Vale: Shirley Barrett
Australian director and screenwriter, Shirley Barrett, best known for Love Serenade, has died.
- Published by David Knox
- on
Director and screenwriter Shirley Barrett, best known for Love Serenade, has died, aged 60.
In a post on social media yesterday daughter Emmeline Norris confirmed that her mother died on Wednesday at home, surrounded by her family, after succumbing to metastatic breast cancer, with which she was diagnosed in 2017.
Yesterday the world lost a beautiful soul. #ShirleyBarrett was not only a brilliant filmmaker and writer, but more importantly a loving mother to me and my sister, the lifelong soulmate of our dad, and the best friend one could ask for. Rest in Peace mum 💚 We will miss you. pic.twitter.com/dP9wvPDYCm
— Emmeline Norris (@EmsyNorris) August 4, 2022
Barrett had a lengthy screen career in film and television, studying at AFTRS in the 1980s and going on to write and direct short film Cherith, winning an AFI award for Best Short Fiction Film.
Love Serenade, a story about two sisters, played by Mirando Otto and Rebecca Frith, was awarded the Camera D’Or at Cannes in 1996.
Her television directing credits include Boys From the Bush, Heartbreak High, Police Rescue, Love My Way, Packed to the Rafters, Wild Boys, House Husbands, Mr & Mrs Murder, Love Child, Winter, A Place to Call Home, Offspring (for which she also wrote), Home & Away, and Five Bedrooms.
Her other features included Walk the Talk, a comedy about a talent agent starring Salvatore Coco and South Solitary, a 2010 romantic drama about an unmarried woman who moves to a remote lighthouse with her uncle and a caretaker.
She was also a novelist, penning Rush Oh! (2014) and The Bus on Thursday (2018).
Prior to her screen career, Barrett was vocalist for 80s band Fruit Pastilles, formed through Camberwell High School and winning a garage band competition run by 3XY. “I Don’t Ever Want to See You Again” reached #26 (with a bullet!) in the 3XY Top 40.
Source: IF
2 Responses
What an absolutely brilliant director and person Shirley Barrett obviously was. And I had had no idea that she was also the vocalist for Fruit Pastilles – thank you for posting this clip.
This is so sad and a tragic loss to her family, her friends and to the industry. Shirley was a distinct voice in storytelling. Quirky but soulful too. Gone way too soon.