Antony Kidman

Antony David Kidman AM (10 December 1938 – 12 September 2014) was an Australian psychologist and academic.

He was the father of actress Nicole Kidman and journalist Antonia Kidman.

Kidman was born in Randwick and grew up in North Sydney, the oldest of four children to Arthur David Kidman and Margaret Emily Mary Callachor.

He was of Scottish descent.

Kidman attended St Aloysius' College and then completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney and a Master of Science at the University of New South Wales.

He accepted an American Cancer Society Scholarship and undertook a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In the late 1960s, Kidman moved to Washington, D.C., to work at the National Institute of Mental Health at St. Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital.

Kidman married Janelle Glenny, then a student nurse, in 1963.

They had two daughters: Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman (born 1967) and journalist and television presenter Antonia Kidman (born 1970).

He returned to Australia in the early 1970s to take up a position as a lecturer in biochemistry at Monash University.

He moved to the University of Technology Sydney in 1972 and worked there until his death.

In 1977, Kidman established the Foundation for Life Sciences, a non-profit organisation focused on youth mental illness.

It was renamed the Antony Kidman Foundation after his death.

After his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1980s, Kidman trained in cognitive behavioural therapy and became a clinical psychologist.

In 1985, he established the Health Psychology Unit at the University of Technology, from where he conducted research into the biological and psychological aspects of cancer.

He wrote over 150 journal articles and nine books.

In 2005, Kidman was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to clinical psychology.

Kidman died from a heart attack on 12 September 2014 in Singapore, aged 75.