Kate Fitzpatrick, from Adelaide's nurturing, a theatre, film, TV actress and world's first female cricket commentator
Kate Fitzpatrick in one of her film roles, the musical comedy The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), and exercising her love of cricket in a charity match, with Australian prime minister Bob Hawke at first slip.
Kate (Kerry Kathleen) Fitzpatrick became an Australian television, film, and theatre actress – with the added distinction of being the world's first female cricketing commentator on television.
Born in 1947, Fitzpatrick grew up in the Adelaide suburb of Dover Gardens. It was in South Australia’s capital city that her love for classical music, art and cricket developed. Her artistic talent brought a highlight of her early years when she was being selected by Jeffrey Smart, the future famed urban surrealist painter from Adelaide, for a travelling art scholarship to Japan. Smart was at that stage working in Sydney as an art critic and teacher but also presenting the arts segment at Phidias on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission/Corporation) children’s radio Argonauts Club.
Being picked by Smart for the scholarship gave Fitzpatrick then confidence, at 18, to be accepted as a drama student at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) and move to Sydney.
Fitzpatrick's theatre roles included The Lady of the Camellias, Hamlet, Celluloid Heroes, The Ride Across Lake Constance, Shadows of Blood, Rooted and Kennedy's Children. With Sydney’s Old Tote Thatre Company, Fitzpatrick was in The Legend of King O’Malley, The Season at Sarsparilla, The Misanthrope, The Threepenny Opera, and Big Toys by Patrick White, who wrote the play for Fitzpatrick. She acted in Visions for the Paris Theatre Company, and in The Recruiting Officer for Melbourne Theatre Company.
Fitzpatrick played Magenta in the original Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1974. Her last appearance (2014) was with Sydney's Ensemble Theatre in David Williamson’s Cruise Control.
Fitzpatrick's film roles included in Homesdale (1971), The Office Picnic (1972), Promised Woman (1975), The Great Maccarthy (1975), The Removalists (1975), The Night Nurse (1977), Goodbye Paradise (1983), The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) and A World Apart (1988).
Her television series appearances included Serpent in the Rainbow, Birds in the Bush, Boney, Something in the Air, Scooter: Secret Agent, Blue heelers, Marshall Law, Always Greener and All Saints. In 2006, Fitzpatrick briefly joined the cast of soap opera Neighbours as Loris Timmins. Fitzpatrick reprised a guest role in Packed to the Rafters in 2009. The next year, Fitzpatrick did a short film called Stay Awake and also appeared on Satisfaction.
Fitzpatrick became the world's first female cricketing commentator on television in 1983 when she joined the Nine Network team for one season.
Fitzpatrick was a published author, essayist, and humourist whose work appeared in many major newspapers. Fitzpatrick also worked as a political speech writer during the 1990s. She was also awarded the Queen's silver jubilee medal for services to the theatre.