Tony Morphett


Anthony David Morphett, known under the professional pen name Tony Morphett, was an Australian screenwriter, who created or co-created many Australian television series, including Dynasty, Certain Women, Sky Trackers, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, Above the Law and Rain Shadow. Morphett wrote or co-wrote seven feature films, ten telemovies, twelve mini-series, and hundreds of episodes of television drama, as well as devising or co-devising seven TV series. He won 14 industry awards for TV screenwriting.

Career

Morphett started as a copy-boy and cadet reporter for The Daily Telegraph in 1956.
He moved to the ABC in 1957 where he worked in the ABC Talks Department for 10 years, presenting The Lively Arts and Spectrum. While at the ABC he published his early novels. He left the ABC in 1968 to become a freelance writer, writing primarily for TV and film.
Morphett was on the literature board of the Australia Council for four years from 1977–1981, and the board of the Australian Children's Television Foundation for eight years from 1985–1994. From 2003, he was a board member of the Australian Writers' Foundation, and occasionally served on the committee of the Australian Writers' Guild.
Career highlights include writing the scripts for the feature films The Shiralee, The Last Wave and Robbery Under Arms, and creating the television series Blue Heelers, Water Rats and Certain Women.

Personal life

Two marriages:
Morphett and Inga Hunter lived together in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, with a number of cats.

Death

In 2007 following a bout of influenza, Morphett suffered heart failure, a condition he suffered from, for the rest of his life.
On 2 June 2018, after a brief period of hospitalisation, he died at Katoomba Hospital from a heart attack. He was with family as he died.

Credits