Elspeth Ballantyne (born 1939) is an Australian theatre, television and film actress with a career spanning 60 years. She is best known for her roles in TV serials Bellbird as Laura 'Lori' Chandler from 1967 to 1971, and Prisoner as Meg Jackson (later Moris) from 1979 to 1986.
Early life Elspeth Ballantyne was born in Adelaide, South Australia, to show business parents, Gwenneth Ballantyne (nee Richmond), an actress and teacher, and Colin George Sandergrove Ballantyne, a prominent theatre entrepreneur. She grew up alongside her brother, Guy and sister, Jane who was eight years younger.
Her father began his career as a photographer. He took a hiatus to serve in the war for the first three years of his daughter's life, before resuming his photography career, while working in amateur theatre. He subsequently became a stage actor, producer and director, and later founded the South Australian Theatre Company (the predecessor of the State Theatre Company). Ballantyne's father educated his children about Shakespeare, Jonson, Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg.
As children, Ballantyne and her brother appeared as extras in plays by her father. She played the apparition of Macbeth in a 1947 production of Macbeth, alongside her mother as Lady Macduff. As a teen, she played competition tennis and rode horses and attended the Wilderness School.
Ballantyne was not initially inspired to take up acting as a career, instead, becoming a laboratory technician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Professor Robert Quentin from the University of NSW suggested she audition for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). She was awarded a scholarship and was part of NIDA's first intake in 1959, graduating with a Diploma of Dramatic Art in 1960.
After her graduation, Ballantyne's father wanted her to join the Young Elizabethans, but she chose to work with Raymond Westwell and Joan MacArthur in Perth while they were establishing the National Theatre Company.
Career Ballantyne began developing her craft as an assistant stage manager at the National Theatre Company in Perth. A year later, she relocated to Melbourne, to join the Union Theatre Repertory Company (the formative Melbourne Theatre Company) under director John Sumner. At the age of 22, Ballantyne starred as Lil in the original 1963 sellout production of Alan Hopgood's football play And the Big Men Fly, and the same year, she took two small roles in Patrick White's A Cheery Soul.
Ballantyne had an early television guest role, playing the part of a showgirl, in a 1964 episode of Homicide. In 1967, she appeared in the first of her three major television roles, ABC serial Bellbird, in which she played librarian Laura 'Lori' Chandler (formerly Grey), opposite actor Dennis Miller, whom she married the following year. After her character married Tom Grey (played by Tom Oliver), Ballantyne left the series in 1971, to focus on raising her family.
After her marriage ended, Ballantyne resumed her acting career, appearing in Marion in 1974. She became a staple of the early Crawford Production serials in the 1970s, including Division 4, Matlock Police and further guest roles in Homicide. Simultaneously, she continued to act on stage, beginning with a role in a 1973 production of Harold Pinter's Old Times, followed by Much Ado About Nothing, Kid Stakes and a number of plays at Russell Street Theatre. She also appeared in the 1976 Ozploitation film End Play and 1978 family film Blue Fin.
Ballantyne subsequently moved to commercial TV, playing firm but compassionate prison officer Meg Jackson (later Morris) in the soap opera Prisoner (known internationally as Prisoner: Cell Block H) from 1979. She was the only actor to stay with the series for its entire eight-year run, making her the longest serving cast member. She admitted that she stayed with the show because she enjoyed it and she also had two sons to raise. She later reprised her role of Meg in the original stage tour of Prisoner: Cell Block H – The Stage Play, which toured the UK in 1989.
After Prisoner was cancelled in 1986, Ballantyne filmed a lead role as Maude Bum in Fool's Shoe Hotel for the ABC. She then appeared in an episode of The Flying Doctors, and was cast in children's series The True Story of Spit MacPhee, alongside John Bach, Ray Meagher and Linda Cropper. She also played the role of Aunt Annabelle in children's series Pugwall and guested in an episode of G.P. in 1991.
In 1992, Ballantyne began regularly appearing in the soap opera Neighbours as coffee shop owner Cathy Alessi, wife of Benito Alessi (George Spartels) and mother of Rick and Marco Alessi (played by Dan Falzon and Felice Arena respectively), as part of a new Italian family that was introduced to the series. She left the show the following year. Subsequently, she has appeared in guest roles on TV dramas Blue Heelers, SeaChange, The Secret Life of Us, All Saints, City Homicide, and 2013 miniseries Paper Giants: Magazine Wars.
Ballantyne film roles have included 2000 fantasy Selkie, and 2005 film Three Dollars. She also appeared in 2006 coming-of-age film The Caterpillar Wish as Mrs. Woodbridge, and in 2007 adventure-drama film Moonlight & Magic as thrift shop owner Desma. Further film credits include 2007 drama short film Twenty Five Cents, 2010 Australian neo-western thriller film Red Hill alongside Ryan Kwanten and Steve Bisley and a role as the wheelchair-using matriarch in the 2011 short The Last Tupper. She also played Maxine Daniels in the film Boronia Boys (2011), reprising the role in the series Boronia Backpackers (2022).
