
Vincent Ball
Actor · b. 1923 · Wee Waa, New South Wales, Australia
Vincent Martin Ball OAM (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian-born retired character actor of radio, stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He has also authored a number of books. He is best known for film roles in British and Australian films and TV movies, including A Town Like Alice, Breaker Morant, Phar Lap, Muriel's Wedding and The Man Who Sued God. He appeared in numerous TV roles, primarily in cameo guest roles, but had recurring roles in serials like Rush, The Young Doctors, A Country Practice and Home and Away. Vincent Ball has also worked variously in theatre, including Shakespeare, with productions of Henry IV and Romeo and Juliet and a musical based on Charles Dickens famous novel Great Expectations. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movies24
Movie7.5AdventureWarWorld War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.
Where Eagles Dare
1968 · 1K votes
Movie6.8ComedyDramaSocially awkward Muriel Heslop wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father, Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk, and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.
Muriel's Wedding
1994 · 507 votes
Movie5.6ComedyDramaIn 1930s Australia, Anglican clergyman Anthony Campion and his prim wife, Estella, are asked to visit noted painter Norman Lindsay, whose planned contribution to an international art exhibit is considered blasphemous. While Campion and Lindsay debate, Estella finds herself drawn to the three beautiful models sitting for the painter's current work, freethinking Sheela, sensual Pru and virginal Giddy.
Sirens
1994 · 175 votes
Movie6.4DramaHistoryIn the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.
The Battle of the River Plate
1956 · 74 votes
Movie7.1DramaHistoryDuring the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
Breaker Morant
1980 · 162 votes
Movie3.4DramaA beautiful massage parlor/sex clinic owner financially & emotionally mistreats her customers.
Clinic Exclusive
1971 · 7 votes
Movie6.3WarDrama set in an Italian prisoner of war camp during World War 2, where a group of British soldiers find their plans for escape thwarted by a mysterious traitor in their midst.
Danger Within
1959 · 19 votes
Movie6.3WarDramaA group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women creates a vocal orchestra while being imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Sumatra during World War II.
Paradise Road
1997 · 95 votes
Movie6.9MysteryCrimeScotland Yard detectives attempt to solve a spate of safe robberies across England beginning with clues found at the latest burglary in London. The film is notable for using a police procedural style made popular by Ealing in their 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It is known in the US as The Third Key.
The Long Arm
1956 · 24 votes
Movie6.3ComedyA lawyer becomes a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was “an act of God”. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and, as God’s representative, The Church.
The Man Who Sued God
2001 · 77 votes
Movie6.6ComedyMusicThe working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
Oh! What a Lovely War
1969 · 54 votes
Movie5.9ComedyBertram Oliphant 'Bo' West wants to clear his unjustly smeared reputation, so he joins the Foreign Legion—with Simpson his manservant in tow. But the fort they get posted to is full of eccentric legionnaires, and there's trouble brewing with the locals too. Unbeknown to Bo, his lady love has followed him in disguise.
Follow That Camel
1967 · 57 votes
Movie5.8HorrorScience FictionA man and wife are terrorized by Mad Scientist Dr. Callistratus who was executed but has returned to life with a heart transplant. Along with his crippled assistant Carl, the 'anemic' Mad Scientist, believed to be a vampire, conducts blood deficiency research on the inmates of a prison hospital for the criminally insane to sustain his return to life.
Blood of the Vampire
1958 · 42 votes
Movie6.3ComedyScience FictionSequel to The Mouse that Roared; The Tiny Country of Grand Fenwick has a hot water problem in the castle. To get the money necessary to put in a new set of plumbing, they request foreign aid from the U.S. for Space Research. The Russians then send aid as well to show that they too are for the internationalization of space. While the grand Duke is dreaming of hot baths, their one scientist is slapping together a rocket. The U.S. and Soviets get wind of the impending launch and try and beat them to the moon.
The Mouse on the Moon
1963 · 32 votes
Movie6.9WarDramaThe true story of airman Douglas Bader who overcame the loss of both legs in a 1931 flying accident to become a successful fighter pilot and wing leader during World War II.
