From Cop Shop to I Can Jump Puddles, Dobson had a hand in many old classics
Kevin James Dobson had a directorial hand in some of Australia’s seminal television programs, from Cop Shop and Matlock Police to Rafferty’s Rules, A Country Practice and I Can Jump Puddles.
Dobson, the Australian film and television director whose work spanned continents and decades, died on February 21 in Lilydale, Victoria. He was 73.
Born in Manchester, England, in 1952 to Irishman John and his English wife, Margaret, he emigrated as a “ten pound Pom” with his family to Melbourne when he was 14.
Starting out as a teen in the sound then cutting rooms at Crawford Productions, Dobson learned his craft as an editor before directing at the age of 21 his first TV episode: Matlock Police in 1974.
In Australia, he helped shape a formative era of film and television drama in the late 1970s and ’80s, directing projects such as The Mango Tree (1977), Gone to Ground (1978), The Last Outlaw (1980), I Can Jump Puddles (1981) and Squizzy Taylor (1982), for which he won an AFI for best direction. He won a Penguin Award for his work on Young Ramsay (1980).
In a remarkable twist of fate he directed the very last episode of Homicide in 1976, the iconic TV show he used to watch with his mum when he was a boy in England.
Dobson went on to direct the mini-series Return to Eden (1986), Tanamera: Lion of Singapore (1989) and Disney series Five Mile Creek (1983), along with other popular shows across the commercial networks and the ABC.
Dobson’s career later took him and his family to Los Angeles for more than 20 years, where he directed the feature Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) and worked on international projects such as Miracle in the Wilderness (1991), Acapulco H.E.A.T. (1993), The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years (1996) and Ponderosa (2001).
Across these and other productions he collaborated with many leading actors, among them Nicole Kidman, Abby Cornish, Minnie Driver, Kim Cattrall, Christina Ricci, Ali MacGraw and Kris Kristofferson. He also worked with a long list of Australian stars including Jacki Weaver, Michael Caton, Jack Thompson, John Jarrett and Sigrid Thornton.
He produced and directed feature films such as The Virgin of Juarez (2006) and Savages Crossing (2010).
His former wife, Susie, said behind the professional achievements was a man deeply loyal to the people he loved and he was respected and adored by actors and crews alike.
“Kevin was a devoted father, a protective and caring brother, and a generous friend and mentor to many in the industry. He was a brilliant, complex, larger than life character, quick with a dry joke and big laugh, happiest in spirited conversation, and fiercely proud of those closest to him,” she said.
Kevin is survived by his and Susie’s sons, Harry and Jonathan; his siblings, Chris, Margie, Irene, Jacqui and Michael and their partners; nieces and nephews; and an army of friends and colleagues.
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