Alastair Duncan

Alastair Duncan (2 July 1926 – 3 August 2005 At the age of 16, he won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating with a Diploma and the Herbert Tree Shakespeare Award. He performed for several seasons at London's Arts Theatre, before being called upon to join the British Army, which saw him posted to the Middle East, Germany and Austria for a period of three years, during which time he served with the troops entertainment unit, Stars in Battledress.

Career After being demobilised from the army, Duncan worked in radio as a member of the BBC Repertory Company for three years, and performed in several West End productions including Fanny's First Play and The Bread-Winner and played lead roles in several other commercial radio serials. including playing Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to largely (but not exclusively) school student audiences in 1951 and 1952 at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide.

In 1954, Duncan left for the US, where he performed as a regular in Lux Radio Theatre in Los Angeles, acting alongside Tyrone Power and Joan Crawford. For five years he starred in radio in New York, with lead roles in two long-running US national radio serials and the international The CBS Mystery Half Hour. In 1962, he played Captain Robert Robison in ten-part historical miniseries The Patriots. The following year, he presented Time Out, an Australian television series in which actors portrayed Australian historical figures, who were 'interviewed' by Duncan. The series lasted 26 episodes, after which a spin-off Tribunal was produced, from 1963 to 1964. Once again, Duncan hosted, this time interrogating the actions of controversial historical figures (such as Brutus, General Custer, Lizzie Borden and Richard III) as portrayed by actors including Ruth Cracknell and Ron Haddrick.

Duncan was chairman of Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) when its first committee was formed in 1963. For eight years, he managed the venue, helping establish it as a hub for Australian talent, appearing in and directing productions throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1984, Duncan appeared in the AFI Award-winning drama film Annie's Coming Out, alongside Angela Punch McGregor and Bud Tingwell. Later in his career, Duncan also appeared in the long-running television soap opera Home and Away.

Duncan died in 2005, at the age of 79.