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Vale: Bill Collins

Much-loved movie reviewer, known for his decades of presenting Hollywood movies, has died.

Much-loved movie reviewer Bill Collins OAM, known for his decades of presenting classic Hollywood movies has died, aged 84.

He passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday.

Joan Collins, his wife of 36 years, said: “Our hearts are broken by the loss of our dear Bill – he will never be forgotten. How fortunate we were to have him in our lives. On behalf of Bill’s family and myself, I would like to thank the public for the great support given to Bill over the years.

“Bill’s love of film was encouraged by you, his audience, and his love of sharing his passion, which increased over the five decades that he presented on every Australian television.

“Bill was always thrilled when he realised the joy and happiness he gave to his viewers. He never took them for granted, always wanting to please.

“Darling Bill you will be loved and missed always.”

Bill Collins introduced generations of Australians to the world of movies through his Golden Years of Hollywood presentations. He began his career as a teacher and later a college lecturer before media beckoned.

In 2009 he told TV Tonight, “I started on the ABC in 1963 (on Roundabout), but I started writing about films in a magazine called TV Times. And before I could turn around there I was presenting The Golden Years of Hollywood on Channel Nine on Friday nights, and I’ve been on TV ever since.”

He went on to work as a movie presenter at Seven and 10 networks before signing with Foxtel for its launch in 1995, where he remained until retirement last October. His final screening was “The Long Hot Summer” (1958) .

Many Australians grew up hearing Collins’ movie anecdotes. Whether highlighting a standout performance, noting a soaring soundtrack, or explaining the political climate in which a film was made, Collins became known as “Mr Movies.”

“I love what I do. I love movies and I love teaching and for 50 years I have been able to teach in my own way on television about the art of great movies,” he once said.

“My favourite movies are ones which make me happy, I don’t mean happy in a childish or silly way but they make me feel life is worth living. There are some films which I would regard as very well-made but it does not necessarily make them favourites. My favourite films are those I feel have enriched or changed my life because of the way they have made me think about things.

“For example, I first saw Brief Encounter when I was a schoolboy in the 1940s. I liked it very much and it introduced me to Noel Coward whose works I came to enjoy greatly.”

But he also had time for other international cinema.

“I love British and Italian and Japanese films, but Hollywood’s are the ones I present. Just because I present those doesn’t mean my range isn’t a bit wider. I love films from all over. Directors like Visconte and Fellini. They are golden years films from Italy,” he said.

Amongst his awards and accolades are the Order of Australia Medal, the TV Week Hall of Fame Logie Award, and the inaugural ASTRA Award for Lifetime Achievement.

When asked about the key to movie reviewing, Collins told TV Tonight, “Sometimes there are things to be said that I think make it more interesting. But I’ve always said that I never tell them the butler did it. That’s the secret.

“I don’t give things away and I try to tell the story.”

This post updates.

16 Responses

  1. What’s really amazing is that he worked allmost until his last year. Having just retired from Foxtel’s Golden Years movies last year. RIP Bill.

  2. Even if I didn’t watch the movie he was presenting I always tuned in to hear his enthusiastic introductions. If there ever is a good way to die, in your sleep is the perfect way to go.

  3. thanks to Bill it was almost by accident i became an Alfred Hitchcock fan. Being a teen at the time i thought old movies must be rather boring but i hadn’t really watched any properly. While my parents sat in front of the telly on Saturday nights Bill came on screen & talked with such passion & knowledge about the upcoming movie i thought ‘ok this old guy might be onto something’ & before i knew it i fell in love with classics such as Vertigo, the Birds & so many more. Thanks for the memories Bill, hope you meet all your favourite stars in heaven.

  4. Oh, no. He brought intense joy and interest to my rather miserable childhood and youth with his vivid and kindly introductions to films from the Golden Years of Hollywood, and has had a tremendous effect on shaping my entire life with his passion and knowledge. I was so sad when he retired from Foxtel last year, but what an enormous service to the arts. RIP, kind man. A unique individual.

  5. Very sad indeed. I’m curious David (hope you don’t mind me asking), do you have obituaries prepared in advance of possible well known media identities, etc? Regardless, you publish them with such detail and elegance so bloody fast!

    1. A lot of media do but I don’t (although having said that I did prepare my first earlier this week for another person). This one was able to use a Foxtel statement, but I always try to give a TVT touch and having chatted to Bill there are earlier posts I could draw upon too. Appreciate the thoughts, I am a big believer in acknowledging veterans, pioneers and trailblazers on or off screen. The site has a reputation for it. Bill was like no other.

  6. Some of my happiest memories of childhood and adolescence were watching his presentations. He inspired my love of movies and creativity and that encyclopedic knowledge was staggering. He was a wonderful presence on screen for decades. It was great that he was there to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He and Ruth Cracknell and Graham Kennedy will have a great old chin way! He will be missed. And how!

  7. So many happy memories of growing up watching Hollywood ‘golden age’ films on a TV on a Saturday night, and always loved Bill’s enthusiasm and passion as he introduced them.
    Thoughts are with his family and friends. He’ll be missed, they don’t make ’em like him anymore!

  8. … I remember when we signed Bill (through Harry M Miller) to host movies on WIN 4 in the early 80’s. We arranged to celebrate by taking he and Joan to dinner in Wollongong and asked what they would like to eat. They said Mexican, so we took them to Wollongong’s only Mexican restaurant – which turned out to be an absolute dive! They were very gracious and invited my wife and I to their home on the south coast in return (we didn’t eat Mexican!). Nearly twenty years later we were at Foxtel together. A marvelous and infinitely knowledgeable man of the movies whose like we will never see again.

  9. No one could do what he did as well as he did it and many tried. He had passion, something that so many don’t have in television. The golden age of Australian has come to an end and as we slowly loose the greats of the industry it should remind the network execs of just how far TV has fallen.

    Vale Mr Movies.

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