Reach for the Sky
1956 · 41 votes
Movie5.2DramaWesternDuring the mid 1860s, brothers Dick and Jim Marston are drawn into a life of crime by their ex-convict father Ben and his friend, infamous cattlethief Captain Starlight. Making their way to Melbourne with the proceeds of a recent raid, the brothers meet and romance the Morrison sisters, Kate and Jean, whom they eventually marry; but just as they are poised to start a new life in America, Captain Starlight and his gang arrive in town, planning a raid at the local bank.
Robbery Under Arms
1957 · 9 votes
Movie6.4WarDramaIn 1941 Malaysia, the advancing Japanese army captures a lot of British territory very quickly. The men are sent off to labor camps, but they have no plan on what to do with the women and children of the British.
A Town Like Alice
1956 · 35 votes
Movie6.5DramaWarA small British army team is sent deep behind enemy lines to destroy a German petrol dump as part of the preparation for a major attack in the North African campaign. Sea of Sand was distributed in the US in a shortened version, Desert Patrol.
Sea of Sand
1958 · 27 votes
Movie6.4ComedyAfter a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard. But babies are surprisingly demanding and gradually the whole crew is drawn into helping keep it fed and washed - and undiscovered. Even so, the officers above deck start to puzzle over the increasingly strange happenings on board.
The Baby and the Battleship
1956 · 9 votes
Movie5.1ComedyDramaBased on the true events surrounding Frank Sinatra's tour of Australia. When Sinatra calls a local reporter a "two-bit hooker", every union in the country black-bans the star until he issues an apology.
The Night We Called It a Day
2003 · 16 votes
Movie6.0ActionDramaDetective Scobie Malone accepts a mission to fly to London to arrest Sir James Quentin, a high-level commissioner wanted down under for murder. But when Malone arrives, he finds that the amiable Quentin is not only the key in groundbreaking peace negotiations, but also the target of an assassin himself.
Nobody Runs Forever
1968 · 24 votes
Movie7.1DramaRomanceSet in 1962, a young prepubescent boy in rural Australia watches painfully as his best friend and first love blossoms into womanhood and falls for a thuggish rugby player, changing the lives of everyone involved.
The Year My Voice Broke
1987 · 38 votes
Movie6.1ComedyCaptain Crowther's lot is not a happy one! Five of his crew have to be replaced and at such short notice before the voyage begins there isn't much to choose from. Not only does he get the five most incompetent shipmates ever to sail the seven seas, but the passengers turn out to be a rather strange bunch too. The SS Happy Wanderer will never be the same.
Carry On Cruising
1962 · 72 votes
Movie7.6DramaWarThe trials and tribulations of the Goddard family after the entry of Australia into the Vietnam War.
Vietnam
1987 · 8 votes
Series17
TV6.4DramaSoapHome and Away is set in the fictional town of Summer Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales, and follows the personal and professional lives of the people living in the area. The show initially focused on the Fletcher family, Pippa and Tom Fletcher and their five foster children Frank Morgan, Carly Morris, Steven Matheson, Lynn Davenport and Sally Keating, who would go on to become one of the show's longest-running characters. The show also originally and currently focuses on the Stewart family. Home and Away had proved popular when it premiered in 1988 and had risen to become a hit in Australia, and after only a few weeks, the show tackled its first major and disturbing storyline, the rape of Carly Morris; it was one of the first shows to feature such storylines during the early timeslot. H&A has tackled many adult-themed and controversial storylines; something rarely found in its restricted timeslot.
Home and Away
1988 · 78 votes
TV5.4DramaSoapThe Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives. It was a consistent ratings success in Australia, and also became popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Gibraltar and New Zealand.
The Sullivans
1976 · 8 votes
TV6.6DramaThe Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.
The Flying Doctors
1986 · 17 votes
TV5.0DramaSoapCompact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays. When Compact began, the editor was a woman, Joanne Minster, yet it was not long before she was replaced by Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine's owner. Despite being largely criticised by reviewers, Compact was popular with the general public, and in 1964 a regular omnibus edition was introduced, broadcast on Sundays. Morris Barry, a some-time actor and BBC director – he directed several Doctor Who stories in the 1960s – took over as producer and was given a brief to spice the series up in view of the criticism it had received from the national press. But the BBC, never comfortable with the concept of soap opera, quietly dropped the series in 1965.
Compact
1962 · 3 votes
TV6.2DramaMedical drama focusing on the working and personal lives of the doctors and nurses working on the front line of a busy inner city Emergency Department at All Saints Hospital.
