|
Rowena Wallace speelt Mary Casey "Scary Mary"
in Neighbours (april 2007)
scroll naar beneden voor meer info
Rowena Wallace is geboren op 23 augustus 1948 in Coventry, Warwickshire, UK. Na haar rol als 'Pat de rat' in sons and
Daughters speelde ze nog vele rollen in series en films. Privé verging het haar niet zo best!
In juli 2005 ontsnapte Rowena Wallace op het nippertje aan
een gevangenisstraf wegens fraude. Lees hieronder (korte vertaling onderaan Engelse tekst):
Pat the Rat might become Pat The Rap with Gold Logie winner Rowena Wallace facing a possible jail term after
being charged with multiple counts of social security fraud.
Wallace, best known as the nefarious Pat the Rat in the television
soap Sons and Daughters, has been charged with defrauding Centrelink and dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage.
According
to the statement of facts tendered to Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court, Wallace allegedly obtained payments from Centrelink
in the form of a disability pension while in receipt of income from the Seven Network and Channel Ten's Good Morning Australia
between November 9 and December 21, 1999.
She has also been charged with obtaining fares allowances she was not entitled
to and obtaining payment from a disability pension between February 15 and March 14, 2000 — while earning income from
Beauty and the Beast and the Seven Network.
The offences carry a 12-month jail term, a fine, or both.
It is believed
that 57-year-old Wallace has repaid Centrelink $26,000.
Wallace, who won a Gold Logie in 1985 for her role as superbitch
Patricia Hamilton, has been battling depression and ill health in recent years, culminating in a suicide attempt in 1996.
Earlier
this year her frank acknowledgement of her struggle with depression and revelations about her addiction to pain-killers and
alcohol — due to the debilitating spinal condition scoliosis, helped make Channel Nine's Celebrity Overhaul a ratings
winner.
Along with Wallace, former Big Brother winner Trevor Butler, cricketer Merv Hughes and soap stars Peter Phelps
and Melissa Bell collectively shed 73 kilograms.
"Depression is a difficult thing to understand for people who aren't going
through it," she told the Herald Sun in February. "It is like someone is winding string around you and you can't move," she
said.
"Your mind doesn't seem to belong to you. I would cut myself off completely, terrified of leaving the house. I wouldn't
go out, even if I needed food."
Wallace said at the conclusion of Celebrity Overhaul that she had entered a new stage of
her life. "I'm feeling I have a lot to look forward to," she said.
Wallace, who is yet to enter a plea, was not in court
yesterday. The matter is due back in court next month.
Rowena Wallace escapes jail
FORMER Australian soap star Rowena
Wallace has escaped a jail sentence after pleading guilty to welfare fraud worth $30,000.
Wallace, 58, better known as Pat The Rat in the TV soapie Sons and Daughters, was given a six-month suspended
jail sentence and placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.
Magistrate Margaret Quinn sentenced Wallace over 20 charges of defrauding the Commonwealth
in the Downing Centre Local Court today.
Vertaling:
Rowena
Wallace werd beschuldigd van steunfraude (onterecht ontvangen van overheidsgeld) in 2005. Half de jaren ’90 vocht ze
tegen depressies en deed in 1996 zelfs een zelfmoordpoging. Rugproblemen (scoliosis), pijnstillers en drank, … ze kwam
er allemaal eerlijk voor uit op TV en werd in Australië opnieuw een heldin! Ze is veroordeeld voor de fraude en kreeg een
gevangenisstraf van 6 maanden met uitstel.
(klik op de foto voor een groter formaat)
Rowena Wallace speelt Mary Casey "Scary Mary"
in Neighbours (april 2007)
Rowena Wallace arriveert in 2007 in Ramsay Street
De Australische
soap Neighbours verwelkomt in 2007 een nieuw personage dat door niemand minder dan Rowena Wallace zal gespeeld worden.
Oudere
tv-kijkers zullen Rowena zeker nog kennen, want zij speelde Patricia in Sons&Daughters, de soap die onlangs (voor een
deel) werd heruitgezonden door VIJFtv.
