Period drama The King is the story of Graham Kennedy, Australia’s first and greatest home grown TV superstar. It traces his rise and rise, from working class Balaclava kid through radio, TV, film, and back to TV again. But against this backdrop of professional success it also tracks Kennedy’s personal tragedies – the loneliness, the unrealised ambitions and the terrible pressures of being Australia’s first homegrown superstar in the 1950s and 60s.
But The King is not just about a man – it’s also the story of the birth of television, a cultural phenomenon that has helped define a nation and make us who we are today.
classic quote
“..I wouldn’t call myself a comedian and yet I can hear a million people say, say that again…I can communicate sometimes amusingly, I think that’s my field” – Graham Kennedy
production details
UK / TV1-Fremantle-9 Network-Crackerjack Productions / 1×120 minute episode / 2007 (broadcast 20 May on TV1 and 27 August on the 9 Network)
Writers: Jaime Browne, Kris Mrksa / Producer: Jason Stephens / Production Design: Paddy Reardon / Costume Design: Sandi Cichello / Music: Bryony Marks / Cinematography: Leilani Hannah / Producer: Jason Stephens / Director: Matthew Saville
cast
STEPHEN CURRY as Graham Kennedy
LOUIS CORBETT as Graham as a boy
MONICA MAUGHAN as Nanna Scott
SHAUN MICALLEF as Colin Bednall
GARRY McDONALD as Nicky Whita
STEPHEN HALL as Bert Newton
STEVE BISLEY as Harry M Miller
JANE ALLSOP as Noeline Brown
BERNARD CURRY as John Wesley
BETH BUCHANAN as Val Wesley
ANGUS SAMPSON as Ugly Dave Gray
CATHY GODBOLD as Rosemary Margan
LAVERNE McDONNELL as Graham’s Mum
TOM WRIGHT as Alfie Boy
KATE DOHERTY as Princess Panda
LEO TAYLOR as Sir Frank Packer
BEAU BRADY as Tim
DONAL FORDE as Geoff “Corkie” Corke
ROZ HAMMOND as Kathleen Whitta
NICK FARNELL as Norm Spencer
TODD McDONALD as Richard Croft
