Hazel Julia Phillips is an English Australian Gold Logie-award-winning singer, actress and television talk show personality, with a notable career in Australia spanning every facet of the industry, including radio, theatre, television and film, as well as journalism. She is also a playwright, composer and lyricist who has written numerously for the stage
Biography
Early life
Phillips was born as Hazel Lovegrove in Wandsworth, south London. At the age of 20, she became engaged to her husband Bill, and they emigrated to Australia as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1950–51, marrying shortly afterwards and having two children, Mark and Scott. In 1961, the family was involved in a serious car accident, with Phillips sustaining severe injuries to her chin. Her husband left them some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin and an ectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up of their marriage.
Early Career
She started her career at radio 2UE, having won a talent contest for Miss television in Australia. 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 showBeauty and the Beast opposite beast 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.
She had left the seven network 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. Guest roles on numerous television shows including Number 96, Matlock Police, A Country Practice, G.P. and Pacific Drive, as well as mini-series Bride of Christ. Films include The Set, Midnight Dancer, Walking Emily Home. and Monster Problems Theatre roles starting from 1956 include The Circle, Henry V, Pride and Prejudice and The Merry Wives of Windsor
Honours
Phillips was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia 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 In 2008, her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star, was published by Zeus Publications.
Phillips is an activist for alternative medicine, she suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and underwent a hip replacement Phillips refers to herself as the Australian Betty White, and in 2011, she performed in the fifth series of Australia's Got Talent. and performed the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young". She reached the semi-finals in the over-65 category, but however was eliminated in the public vote. She stoill performs with her sons quartet as a vocalist.
