Dorothy Crawford

Dorothy Muriel Turner Crawford (21 March 1911 – 2 September 1988), also known as Dorothy Balderson, Dorothy Strong, and Dorothy Smith, was an Australian actress and announcer, as well as a producer in radio and television, who, with her brother Hector Crawford, co-founded the important Australian broadcasting production company Crawford Productions.

Early life Crawford was born on 21 March 1911 at Fitzroy, Melbourne. Her father was a travelling salesperson and her mother was a musician, singer (contralto) and organist. Crawford's younger brother, Hector William Crawford (1913–1991), would also pursue a career in broadcasting.

Crawford won a scholarship to the Albert Street Conservatorium located in East Melbourne, where she was to study voice and piano.

Career Crawford began to win roles in radio dramas. In 1939 she was cast in the title role in 'Little Audrey', a live comedy series on the radio station 3UZ. Although aged 28, Crawford played the role of a young and naughty child.

In 1954, Dorothy Crawford founded the Crawford TV Workshop, a school aimed at teaching young people skills for developing careers in television, a medium set to be introduced to Australian airwaves in 1956. A 1956 advertisement in The Argus reads:

Television. Wonderful opportunities will be offering for people with ability who are trained and ready to take their place in Television and Radio. The Crawford TV Workshop gives expert tuition in TV Acting, Announcing, Writing, Ballet and Radio Acting in their Television Studio, elaborately equipped with television camera unit, sound stages, movie cameras, projectors, tape recorders &c. Write or Call for a Free Booklet. Crawford TV Workshop. 14 Little Collins Street. Telephone MF4911.

The Crawford TV Workshop ran until 1966.

It was drama for which Crawford Productions was to become best known. Dorothy Crawford was executive producer and involved in the creation and production of significant pieces of Australian television history such as Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, All the Rivers Run, Cop Shop, and The Sullivans.

Personal life She married, in East St. Kilda in 1931, Maxwell James Balderson. They had a son Ian Crawford, who joined Crawford Productions in about 1953 in the music and sound effects department.

The press announced that she married Donald Ingram Smith in 1945, although they were not actually married; they had been close friends since 1942. On 23 December, she married radio producer Roland Denniston Strong, with Congregational forms; they had no children, and divorced some 20 years later in 1968.

Later life, death and legacy Crawford retired in 1978.

Crawford died on 2 September 1988 at Camberwell, Melbourne.