At 104 Eileen Kramer acts in Foxtel drama

Centenarian Eileen Kramer is surely Australia’s oldest working actor.

Currently 106 years old she recently appeared in Episode 7 of the critically-acclaimed Foxtel drama The End, filmed when she was 104 years old.

Eileen Kramer was born in 1914 and studied singing at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She worked as an usherette and an artist’s model, at one time posing for Norman Lindsay, but made her career as a dancer, artist, performer, and choreographer. She toured Australia with the Bodenwieser Ballet -described as “the first truly influential modern dance company in Australia. At one point she was even taught to do The Twist by Louis Armstrong. In 2014, to mark turning 100, she crowdfunded, choreographed, and performed a dance piece called “The Early Ones” and in 2019 she became the oldest ever contributor to the Archibald Prize.

In The End, Eileen Kramer played retiree Rita, alongside a cast of veterans including Noni Hazlehurst, Robyn Nevin, John Waters, Roy Billing, Val Lehman, Diana McLean, Hazel Phillips., Tony Barry, Robert Coleby, and Ian McFadyen.

Rita was pressed on euthanasia by campaigner Edie (Harriet Walter) and her daughter Kate (Frances O’Connor). But her response was not exactly what they were expecting.

“You never know what the next day will bring do you?”

The End screens 8pm Tuesdays on FOX Showcase.

End of Life Law in Australia