Michael Gurr (29 October 1961 – 2 May 2017) was an Australian actor, playwright, author, speech writer and screenwriter.

Early life

Gurr was born in East Malvern, in Melbourne where his father was a kidney doctor at the Alfred Hospital and his mother was a nurse. His first published work was a fictional poem at age 10, from the point of view of a paraplegic, which unintentionally earned him a donation from a Herald Sun reader.^[1] He was the second of five children.^[2]

Career

Gurr studied at National Theatre Drama School (NTDS) in St Kilda, Victoria, and while there wrote a number of short plays which were sent to Ray Lawler, then Literary Advisor to the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC). In 1982 Gurr was invited to be Writer in Residence at the MTC and it was there that his first plays were produced.^[3]

His best-known plays include Crazy Brave and Sex Diary of an Infidel.

He worked as a speechwriter for a number of years for John Brumby and Steve Bracks, both of whom became Labor Premiers of Victoria.^[4][5]

He died on 2 May 2017. He is survived by his four siblings and his partner Brandon Hardie Jones.^[2][6]