Person - John Bluthal
JOHN BLUTHAL (1929- 2018)
John Bluthal was a member of Sydney New Theatre in 1957 and attended NT fundraising activities in 1958.
Born Isaac Bluthal on 12 August 1929 in Poland, he emigrated in 1938 with his family, settling in Melbourne where he studied drama at the University of Melbourne and joined Melbourne NT. In 1949 after attending the Budapest Youth Festival he went to London where he performed at the "Red" Unity Theatre in The Cradle Will Rock and played the lead in Land of the Morning Calm by Nance Macmillan. In 1951 he wrote to Sydney NT asking for support in keeping Unity open.
Travelling back and forth to Australia, John Bluthal worked on local television from The Mavis Bramston Show 1965 to Blue Heelers 2003 and in England with Australian emigré Spike Milligan and on the Carry On series. His best-known character is probably Frank Pickle the bumbling minutes-taker in The Vicar of Dibley.
They may not have been family members, but Judith and Edith Bluthal were new NT members in 1956. In 1983 John Bluthal's daughter Lisa directed a NT Workshop The Human Voice by Cocteau. John Bluthal died on 16 November 2018.
