Maggie Kirkpatrick

Maggie Kirkpatrick
Kirkpatrick at the opening of Driving Miss Daisy at Theatre Royal, Sydney, 2013
Born	Margaret Ann Downs (1941-01-29) 29 January 1941 Albury, New South Wales
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1960–2002 (theatre) 1971–2008 (film & television)
Notable work	Prisoner
Spouse(s)	Norman Kirkpatrick (deceased) (1963–1979) (divorced)
Children	One
Website	maggiekirkpatrick.co.uk

Margaret Anne "Maggie" Kirkpatrick (née Downs; born 29 January 1941) is an Australian actress who is best known for her portrayal of the character Joan Ferguson, a sinister and cold lesbian prison officer, nicknamed "The Freak", in the popular Australian television soap opera Prisoner. She performed as Madame Morrible in an Australian production of the musical Wicked. Kirkpatrick has appeared in such popular series as Water Rats, Home and Away and All Saints.

Early years

Margaret Anne Downs was born in Albury, New South Wales, to James and Crissie Downs. When she was seven months old her father was killed while on active national service as a soldier in North Africa. Her mother brought her up alone. Her mother later married John Anderson and had a son, Adrian. The family moved to Newcastle, New South Wales, where Kirkpatrick grew up. She had had an interest in acting from an early age and appeared in several school plays. By November 1955 she became fed up with school and left. Her mother sent her to drama lessons.

In 1960, at the age of 19, Kirkpatrick took her first professional acting job, with the theatre impresario John Alden (theatre) with his John Alden Shakespeare Company. After this initial production she promptly gave up acting. Kirkpatrick subsequently took various jobs, working in dress shop, as a medical receptionist, compère of fashion parades, and also had jobs in bars, restaurants and hotels.

Personal life

Downs married Norman Kirkpatrick, a merchant seaman of the Shankill Road in Belfast, in September 1963. Five years later they moved to Sydney where Kirkpatrick decided to resume her acting career. After appearing in two plays she put her acting career on hold once again, this time due to the arrival of her daughter Caitlin. Kirkpatrick resumed theatre work as Caitlin got older, and eventually moved on to television and cinema.

Kirkpatrick appeared in the music video for Anthem for the Year 2000 by rock band Silverchair. She is a strong supporter of gay rights, having made numerous appearances at "Fair Day" as part of the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. She has been awarded the Sydney Gay Community's DIVA award for her work.

In July 2015, Kirkpatrick was charged with child sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl in the 1980s. She strongly denied the allegations and said she would fight to clear her name of the two counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency with a person under 16. In a statement Kirkpatrick said, "Yes, allegations have been levelled at me, are they true? Absolutely not."^[1][2] She appeared in court in August 2015 and was found guilty on 20 August.^[3] She was subsequently sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order, including 100 hours of community service.^[4] Kirkpatrick appealed the case and won, with Judge Geoffrey Chettle finding there was reasonable doubt and dismissing the conviction and charges.^[5]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

• Official website
• Maggie Kirkpatrick at the Internet Movie Database