Hazel Phillips

Background

She was born in Battersea, London.

Career

She has written several plays for stage. In 1961, the family was involved in a serious car accident, with Phillips sustaining severe injuries to her chin. Active in television since its inception in Australia, when she became one of the first personalities on Network Seven. in 1963, Phillips made her break into show business with a role on the talk show Beauty and the Beast with Eric Baume.

She also began to appear on The Mavis Bramston Show, which she became a regular on after being told to choose between Bramston and Beauty and the Beast.

Guest roles on numerous television shows including Number 96 (as a nude swimmer), Matlock Police, A Country Practice, G.P. and Pacific Drive. Films include The Secretariat, Midnight Dancer and Walking Home Emily.

Theatre roles include The Circle, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice and The Merry Wives of Windsor. She also appeared in the mini-series Brides of Christ.

Mission Phillips who is an activist for alternative medicine, suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and subsequently underwent hip replacement surgery

In 2008, her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star (), was published by Zeus Publications.

In 2011, after some 40 years out of the spotlight and aged 81 years, she returned to television performing in the fifth series of Australia"s Got Talent.and performed the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Maine Feel So Young". She reached the semi-finals in the over-55 category, but however was eliminated in the public vote.

Achievements

• She started her career at radio 2UE, having won a talent contest for Mission television in Australia. By 1967, Phillips had left Channel 7 and was hosting the midday talk show Girl Talk on the fledgling Network Ten, for which she won the Gold Logie Award for the most popular female personality on Australian television, jointly winning with Graham Kennedy who won the male award. Phillips was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen"s Birthday Honours in 2005, for service to the entertainment industry, particularly in the areas of the performing arts and television, and to the community as a fundraiser for charitable groups. She was the second woman in Australian entertainment to win the Gold Logie, after singer and actress Lorrae Desmond.