005, Turpie pleaded guilty to drink driving after driving in Manly, New South Wales, with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 (the legal limit in the state is 0.05). 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".[15]
Death
On 18 February 2011, it was announced that Turpie, a heavy smoker, had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.[1][16] He died on 11 March 2012, aged 68.[17] When The Price is Right debuted its reboot in 2012, host Larry Emdur dedicated the first episode in memory of Turpie.
Discography
Albums
List of albums
Title
Album details
Turps Is The Talk of the Town
Released: 1996
Label: ABC Music (4898562)
Formats: CD
Awards and nominations
Penguin Award, Best Light Entertainment, The New Price Is Right (1985)
Logie Award, Most Popular Western Australia Show, Turpie Tonight (1983)
Penguin Award, Best Light Entertainment, The New Price Is Right (1982)
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the 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.[19][20]
Turpie was involved with the following charities: Australia Day ambassador (since 1995), Make a Wish Foundation, Merry Makers, Sunnyfield Association, Meningococcal Association, Children with Cancer, Lifeforce, Sydney Children's Hospital (Celebrity Golf Days), Alzheimer's Australia NSW and Rotary Club.
^"Boronia Methodist Gymnasium Display". Mountain District Free Press. Vol. 8, no. 375. Victoria. 12 November 1953. p. 5. Retrieved 9 August 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Boronia School Presents Toad of Toad Hall". Fern Tree Gully and District Times. Vol. 2, no. 66. 26 August 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 9 August 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^Storey, Don; Keating, Chris (2013). "Consider Your Verdict Episodes". Classic Australian Television. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
Murphy, Jim (18 November 1981). "Ian Turpie My love for Olivia!". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 49, no. 24. p. 178. Retrieved 9 August 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