Personal life Ballantyne was married to actor Dennis Miller in 1967. Both had leading roles in the premiere production of And the Big Men Fly in 1963, followed by long-running series Bellbird. The couple had two sons, Matthew and Tobias. They separated in 1969 and divorced in 1977.
Ballantyne's brother, Guy, also became an actor and her sister, Jane, a film producer.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 1966 Melbourne Narrator Short film 1975 End Play Welfare Officer 1978 Blue Fin Mrs. Pascoe 1982 Breakfast in Paris Millie 1989 Blowing Hot and Cold Shelagh MacBean 1990 A Doctor's Response Short film 2000 Selkie Loopy Laura 2005 Three Dollars Eddie's Mother 2006 The Caterpillar Wish Mrs. Woodbridge 2007 Moonlight & Magic Desma Twenty Five Cents Short film 2008 Floating Elderly Woman Short film2010 Red Hill Old Woman The Last Tupper Rhonda Short film 2011 Boronia Boys Maxine
Television Year Title Role Notes1963 Consider Your Verdict Cynthia Martin Episode: "Queen Versus Luxton" Double Yolk Jane TV playAnd The Big Men Fly Lil TV play By Accident TV play 1964–1975 Homicide Maureen DavisCheryl EvansJoyceSuzi Knight 4 episodes: "The Silent Witness""One Itch To Murder""The Fireworks Man""Rage"1965 Photo Finish TV play Daphne Laureola TV play 1966 Plain Jane Kathleen TV play Anonymous Episode of Australian Playhouse 1967–1971 Bellbird Laura 'Lori' Chandler / Laura 'Lori' Grey Series regular1972–1975Matlock Police Shirley EvansJenny FisherJudy MartinJean Thompson 4 episodes:"Chain Reaction""The Loan Wolf""Prosperity Breeds Contempt" "First Day Out" Division 4 Janet WalkerDr. Jan MooreFran TaylorIris RyanKaren MarshSen. Const. Terri StandishPolicewomanJune Salmon 9 episodes:"For The Love of Money""Senior Stewart""Flight Plan""Traveling Man""Talk Back""The Virgil""Easy Mark""A Sense of Duty Part 1&2" 1973 Ryan Rhoda Bitov Episode: "The Girl with the Golden Slippers"1974 Marion Joan Carruthers Miniseries, 3 episodesThis Love Affair Laura Episode 2: "Tilting at Windmills" 1975Quality of Mercy Episode 2: "The Love Job"1976 Tandarra Molly Martin Episode: "That's What Worries Me" Power Without Glory Dorothy Wells 2 episodes: "Confound Their Politics", "Fallen Heroes" Solo One Sylvia Simpson Episode: "Little Joe" 1977 Bluey Rhoda Lewis Episode: "Son of Bluey" 1978 Cop Shop Claudie Gaynor, Dawn Curran 3 episodes 1979 Ride on Stranger Miniseries, 1 episode 1979–1986 Prisoner Meg Jackson / Meg Morris Series regularPrisoner: Cell Block H (UK), Caged Women (Canada) 1986 Adrian Film documentary 1987 The Fool's Shoe Hotel Maude Bum TV play 1987–1991 The Flying Doctors Barbara FreemanWendy RossAlice Franklin 3 episodes:"The Unluckiest Boy in Town""Cadenza""None So Blind"1988 Captain Johnno Mrs. Greenwood TV movie Spit MacPhee Grace Tree Miniseries 1989–1991 Pugwall Aunt Annabelle 10 episodes 1991 G.P. Jean Watson Episode: "The Price You Pay" 1992–1993Neighbours Cathy Alessi Series regular 1997 One Way Ticket Elizabeth TV movie 1998 State Coroner Pat Thompson Episode: "Three's a Crowd" 2000SeaChange Coral Kiss 2 episodes: "Love Is in the Time of Coleridge", "To Thine Own Self Be Relatively True"2002 Blue Heelers Margaret White Episode: "Sins of the Father" Marshall Law Irene Episode: "Money Talks" 2003 The Secret Life of Us Celebrant Episode: "The Quality of My Life" 2003–2004 Stingers Chief Comm. Steadman 2 episodes: "Boosted", "Break and Enter" 2004 All Saints Anne Lytton 2 episodes: "Benefit of the Doubt", "Don't Look Back"2005 Blue Heelers Nola Paderson Episode: "Getting the Bullet" Last Man Standing Aunty Marg 1 episode2008 City Homicide Miss Evelyn Purcell Episode: "Thicker Than Water"Rush Edie 1 episode 2013 Paper Giants: Magazine Wars Emily King 1 episode 2022 Boronia Backpackers Maxine Daniels 4 episodes 2023 Mondo Maniacs Desma 2 episodes
Theatre