# Max Phipps

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Australian actor

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Max Phipps Born Maxwell John Phipps 18 November 1939 Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia Died 6 August 2000(2000-08-06) (aged 60) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

**Maxwell John Phipps** (18 November 1939 – 6 August 2000) was an [Australian](/source/Australians) actor, known for a number of roles in theatre, films and television during the 1960s until the end of the 1990s. Phipps' most notable roles included portraying Prime Minister [Gough Whitlam](/source/Gough_Whitlam) in the six-hour television miniseries *[The Dismissal](/source/The_Dismissal_(miniseries))* (1983).[1]

## Life and career

Phipps was born in [Dubbo](/source/Dubbo) and grew up in [Parkes](/source/Parkes%2C_New_South_Wales). He started his acting training in [Sydney](/source/Sydney) at the age of 21, at the [Ensemble Theatre](/source/Ensemble_Theatre). There he appeared in such productions as *Buffalo Skinner*, *[Long Day's Journey into Night](/source/Long_Day's_Journey_into_Night)*, *[Fortune and Men's Eyes](/source/Fortune_and_Men's_Eyes)*, *[The Removalists](/source/The_Removalists)* and *[Rooted](/source/Rooted)*. In the [Sydney Opera House](/source/Sydney_Opera_House)'s inaugural season he played Harry Bustle in *[What If You Died Tomorrow?](/source/What_If_You_Died_Tomorrow%3F)*. In London he reprised this role, as well as appearing in *[Don's Party](/source/Don's_Party)*. He played Dr Frank-N-Furter in *[The Rocky Horror Show](/source/The_Rocky_Horror_Show)* in [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne) in 1975–77.

His most notable screen roles included Bernie Dump in *[The Miraculous Mellops](/source/The_Miraculous_Mellops)*, The Toadie in *[Mad Max 2](/source/Mad_Max_2)* (1981), Prime Minister [Gough Whitlam](/source/Gough_Whitlam) in the television mini-series *[The Dismissal](/source/The_Dismissal_(miniseries))* (1983), Sir [Frank Packer](/source/Frank_Packer) in *[True Believers](/source/True_Believers_(TV_series))* (1988), and [Queensland](/source/Queensland) [Police Commissioner](/source/Queensland_Police#1980s) [Terry Lewis](/source/Terry_Lewis_(police_officer)) in the *[Four Corners](/source/Four_Corners_(Australian_TV_program))* TV documentary drama *Police State* (1989), which helped to bring about investigations into corruption within that state's police force and political system. He was nominated for an AFI award for his role in *[Stir](/source/Stir_(1980_film))* (1980). Other films included *[The Cars That Ate Paris](/source/The_Cars_That_Ate_Paris)* (1974), *[Thirst](/source/Thirst_(1979_film))* (1979), *[Nightmares](/source/Nightmares_(1980_film))* (1980), *[Dead Easy](/source/Dead_Easy_(1982_film))* (1982), *[The Return of Captain Invincible](/source/The_Return_of_Captain_Invincible)* (1983), *[Savage Islands](/source/Savage_Islands_(film))* (1983), which was released in the United States as *Nate and Hayes*, *[Sky Pirates](/source/Sky_Pirates)* (1986) and *[What the Moon Saw](/source/What_the_Moon_Saw)* (1990). He appeared as Detective Inspector Mcallister in the *[Inspector Morse](/source/Inspector_Morse_(TV_series))* episode "The Promised Land" in 1991, which was set in Australia. Phipps also played the role of Edward "Dinosaur" Spence in the first season of the short lived Australian television series "FIRE" (1995) set in Queensland.

in the early to late 90s He also briefly worked on the ill-fated video game [Wizardry](/source/Wizardry_(video_game_series)): Stones of Arnhem at DirectSoft which was being contracted out to them by [Sirtech](/source/Sirtech).

## Death

He died from cancer in Sydney in August 2000, survived by his three siblings. He never married.