Wallace, inmiddels 59, raakte recent nog in opspraak in Australië en ontsnapte
daarbij op het nippertje aan een gevangenisstraf. Het bleek dat de actrice steunfraude had gepleegd (onterecht ontvangen van
overheidsgeld).
Wallace besloot toen de feiten aan het licht kwamen het geld meteen terug te betalen. Het ging om 26.000
Dollar. Hierdoor moest ze niet naar de cel, maar kreeg ze nog wel zes maanden met uitstel.
Ook in de jaren daarvoor
verging het Wallace slecht. Ze was manisch depressief en wou meerdere malen een eind aan haar leven maken.
|
Mary Casey |
|
|
|
First appearance |
April 10, 2007
Episode
5187 |
|
Information |
|
Nickname(s) |
Scary Mary |
|
Gender |
Female |
|
Age |
50-60 |
|
Date of birth |
ca. 1950 |
|
Occupation |
Retired |
|
Children |
Kevin Casey (son) |
|
Portrayed by |
Rowena Wallace |
SHE was Pat The Rat in Sons And Daughters, played June Reynolds in Home And Away and
has appeared in dozens of other Australian programs including Water Rats, A Country Practice and Prisoner.
Now Rowena Wallace is to become "Scary Mary" on Neighbours, a deceptively nice older woman whose
role is set to turn Ramsay St on its head.
Her path will cross with the life of Pepper, played by newcomer Nicky Whelan, turning the chirpy character
into a mess of nerves.
"Pepper's about to go through some pretty serious things in her life," Whelan says. "It's going to be hectic
and scary and she's going to go through more turmoil than most people experience in their lives. Her home is being broken
into by what she thinks is a stalker who leaves weird presents behind, and she thinks it's her ex-boyfriend Kevin."
That would be the son of Wallace's character Mary Casey. Mary is a mysterious character known to most in Ramsay
St, but not seen on screen before, and previously unknown to viewers.
Wallace and Whelan won't give away much more about the three-month story, but it's clear it's part of an ongoing
process to rejuvenate the 21-year-old soap with more explosive characters, plotlines and production values.
Wallace, who re-located to Melbourne from Sydney two years ago, loved being back on a five-night-a-week soap
playing Mary, who also seriously messes with Harold Bishop's world.
"I had three months filming on Neighbours which was great and I thoroughly enjoyed what is a fantastic
role," she says.
"She's not an evil character, but she certainly throws a spanner into Ramsay St and she's not quite who she
appears to be.
"Something has happened in her past that she's been living with, but it has gotten to her and when we see
her, things are starting to go on in her mind that aren't quite right.
"Something happens that leads her do some things that are quite appalling, but I'm honestly not allowed to
say much more.
"But it was wonderful - it was like getting back on the bike and it felt like being home again."
Former model Whelan, who only began acting last June, says working with the veteran made her realise what
she could one day be. "Working with Rowena was sensational and brilliant," she says. "I've only just started out and after
watching her I really know how a pro works now."
Wallace, who turns 60 later this year, first appeared on screen in 1967. She says hers has been a satisfying
life, but also one with some recent turbulence.
In 2005 she was found guilty of defrauding Centrelink in a high-profile case attracting wide coverage. It
was a hard time and it left some deep scars.
"I stood in a courtroom and I wanted to die," she says of the experience. "It was the worst feeling of my
life and I wanted to run away and hide from everyone, but I couldn't - I had to face everyone, face what I'd done, face my
friends and also face the public. A criminal record is not the sort of record I wanted to have. I feel like I'm marked by
it, and stained as a soul."
She will detail the experience in her autobiography, which she's been writing for a year. "I've been very
busy writing, which is a lonely thing to do. It has taken a lot longer than I thought and, just as writers always tell you,
it's a lot harder than I thought.
"I'm reliving my life again and it's a strange feeling doing that and putting it down on paper."
Producers have told Wallace the role on Neighbours may be a recurring one - depending on how her
character is received by viewers. Whelan, for one, would love to see her back. "She is able to go in and out of character
in a flash, and you learn so much working with someone who knows so much more about the craft than you do," she says.
|
