Tony Morphett
Anthony David Morphett (10 March 1938 – 2 June 2018) was an Australian screenwriter, who created or co-created many Australian television series, including Dynasty, Certain Women, Sky Trackers, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Above the Law and Rain Shadow. Morphett wrote eight novels, and wrote or co-wrote seven feature films, ten telemovies, twelve mini-series, and hundreds of episodes of television drama, as well as devising or co-devising seven TV series. He won 14 industry awards for TV screenwriting.
Morphett started as a copy-boy and cadet reporter for The Daily Telegraph in 1956.
He moved to the ABC in 1957 where he worked in the ABC Talks Department for 10 years, presenting The Lively Arts and Spectrum. While at the ABC he published his first novels. The second of these, Fitzgerald, was withdrawn on publication in 1965: the reason given by publishers Jacaranda was that its protagonist, an artist, had the same name as a living artist, Paul Fitzgerald.
Morphett's first drama credit was Objector for Australian Playhouse.
He left the ABC in 1968 to become a freelance writer, writing primarily for TV and film. His third novel, Thorskald (1969) was also about an artist, though Morphett referred to them in 1969 as separate works.
Morphett was on the literature board of the Australia Council for four years from 1977–1981, and the board of the Australian Children's Television Foundation for eight years from 1985–1994. From 2003, he was a board member of the Australian Writers' Foundation, and occasionally served on the committee of the Australian Writers' Guild.
Career highlights include writing the scripts for the feature films The Shiralee, The Last Wave and Robbery Under Arms, and creating the television series Blue Heelers, Water Rats and Certain Women.
Two marriages:
Morphett and Inga Hunter lived together in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, with a number of cats.
Morphett was the younger brother of Margaret Chandler (nee Morphett). Her death at Lane Cove on 1 January 1963 whilst in the company of Dr Gilbert Bogle (also deceased) remains an unsolved mystery popularly referred to as the Bogle–Chandler case.
In 2007 following a bout of influenza, Morphett suffered heart failure. This left his heart in a weakened state, which eventually led to his death.
On 2 June 2018, after a brief period of hospitalisation, he died at Katoomba Hospital from heart failure. He was with family as he died.