## Filmography

### Film

Year Title Role Type 1964 Split Level Louis TV movie 1969 You Can't See 'round Corners Keith Grayson Feature film 1974 The Tony Hancock Special Hotel Clerk TV movie 1974 The Cars That Ate Paris Mulray Feature film 1975 Polly Me Love TV movie 1977 Benny Hill Down Under Various roles TV movie 1979 Temperament Unsuited Supervisor Short film 1979 Thirst Mr. Hodge Feature film 1980 Stir Norton Feature film 1980 Nightmares George D'alberg Feature film 1981 Mad Max 2 The Toadie Feature film 1982 Dead Easy Francis Feature film 1983 The Return of Captain Invincible Admiral Feature film 1983 Savage Islands Ben Pease Feature film 1983 Who Killed Baby Azaria? Mr. Baker QC TV movie 1985 Emoh Ruo Sam Tregado Feature film 1986 Sky Pirates (aka Nate and Hayes) Savage Feature film 1986 The Blue Lightning Brutus Cathcart TV movie 1986 Body Business Max TV movie 1987 Dark Age John Besser Feature film 1989 Police State Queensland Police Commissioner Terry Lewis TV docudrama movie 1989 How Wonderful! The Doctor TV movie 1990 What the Moon Saw Mr. Zachary Feature film 1990 Sky Trackers Doctor Giles TV movie 1999 Without Warning Mayberry TV movie

### Television

Year Title Role Type 1964 The Stranger Soshuniss Citizen TV miniseries 1964 Consider Your Verdict TV series, 1 episode 1969 Delta Tony Spencer TV series, 1 episode 1970 Woobinda, Animal Doctor TV series, 1 episode 1971 The Thursday Creek Mob Lieutenant Wigg TV series 1971 Dynasty Dr. Loftus TV series, 1 episode 1972 Catwalk Jack Wilson TV series, 1 episode 1972 A Nice Day at the Office Graeme 'Snow' Carter TV series, 1 episode 1972 Boney Morris Answorth TV series, 1 episode 1972 Snake Gully with Dad and Dave Harry Phealy TV series, 1 episode 1972 Behind the Legend TV series. 1 episode 1973 Ryan Bradley TV series, 1 episode 1975 Shannon's Mob Patrick Ryan TV series, 1 episode 1979 Glenview High TV series, 1 episode 1980–81 Cop Shop Glen Anderson / Harry Shelton / Clyde Hewitt / Robert Doyle TV series, 7 episodes 1981 Holiday Island Matthew Kramer TV series, 2 episodes 1981 Bellamy Evans TV series, 1 episode 1982 Women of the Sun Doug Cutler TV miniseries, 1 episode 1983 The Dismissal Prime Minister Gough Whitlam TV miniseries, 3 episodes 1983 Carson's Law Inspector Cullen TV series, 2 episodes 1984 Special Squad Arthur Lambert / Arthur TV series, 2 episodes 1985 Zoo Family Elephant Jim TV series, 1 episode 1986 My Brother Tom J.B.Strapp TV miniseries, 1 episode 1988 True Believers Sir Frank Packer TV miniseries, 2 episodes 1988 Rafferty's Rules Vern O'Connor TV series, 1 episode 1989 Mission: Impossible Rudensky TV series, 1 episode 1989 This Man... This Woman Barry Farmer TV miniseries, 1 episode 1989 E Street Joseph Parker TV series, 2 episodes 1991 A Country Practice Gordon Barlow / Gus Roach TV series, 4 episodes 1991 Inspector Morse Detective Inspector Glenn McAllister TV series, episode "The Promised Land" 1991 Screen One Ray TV series, 1 episode 1991–92 The Miraculous Mellops Bernie Dump TV series, 20 episodes 1992 G.P. Derek Harwood TV series, 1 episode 1995 Fire Edward 'Dinosaur' Spence TV series, 13 episodes 1995 Snowy River: The McGregor Saga Commissioner Henry Dengate TV series, 1 episode 1996 Naked: Stories of Men Leonard TV series, 1 episode 1996 Halifax f.p. Detective Inspector Derrida TV series, 1 episode 1997 Bullpitt! Archbishop TV series, 1 episode 1998 Wildside Sam Farmer TV series, 1 episode 1998–99 All Saints Joe Goretski TV series, 2 episodes 1999 Big Sky Ellison TV series, 2 episodes 1999 Noah's Ark Jezer TV miniseries, 2 episodes 1999 Farscape Pa'u Tuzak TV series, 1 episode

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Legends of the Small Screen"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/1517726995). *Melbourne Sun*. 20 April 2014. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) [1517726995](https://www.proquest.com/docview/1517726995). Retrieved 15 June 2025.

## External links

- [Max Phipps](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0681041/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National United States Spain Other Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Max Phipps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Phipps) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Phipps?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.