Coral Drouyn | |
|---|---|
| Born | Coral O'Neill 1945 (age 78–79) Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Other names | Coral Kelly |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1949,[1] 1960s-2009 (Actress, singer and screenwriter), 2009-present (theatre critic) |
Coral Drouyn née O'Neill, (born in Doncaster, England in 1945),[1] also billed as Coral Kelly, is an English Australian actress, singer and screenwriter/story editor best known for her work in television, including Prisoner, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Pacific Drive and Home and Away
Biography
Drouyn was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, to Terry O'Neill, an actor and son of an Irish tenor, and Peggy Haig, an actress. Her maternal uncle was the British actor Jack Haig and her maternal grandparents were Charles Coppin and Bertha Baker, both of whom were music hall performers billed as "Haig and Esco". Drouyn emigrated to Australia in the 1960s, where she wrote comedy for her father's Melbourne-based program "Time for Terry" and worked as a singer, while writing material for theatre restaurants.[1]
At the age of four, she appeared in an uncredited role as "Precocious Child in ''I Was a Male War Bride''.[1] During her acting career, when she was often billed as Coral Kelly[1],she featured in the ill-fated TV soap opera Arcade as health studio receptionist Consuela McPhee.
Retiring from acting, Drouyn began writing for television, working as a scriptwriter for Grundy Productions series such as The Restless Years, Prisoner and Neighbours. During her time on Prisoner, Drouyn worked her way up from freelance writer to in-house story editor, creating characters and stories before leaving the series prior to its 600th episode.
Drouyn subsequently was involved in the creation of serial Pacific Drive before performing story editor duties on Blue Heelers and Home and Away.
Her book 'Big Screen, Small Screen', detailing the craft skills involved in screen-writing, was published in 1994.
Drouyn now works as a theatre critic.[2]
In 2022 Drouyn gave extensive interviews with podcast series 'Talking Prisoner' where she delved deep into her time writing and working on Prisoner.
Select credits
| Title | Year | Work |
| Neighbours (TV series) | 1985 | Written by episode #1.62 |
| Prisoner (also known as Prisoner Cell Block H) | 1980-1985 | Storyline 196 episodes, Story Editor 138 episodes, Written by 63 episodes |
| The Local Rag (TV movie) | 1986 | Written by |
| The Gerry Connelly Show | 1988 | Written by |
| Pacific Drive (TV series) | 1996-1997 | 388 episodes |
| Chuck Finn (TV series) | 1999 | Written by - episode Visitor from the Outer Weft |
| Change of Heart | 1999 | Written by |
| Blue Heelers (TV series) | 2000 | Written by - 2 episodes |
| Wild Kat (TV series) | 2001 | Written by - 2 episodes |
| Home and Away: Hearts Divided (video) | 2003 | Written by |
| Home and Away (TV series) | 2002-2004, 1995 | Written by - 8 episodes |
| Parallax (TV series) | 2004 | Written by - episode Seek an dYou Shall Find |
| Streetsmartz | 2005-2006 | Written by 9 episodes |
| Stormworld (TV series) | 2009 | Written by 3 episodes |
| Talking Prisoner | 2022 | Self |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "AustLit".
- ↑ "Coral Drouyn Interview". Back to the Bay. 6 December 2007. Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
- ↑ "Neighbours : Interviews > Coral Drouyn". The Perfect Blend. 6 March 2004. Archived from the original on 21 March 2005. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
External links
- Coral Drouyn at IMDb