George Spartels

George Bernard Spartels (born 25 April 1954)^[1] is an Australian actor, presenter, director, playwright and children's musician. He remains best known for his role on the television soap opera Neighbours^[1] and as a presenter on Play School.^[4]

Spartels was born in Carlton, Melbourne^[2][3] to a father of Greek descent and a mother of English and Irish descent.^[1]

He undertook his education in Melbourne and was a talented swimmer and football player, but without the height required to play professionally, he turned to acting. While studying at Teacher's College, he honed his acting skills, appearing in amateur theatre productions.^[3]

Spartels has guest starred in many Australian television series from the 1970s to the present. His earliest roles included five television police procedural series: Division 4, Homicide, Matlock Police, Bluey and Cop Shop.^[2] and Crawford Productions comedy series The Bluestone Boys. He also had notable roles in Bellbird and Prisoner^[1] and appeared in early 1980s soap opera Punishment.

In 1984, Spartels played the recurring role Nick Poulopoulos in television series Sweet and Sour, before appearing in the 1985 feature film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third installment in the Mad Max franchise,^[2] alongside Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, playing the role of Blackfinger.

That same year, Spartels began an ongoing role as a children's television presenter, with a long tenure on the ABC's Play School, over a period of 16 years between 1985 and 2001. He later performed in children's concerts, including George Meets the Orchestra with the Queensland Philharmonic in 2001^[2] and live productions of Play School in 2009.^{[1][5][6][7][8]} He released several albums for children, as 'George from Playschool' which included songs such as "Surfing with the Seagulls" (1993) and "Return of the Spangled Drongo" (1999).^[2]

From 1992 to 1993, Spartels secured a role in long-running soap opera Neighbours, playing the regular character of family patriarch Benito Alessi.^[1] He also appeared in several episodes of medical drama series All Saints^[1] before playing Theo Karandonis, Carbo's father in drama series Packed to the Rafters from 2009 to 2012.^[2]

Spartels also performed in numerous theatre productions. He began his professional career in the Melbourne production of Godspell in 1972.^[9] From 1981 to 1983, he played Amos in a Sydney Theatre Company production of Chicago.^[2]

He appeared in Greek Tragedy at Sydney's Belvoir Theatre from 1989 to 1990,^[2] and in 1998 played the role of Mercutio in a Neil Armfield-directed Romeo and Juliet for the South Australian Theatre Company.^[2] Spartels performed in several Company B / Belvoir productions, including The Spook in 2004, under the direction of Armfield once more.^[2]

In 2014, Spartels toured Toronto, Los Angeles and Australia in an international stage production of The Last Confession opposite David Suchet, playing the roles of Cardinal Lorscheider and Eugênio Sales.^[10][2][11]

Spartels' photoportrait, by Ivan Gaal, is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.^[2]

Spartels was married to first wife, Sue. He then married actress Elizabeth Alexander in 1984, with whom he shares two daughters. Both of his daughters featured in the music video for his single "Busy Baby Bubby". Spartels and Alexander divorced in 2006. Spartels married for a third time in April 2013 to wife Mary, and they resided together in Sydney. They were divorced in 2017, after which time he returned to Melbourne.

• George Spartels at IMDb