Australian film and television legend Charles "Bud'' Tingwell, has died. He was 86.
Tingwell was best known as the star of the iconic police show Homicide and the much-loved Australian film The Castle.
Tingwell was born in 1923, in Coogee, New South Wales, and prior to his career as a film and television actor, worked in radio and served as a Spitfire pilot during World War II.
He worked in Hollywood and England, during the latter becoming well known as the star of a live-to-air drama Emergency Ward 10.
He returned to Australia, and became the star of the iconic police drama Homicide, playing Inspector Reg Lawson.
His recent credits include the 1997 film The Castle, the mini-series Changi and a role in Neighbours. He also appeared in The Man From Snowy River: The Arena Spectacular.
In 1994, he was admitted to the TV Week Gold Logie Hall of Fame.
During an interview with the Australian Biography program in 2004, Tingwell spoke extensively about his love for his family and his deep sense of loss after the death of his wife. He was also proud of the late renaissance of his career.
"If you keep your wits about you, you can learn from everything you do,'' he said.
Dr Vincent O'Donnell, the former president of the Producers and Director Guild and a friend of Tingwell's for more than 25 years, praised the actor for his fine character.
"In an industry where rumour and innuendo are the lingua franca, and mischief and malice is all too commonly the currency of small talk, I was deeply impressed with his charity and humanity, Dr O'Donnell said today.
Tingwell was given the nickname Bud by his family. It was adopted during his mother's pregnancy, when her friends at Coogee Surf Club teased her about "what's budding in there''.
It was later contracted to "the bud " and finally " Bud''.
"I rather liked Charles. But I also love the ordinariness of Bud,'' Tingwell said.
On his website, Tingwell described his great passion for his wife Audrey.
"I opened the door and there she was: a dark-haired, hazel-eyed sixteen year old vision called Audrey Wilson. I was dazzled. I can't remember if I said to myself that this was the girl I was going to marry, but I do know I fell for her quickly and decisively, he said.
