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Vale: Joy Hruby

Veteran TV presenter, best known for her long-running Community TV show Joy's World, has died.

Veteran TV presenter and former actress Joy Hruby, best known for her long-running Community TV show Joy’s World, has died.

Hruby, who turned 89 last year, hosted the longest-running TV show in Community Television, which began in 1987.

Joy’s World started in the basement of a housing commission building in Redfern. After leaving CTV-1, it moved to a studio in Leichhardt, then to the Aboriginal college EORA, then for some years at South Sydneys League Club.

The show presented people from all walks of life many of whom seldom got to appear on television, many later becoming professionals, in front of and behind the camera. It clocked up over 1000 episodes, all edited by Hruby herself.

From 2004 to 2014 the show ran on TVS (Television Sydney) three times a week, until the channel discontinued. But not one to fade quietly, Hruby raised $8,400 through a Kickstarter campaign and continued her show through YouTube.

Dubbo-born Hruby also enjoyed a 50+ year career in the entertainment industry as a theatrical agent, drama teacher, author and actress having appeared in JC Williamson’s musicals and TV shows including Sons & Daughters, Home & Away, and The Outsiders. She even entered multiple films into Tropfest.

“The main thing is to be creative, and keep doing the things you love to do,” she said recently.

Hruby’s contribution to the arts and entertainment was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the 2007 Queen’s New Years Honours List.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuBgxiaD8zU

4 Responses

  1. Rest in Peace Joy. Thank you for your vibrant energy & willingness to keep sparkling.
    My thoughts and prayers go out to your family, friends & acting colleagues who will miss you greatly. Your work lives on ?

  2. When we launched Television Sydney (TVS) back in 2004 Joy Hruby was one of our brightest lights. From a make-shift studio in the garage of her home she pumped out an extraordinary program, week by week. Joy identified and mentored many others who helped her make her programs and went on to create their own. Joy was the embodiment of community television. Sadly, she lost her cherished gig when the Government closed down community television for no apparent reason. The lights have gone out in community television, and now the light of community television no longer shines. Vale Joy Hruby.

  3. I remember working her on an edit at metro TV one night and we needed a blank VHS tape. I was about to call it a night when Joy insisted we go out and find one at 2 or 3 in the morning. Driving around Paddington not being able to find one we end up at Kings Cross where she noticed an adult video premises. She stops the car and walks up and comes out with a blank tape. she almost had no fear. she was in her 70’s by this stage. She was a legend

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