Vincent Ball(I)
- Actor
With the outbreak of war Vincent left his job with the Australian
General Electric Company and became a pilot with the Australian Air
Force in England. He returned to Australia and his old job in 1945 but
couldn't settle. He tried amateur dramatics but his dialect was a
mixture of Australian, Cockney, due to his stay in London, and Canadian
with having mixed with Canadian forces. To correct his accent he had
elocution lessons which resulted in him marrying his teacher, Doreen,
and them having a daughter, Catherine. With his diction corrected he
wrote letters asking for auditions. One of these was to the Rank
Organisation who replied asking him to call and see them if he was in
the neighbourhood. He got a job as a stoker on a cargo ship but the
journey took six months instead of the expected six weeks. Undaunted
tough he presented himself at Ranks offices where impressed with his
enthusiasm they gave him a job as stand in for Donald Houston in an
underwater fight with an octopus in the film The Blue Lagoon. He then
won a scholarship to RADA from where he went into rep working his way
up to juvenile lead in Rain Before Seven, Barnett's Folly and Nitro. He
got a few bit parts in films before moving into slightly larger parts
in such as A Town Like Alice, Robbery Under Arms,and Danger Within. He
moved back to Australia in the 70's appearing in various TV series and
films such as Breaker Morant, Phar Lap and Muriel's Wedding