Age, Biography and Wiki

Oriel Gray (Oriel Holland Bennett) was born on 26 March, 1920 in Sydney, New South Wales, is an Australian playwright and screenwriter (1920–2003). Discover Oriel Gray's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 83 years old?

Popular As Oriel Holland Bennett
Occupation Playwright · screenwriter · dramatist
Age 83 years old
Zodiac Sign Aries
Born 26 March, 1920
Birthday 26 March
Birthplace Sydney, New South Wales
Date of death 30 June, 2003
Died Place West Heidelberg, Victoria
Nationality Australia

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 26 March. She is a member of famous playwright with the age 83 years old group.

Oriel Gray Height, Weight & Measurements

At 83 years old, Oriel Gray height not available right now. We will update Oriel Gray's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

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Dating & Relationship status

She is currently single. She is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about She's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, She has no children.

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Oriel Gray Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Oriel Gray worth at the age of 83 years old? Oriel Gray’s income source is mostly from being a successful playwright. She is from Australia. We have estimated Oriel Gray's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
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Source of Income playwright

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Timeline

1920

Oriel Holland Bennett (26 March 1920 – 30 June 2003) known by pen name Oriel Gray, was an Australian dramatist, playwright and screenwriter who wrote from the 1940s to 1990s.

The major themes of her work were gender equality and "social and political issues such as the environment, Aborigines, assimilation and bush life".

Gray was born Oriel Holland Bennett in Sydney, New South Wales.

Her father and grandfather owned a newspaper in Young, New South Wales.

1926

With the death of her mother in 1926, her older sister Grayce became the guiding female presence of her formative years.

1937

From 1937 to 1949, Gray wrote and acted for the Sydney New Theatre which had the reputation of being left wing and avant-garde, being modelled on the new radical and political theatre movement blossoming in the United States.

1940

She married John Gray in 1940, an actor whom she met while at the Sydney New Theatre and they had a son, Stephen.

1942

Gray came from a politically active family, her father briefly held the seat of Werriwa for the Australian Labour Party Gray was a member of the Communist Party of Australia from 1942 to 1950.

In 1942, Gray was appointed as the first paid Australian playwright-in-residence.

1943

She was commissioned to write a weekly radio segment for the New Theatre on 2KY and her first stage play, based on the short stories of Henry Lawson, was performed at New Theatre in 1943.

In reviewing plays, L. L. Woolacott, critic and editor of the Sydney Triad magazine, described Gray as "one of the most significant and talented Australian playwrights whose work has so far been produced here".

Over her stage-writing career, she wrote two political revues, six one act and eight full length stage plays, plus several plays for young adults.

1947

By 1947 her marriage had broken down and she moved on to a long-term relationship with writer John Hepworth, with whom she had two more sons, Peter and Nicholas.

1955

The 1955 award by the Playwrights' Advisory Board for best play was given jointly to Gray's play The Torrents and to Ray Lawler's play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

This has been called "one of the great “compare and contrast” moments in the history of female Australian playwriting."

1957

Gray's play, with its themes of "feminism and the saving of the environment", did not have popular appeal in a very conservative era with only one amateur performance recorded (New Theatre, Adelaide 1957).

1959

Gray's play Burst of Summer won the 1959 J. C. Williamson Theatre Guild Competition.

The play explores the racial tensions that erupt in a small town when a young Aboriginal girl gains brief notability as a film actress.

The plot is not based on real events, rather being inspired by the release of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda which made known the Aboriginal actors Ngarla Kunoth and Robert Tudawali.

1961

Tudawali played the role of Don in the television version of the play for ABC TV (1961).

Despite a poor critical reception at the time, this production is noted as a cultural landmark, having three First Nations' performers in major roles.

Gray adapted Sheridan's The Rivals as a television play for ABC-TV and her stage plays Burst of Summer and The Torrents. She wrote six original television plays for ABC-TV, also working as a team member on the television serial Bellbird for nearly a decade.

1970

In 1970 she co-wrote the feature film script for Beyond Reason, directed by Giorgio Mangiamele.

Her original screen writing includes:

Beginning with the serialised version of her play Western Limit.

Gray wrote radio adaptations of several of her major stage plays, many educational radio dramas for the Victorian Education Department and original plays for ABC Radio including:

1975

She remained active in the peace movement until the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975.

1982

In the eighties the play was turned into a light-hearted musical, called A Bit O' Petticoat (1982), with music composed by Peter Pinne.

1985

In 1985, her memoir Exit Left was published, detailing her life in New Theatre, personal relationships and growing unease with the leadership direction of the Australian Communist Party.

1988

It was not published until 1988 and did not have a professional production until 1996 by the State Theatre Company of South Australia at the Adelaide Festival of Arts.

1990

Gray published one novel, The Animal Shop (1990).

1997

Her last work for the stage, Joan and The Errant Soul, A Moment in the Permanent War, was written for and produced by Sydney's Belmore Theatre in 1997.

2003

Gray died from a heart attack, aged 83 in West Heidelberg, Victoria, on 30 June 2003.

2019

In 2019 The Torrents was produced jointly by the Sydney Theatre Company and Black Swan State Theatre Company under Clare Watson's direction, starring Celia Pacquola in the leading role.

2020

It was republished in 2020.