Ruth Cracknell is one of Australia’s finest actors. From her performances as the much loved Maggie in “Mother and Son” to classic and contemporary drama, Ruth has brought a strength and style which has made her a role model for others.
Ruth was born in 1925 in the New South Wales country town of Maitland – the second daughter of bakery owners Charles and Winifred Cracknell.
“My mother was a great influence on my life. Perhaps the most important person in my life really… she had the ability to act, she was a great entertainer, and when any of my friends came home for dinner she would automatically and very naturally entertain them.”
When Ruth was four her father sold the bakery. They moved to Sydney and for a time lived with Ruth’s aunts. These aunts (of whom she had seven who were not married), were wonderful characters and were all individual and Ruth says she just loved being with them and was very much influenced by them.
Ruth completed her schooling at North Sydney Girls High School and started work as a clerk with Kuringgai Council. Then at seventeen years of age, a friend took her to see a play.
“When I went up the steps of that theatre – it had a musty smell and red plush curtains that were very dusty – I knew with an absolute blazing vision that that was what I wanted to do.”
Without hesitation, Ruth joined the Modern Theatre Players drama school and for the next four years, spent most of her time learning mime, movement and voice production. She was in heaven.
By the time she was aged twenty-one, Ruth was performing five episodes of radio plays each week and during the evening she performed with the Independent Theatre and was soon playing major roles. On-stage Ruth felt content.
“The minute I get onto that stage I know I belong there. It is like my space. I can’t explain it any more than that except that when the audience arrives it is a fait d’accompli.
Ruth’s height meant romantic roles were out of the question, so instead she was often cast in interesting character roles and comedy which became her speciality.
At the age of twenty-seven Ruth set off to travel and try her luck in London and luxuriated in the excitement of new ideas, art and theatre.
She returned to Australia two years later ready to make her mark on Australian theatre.
In 1957 she married theatre and art lover Eric Phillips. In those days most women gave up their job when they had children but Ruth loved acting too much and was never one to yield to public opinion. When their three children were born she worked hard to balance her family and career.
What is a housewife – is it someone who’s married to a house? The term irritates me you know, housewife – you’re a person!
During her fifty year career Ruth appeared in over ninety stage, screen and television performances, and she still treats every part as a learning experience.
“One of the challenges is coming to terms with, and getting on top of your fears. We all constantly battle fear. Then you come to realise that there is nothing really to fear. That knowledge helped me immensely each time I went to step onto the stage.”
Ruth acted for most of the major Australian theatre companies, including the Sydney Theatre Company. As well as other stage roles, she appeared in the stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell. The production was so popular that it was an “ongoing” stage production from 1988 to 1992 and was televised by the ABC. She was also Patron of the Australian Theatre for Young People.
In 2000 Ruth published her memoir Journey from Venice, which related how she and her husband Eric Phillips were visiting Venice when he had a paralysing stroke. She did not speak a word of Italian but she had to organise medical treatment for him and have him returned to Australia in the face of significant obstacles. He later died in a Sydney hospital. Ruth died of a respiratory illness in a Sydney nursing home on 13 May 2002, aged 76.
