June Salter 1932-2001 Remembered as a true diva of stage and screen in words and photos by Mark Anning in 1982. This was literally my first commercial theatre production stills photography, and June Salter was fantastic. The cast of popular TV soap The Restless Years performed The Anniversary at Phillip St Theatre, Sydney in 1982.
June Salter, Zoe Bertram, Rebecca Giblin, Malcolm Thompson were waiting for the official photographer to arrive to do the production and publicity photos – when he was fifteen minutes late, we started the photo session without him. And when he did finally arrive he put on such a ‘turn’ that only endeared me even more to June and the cast.
1982 was the year that June Salter was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia. She received Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.
Salter entered the radio industry in 1952 and was a guest spot on Channel Seven’s first television transmission in 1956.
She went on to star in the highly acclaimed program, The Mavis Bramston Show, in the 1960s and was one of the original cast members of The Restless Years, playing the middle-aged spinster Elizabeth MacKenzie.
Salter starred in almost every major Australian television series including Certain Women, All Saints, Murder Call, A Country Practice, Neighbours and The Sullivans.
Salter’s stage credits include roles in Gypsy, Blithe Spirit and On Golden Pond. She appeared in The Secret Garden and in 1999 at The Marian Street Theatre as Ann in The Cocktail Hour.
Theatre entrepreneur Peter Williams, who runs Phillip Street Theatre, saw an opportunity for a ready-made cast of great popular appeal when The Restless Years finished, and he signed them for a run of The Anniversary.
Malcolm Thompson, Rebecca Giblin, June Salter, John Hamblin, Zoe Bertram
In 1993 she performed her one-woman show, June Salter – A Legend, and two years later published her autobiography, A Pinch of Salt.
June Salter died on Saturday, 16 September, 2001 about 7pm (AEST) in Mosman Hospital on Sydney’s north shore, of cancer of the oesophagus. She was 69 and a heavy smoker.
Salter was married to veteran Australian actor John Meillon, who enjoyed a distinguished career and is well known for his starring role opposite Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee and its sequel. The couple had one son, John Meillon Jnr.
John Meillon died in 1988 but his voice was resurrected by digital technology for the legendary Victoria Bitter beer commercials in 2000. June Salter’s film credits: Doctors and Nurses, Caddie
Close friend and work colleague, Stuart Wagstaff said “She’s an absolute charmer. I worked with her on television and on stage. She was warm, generous, talented.”
For a cast list of The Restless Years
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