All Saints
1998 · 13 votes
TV8.0DramaCrimeRafferty's Rules was an Australian television drama series which ran from 1987 to 1990 on the Seven Network. Rafferty's Rules was one of the first programs undertaken by the Seven Network's then new in-house drama unit, going into production in May 1985 as "a 15-part courtroom drama". The program had started out as a pilot episode, recorded in early 1984 with the actor Chris Haywood in the lead role. When the pilot episode was remounted later in 1984, Chris Haywood wasn't available and the lead role was re-cast to John Wood. This second recording was eventually broadcast as the program's first episode.
Rafferty's Rules
1987 · 2 votes
TV7.2Action & AdventureDramaAccused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.
Man in a Suitcase
1967 · 10 votes
- TV7.5CrimeDrama
The global adventures of Ken Franklin, ace operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency, qualify as a pop-culture curio if only for star Arthur---later Art---Fleming, who hosted the original `Jeopardy!'
International Detective
1959 · 2 votes
TV7.6DramaDramatization of the 1932/33 Test cricket series between England and Australia. Played in Australia, the series gained notoriety in Australian and worldwide cricketing history for the fact that the English team (headed by captain Douglas Jardine) applied a bowling technique called "leg theory", or more commonly, Bodyline. This technique involved bowlers bowling the ball directly at the batsman's body, and resulted in many of the Australian team receiving numerous bruises and injuries, with batsman Bert Oldfield sustaining a cracked skull. The series generated much anger and resentment towards the English team within Australia and seriously damaged Anglo-Australian cricketing relations at the time.
Bodyline
1984 · 7 votes
- TVDrama
Anthology of 70-minute UK dramatic productions.
Theatre '70
1960
TV5.6DramaSet in the 1970s and '80s in Sydney, the miniseries concerns the relationship between controversial former Detective Roger "the Dodger" Rogerson and notorious criminal Arthur "Neddy" Smith. Rogerson and his colleagues were accused of giving Smith a "green light" to commit crimes without Police interference, with the relationship fraying when Rogerson ordered hitman Christopher "Mr. Rent-a-Kill" Flannery to murder Police Officer Michael Drury.
Blue Murder
1995 · 7 votes
TV10.0ComedyGrass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003. The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government. It was written by Geoffrey Atherden. Part of the series was filmed in the inner west Sydney suburb of Concord. Many external shots of Arcadia waters Council chambers used Concord Council Chambers as a setting and as was other various locations around Concord, particularly in the shopping centre and cafes in Majors Bay Road. Beach scenes were filmed at Mona Vale, New South Wales on Sydney's northern beaches, while the location "Cemetery Point" was filmed at the Mona Vale headland reserve.
Grass Roots
2000 · 1 votes
TV6.0DramaAction & AdventureRush was an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1974 and 1976. The first 13 episodes were produced in 1974 and filmed in black and white. In 1976, 13 more episodes were produced, in colour, in conjunction with French production company Antenne 2. Each series featured a different cast with the exception of John Waters.
Rush
1974 · 2 votes
TV6.8War & PoliticsDramaAnzacs was a 1985 5-part Australian miniseries set in World War I. The series follows the lives of a group of young Australian men who enlist in the 8th Battalion of the First Australian Imperial Force in 1914, fighting first at Gallipoli in 1915, and then on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.
Anzacs
1985 · 10 votes
- TV10.0Drama
The Private War of Lucinda Smith is a 1990 Australian mini series about an Australian chorus girl living in London.
The Private War of Lucinda Smith
1991 · 1 votes
TVSci-Fi & FantasySet in 1991, this futuristic action-drama revolves around electronics engineer Douglas Hardy, who was killed in 1979 due to possessing crucial information about the NSW Opposition leader’s menacing plan for a political coup. Twelve years after his death, he is brought back to life.
Timelapse
1980
- TV
4-part miniseries dramatising the true-life adventures of Charles "Mad Jack" Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk, whose daring wartime exploits included rescuing dozens of refugee European nuclear scientists, a large supply of heavy water and millions of pounds in diamonds just before the Germans captured Paris, and then became a self-taught bomb disposal expert who successfully defused dozens of large German bombs during the London Blitz.