Gordon McDougall

Gordon Sholto McDougall (born 7 February 1916 – 18 May 1991) was a Scottish-born Australian actor. He trained at the Glasgow Athenaeum (now known as The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

After immigrating to Australia, in 1951 he worked primarily in theatre in numerous productions as both an actor , producer and director, but became best known in TV soap opera Number 96, firstly as amateur inventor Les Whittaker, who was a comedy character opposite Sheila Kennelly, his character perished in the infamous bomb blast storyline, after ratings of the serial plumetted how ever realized that the decision was a mistake, and McDougall was subsequently brought back, albeit as the less successful character of Les's aristocratic brother Andrew Whittaker, the Lord McCraddenow.

Career Theatre and radio McDougall started acting professionally in 1940 working in various facets of the entertainment industry, including radio and stage. He emigrated to Australia in 1951 and started his career on stage over all-in a long career he appeared in more than 50 theatre productions.

These theatre roles included Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Cat Among the Pigeons, Habeas Corpus, musicals 1776 and Promises, Promises. He played in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing for the Nimrod Theatre.

Television McDougall appeared in the ABC adaptation of Hesba Fay Brinsmead's Pastures of the Blue Crane in 1969.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s he had guest roles in Crawford Productions police procedurals Homicide and Division 4 and a regular role in 1972 comedy series A Nice Day at the Office which ran for seven episodes.

McDougall found his widest audience through his role of amateur inventor and hospital orderly Les Whittaker, husband to brassy barmaid Norma (Sheila Kennelly), in hit soap opera Number 96. Comedy characters Les and Norma joined the series early in its 1972–77 run and became very popular and along with most of the show's regular cast, McDougall reprised his role in the 1974 film version of the series.

After a fall in ratings in 1975 Les was killed off in a dramatic revamp of the series: the famous bomb storyline. It had been decided that Les's constant crazy inventions were becoming too silly, and that his death would open up the character of Norma to new romances and other storylines. The Number 96 producers soon realised that killing Les was a mistake, and McDougall was returned to the series in late 1976 as Les's long-lost brother, the aristocratic Lord Andrew McCraddenow. The new character did not work as well as Les had, and six months later both Andrew and Norma were written out of the series during another cast revamp.

Post-96 McDougall appeared in a small role in the film The Fourth Wish starring John Meillon and thriller The Killing of Angel Street and acted in other Australian television films and had guest roles in such drama television series as Chopper Squad, Prisoner and A Country Practice, and a guest part in sitcom Mother and Son.

Filmography (selected)

Film Title Year Role Type Ned Kelly 1970 Tarleton (uncredited) Feature film Chaser 1973 TV movie Is There Anybody There? 1976 Cookson TV movie The Fourth Wish 1976 Policeman Film Born to Run 1977 Horace Weaver TV movie Number 96 1974 Les Whittaker Feature film The Killing of Angel Street 1981 Sir Arthur Wadham Feature film

Television Title Year Role Type Pastures of the Blue Crane 1969 TV miniseriesRiptide 1969 Sgt. Paul Stranes TV series, 1 episode Homicide 1966-70 Max Baker / Rev. Horton / Senior Detective Vince Reilly TV series The Rovers 1970 Ben Ashdown TV series The Long Arm 1970 Stubby TV series Mrs. Finnegan 1970 Supt Johnson TV series Division 4 1969-71 Bruce Clarke / Suttle / Bill Jenkins TV series The Group 1971 James McGregor TV series, 1 episode A Nice Day at the Office 1972 Claude Fogarty TV series, 7 episodes Number 96 1972-77 Les Whittaker / Andrew Whittaker (aka Lord McCradonow) TV series, 133 episodes Rush 1976 Doctor Newton TV series Solo One 1976 Jack Norton TV series The Emigrants 1976 Hostel Manager TV miniseries Murcheson Creek 1976 TV pilot Chopper Squad 1978 Joe TV series Golden Soak 1979 Petersen TV miniseries The Magical World of Disney 1979 Horace Wever TV series, 2 episodes Love Thy Neighbour in Australia 1979 Vicar TV series, 1 episode The Best of Friends 1982 Doctor TV series, 1 episode Prisoner 1982 Dr. Braithwaite TV series, 1 episode Mother and Son 1983 Lionel TV series, 1 episode Winners 1985 Confessor TV series A Country Practice 1983 / 1986 Mr. Bradshaw / Shaun Barnes Snr. TV series Relative Merits 1987 TV miniseries

Personal life and death

McDougall retired from acting in 1987.

He was married to Margaret Mackie and died in Sydney, Australia on 18 May 1991, aged 75.