Terry Stapleton

Terry was born Terence Anthony Stapleton on 10 July 1933 in seaside town of Victor Harbor in South Australia. His parents were William Stapleton and Millicent Elizabeth Manderson, who had moved to South Australia from the town of Bendigo in Victoria. Terry was the youngest of six children. He was very creative and imaginative as a child and would draw, paint and act out scenes from movies and plays which he had written. In his early adult years he joined the Adelaide Repertory Theatre and trained as an actor, with roles in such productions as Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, by Ray Lawler and The One Day of the Year, by Alan Seymour. He would also spend many hours writing his own plays. He worked for a time as a Draftsman with the Defence Department until Hector Crawford held auditions for the lead roles in a the soon to be produced Homicide. He was ultimately unsuccessful for a role as a policeman, being told that he was too good looking to pass as one, but was asked by Hector Crawford whether he could write. After submitting some of his plays and a trial writing episodes of Homicide, he was hired and made the move from Adeliade to Melbourne which would become his home. His other interests revolved around cricket and Australian Rules Football with his adopted team Collingwood eventually winning a Grand Final in 1990, the year before he died.