Roger Ward (born 1936) is an Australian actor who has had a considerable career in film and television,^[1] noted for "tough guy" roles in which he often did his own stunts.^[2]

Biography

Ward was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1936.

His career began at an early age with roles on stage and radio. In his late teens he travelled to Tahiti to begin writing what became the controversial novel and film, The Set. The film was produced in 1970 but the novel was not published until 2011.

He was script editor for Homicide, adapted his novel Reflex into the film Brothers and wrote other documentaries and specials. Ward has featured or starred in over fifteen hundred television shows and more than fifty films with such stars as Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, Richard Harris, Barry Sullivan, Robert Lansing, Ryan O'Neal, Richard Benjamin, Tom Selleck, Paula Prentiss, Peter Graves, Alan Rickman, Steve Railsback, Olivia Hussey and Laura San Giacomo.

In Stone (1974) he played the comedic biker Hooks and in The Man From Hong Kong (1975) he played bumbling Australian policeman Bob Taylor. In The Irishman (1978) he was an Irish mounted policeman, and In Mad Max (1979), he played the police hall captain Fifi. Turkey Shoot (1982) saw him as Ritter the guard from hell, and in The Pirate Movie (1982) he was an all-singing, dancing pirate. In Quigley Down Under (1990) he played Brophy, one of the outlaw gang.

He played popular characters in TV series including long-running character Frank 'Weppo' Smith,^[3] the Shakespeare-spouting garbage collector in Number 96,^[4] a boxer in Boys from the Bush and also appeared in The Sullivans.

Later independent films in which he was featured include Long Weekend (2008), Bad Behaviour (2010), the remake of Turkey Shoot (2014), Boar (2017) and The Faceless Man (2018).

He was engaged to appear in another film in 2019.^[5]

Filmography

Film

Television

Accolades

Ward won Best Supporting Actor at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his role in Bad Behaviour.