Veteran Australian stage actor Bille Brown has died today after a short battle with bowel cancer. He was 61. He played Coriakin in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010), but his stage career stretches well beyond. With four decades of work with the Queensland Theatre Company, he was one of the first to join. He was part of 29 different productions with the QTC, and had produced four of his own written works.
“The artistic community of Queensland and Australia has lost a true gentleman. We are part of Bille’s legacy,” QTC artistic director Wesley Enoch said. “Every actor, playwright, director, stage manager, designer, musician and all the teams who work in theatre in Queensland owe Bille a huge debt. He brought a sense of adventure, love and respect. His talent and love survives in us all.”
The Biloela-born actor worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a number of years between 1976 and 1996 and toured throughout Europe with them. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011 for his service to the performing arts as an actor and playwright. He was also made an honorary Queensland Doctorate of Letters from the University of Queensland.
It’s always sad when a member of the Narnia family dies, but he leaves behind a legacy.
–via and thanks to Tony Nixon for telling us about it.
Another tragic loss for Narnia! Let’s pray for him and his family!
Hope the family gets better. It’s a sad loss. Whenever he is now, I hope he is well.
Condolence and prayer goes for the family…:(
I remember that scene vividly in The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. There is where Lucy enters the house and is drawn towards the Library. It was not a long scene but Billi Brown’s performance was wonderful.
Very sad to hear of passing God bless his family as they mourn their loss.
‘All your life in this world and [your adventure] in Narnia [has only] been the cover and the title page: now at last [you are] beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which [lasts for all time]: in which every chapter is better than the one before.’
C.S.Lewis Pte Ltd 1956, The Last Battle (1997 edition), the last sentence, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London W6 8JB
Sad
I´m very sad about it.