Gus Mercurio

Augustino Eugenio "Gus" Mercurio OAM (10 August 1928 – 7 December 2010) was an American-Australian chiropractor, actor, boxing referee, boxing judge, and sports commentator. He was equally prominent as a character actor on film and television, and as a personality in the sports world. He was a long-time commentator on the Seven Network's World of Sport from 1976 to 1987. The Sydney Morning Herald described him as "one of the most recognised and loved faces in Australian television," while boxing writer Paul Upham called him "one of the great characters of Australian boxing."^[1]

Of Sicilian descent, Mercurio was born in West Bend, Wisconsin near Milwaukee, in 1928. He was the eldest child of Vincent A. Mercurio and Cecilia W. 'Mickey' Miller.^[2] He had two sisters, Gerie and Connie, and a brother, Tony.^[3] The elder Mercurio was a member of the Milwaukee mob, and according to his son, was verbally and emotionally abusive. His parents were divorced when he was seven.

Mercurio served in the United States Maritime Service, then the United States Marine Corps, and was also a chiropractor.^[1] He first visited Australia during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and decided to stay. He worked as a chiropractor in regional Victoria for over a decade before he became prominent in the media.^[4]

He was later naturalised as an Australian citizen.

Mercurio's family had close ties to boxing. His father had boxed professionally under the ring name of Vince McGurk, and one of his uncles had boxed professionally under the name of Ray Miller. Mercurio began boxing while in the Marine Corps, and turned professional after leaving the service. He participated in two professional boxing fights in 1950, losing both.^[5]

He first came to Australia as a 32-year old during the 1956 Summer Olympics, accompanying the US boxing team as a chiropractor.^[6] He decided to stay, moving to Melbourne and working as a boxing coach.

Mercurio was also an international boxing judge (refereeing a world title fight) and was also a well-known boxing promoter. Staying close to boxing, he judged 149 professional bouts^[7] and, starting in 1970 and until 1986, refereed 89 fights, including some world championship contests, such as the 1985 one between Barry Michael and Lester Ellis, which was a major sporting event in Australia.^[8] Mercurio was also a judge for several world title bouts including Roy Jones versus Clinton Woods, Pernell Whitaker versus Gary Jacobs (boxer), Azumah Nelson versus Juan LaPorte and Rocky Mattioli versus Elisha Obed.^[7]

Mercurio was a regular commentator on Channel 7's World of Sport, from 1976 until the programme's end in 1987. His appearance on the programme led him to be what The Sydney Morning Herald described as "one of the most recognised and loved faces in Australian television." He was also the movie host for Channel 10's Saturday Night with Gus Mercurio.^[9]

He later became the president of the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame^[10] – into which he was inducted in 2008.

In 1967, Mercurio began his television career as a referee of amateur boxing matches on Channel Nine's Golden Gloves, before becoming a commentator.^[11] After attracting the attention of producer Hector Crawford, he auditioned for Crawford Productions in 1969, scoring a role in an episode of Homicide.^[11] In preparation for television acting, he gained experience in an amateur theatre production of Arthur Miller's After the Fall.^[12]

Mercurio's rugged appearance saw him play numerous 'tough' characters.^[12] His extroverted personality landed him lead roles in Cash and Company (1975), its follow-up Tandarra (1976).^[11][12] and the miniseries Power Without Glory (1976).^[12] He also had a regular roles in Disney series Five Mile Creek, miniseries All the Rivers Run^[11][12] (alongside Sigrid Thornton)^[13] and The New Adventures of Flipper.^[11]

He had a minor role in an episode of American series McCloud opposite Dennis Weaver.^[12] He played guest roles in several TV police series, including Division 4, Matlock Police and later, Blue Heelers.^[11] Other guest credits included Mission Impossible and All Together Now.^[11]

Mercurio's film appearances include The Blue Lagoon (1980),^[12] Ozploitation action film Turkey Shoot (1982) and Australian classic The Man from Snowy River (1982), once again with Sigrid Thornton.^[13] Further film credits included the internationally successful Crocodile Dundee II (1988), opposite Paul Hogan, Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991),^[12] Lightning Jack (also with Hogan)^[11] and Doing Time for Patsy Cline (1997).^[12]

Additionally, Mercurio appeared in television commercials, including one for a roofing company, playing a character called the 'Roof Fairy', in which he wore a pink tutu and a blond curly wig.^[12] He was a guest commentator on an Australian broadcast of the Super Bowl one year.^[12] He also wrote scripts for Division 4.^[14]

Mercurio was married twice and fathered seven children. He had his first three children, Jo, Vincent and Tony with first wife Shirley. Two of the children were born in the US and after the family moved to Australia, their third child was born in Ballarat, Victoria. After his first marriage failed, Shirley returned to the US with the children.^[11]

Mercurio married second wife Jean McKibbin after 1959, in Swan Hill. The couple had four children – Joseph, Michael, Connie and dancer/actor Paul Mercurio. They split in 1969, when Paul was five.^[15] Michael took his life in 2000.

Mercurio remained friends with both his ex-wives.^[12] His long-term partner was Rita Ball.^[12]

In 1989, Mercurio was heading for the Argyle diamond mines in Western Australia to film an episode for his series Gus Mercurio's Australia when he had a serious car accident. This resulted in three operations on his back and one on his foot. In 1995, the Supreme Court of Western Australia awarded him $502,500, after the insurance company had originally only offered him $25,000.^[11]

He died on 7 December 2010, at the age of 82,^[16] in Melbourne's Epworth Hospital,^[13] from complications during surgery for a chest aneurysm.^[16] He was survived by his long-term partner Rita, six of his seven children, including Paul,^[10] and his sister Gerie in New York.^[12]

Mercurio was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours list 2012 for 'service to boxing as an administrator and sports commentator, as a film, television and stage actor, and to the community', the announcement being made posthumously.^[17]

• Mercurio, G., Boxin' : all you wanted to know but didn't want to fight to ask, Regus, (Kew), 1998. ISBN 0-646-35241-5
• Mercurio, G., Hang in There: Inspirational Gems to Empower You!, Wilkinson Books, (Melbourne), 1994. ISBN 1-86350-168-1

• Gus Mercurio at IMDb
• Gus Mercurio biography at Aussie Box
• Photo Gallery: Farewell Gus Mercurio
• New Colonial Epic, Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide, Monday, 2 February 1976.
• Carman, G. & Upham, P., "Thinking man's boxer and more", The Age, 9 December 2010.
• Humphries, R. "Inside Sport: Gus Mercurio", Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, 25 February 1976, p.25.
• Paxinos, S., "A Contest in Black and White", The Age, 18 May 2008.
• Paxinos, S., "One out of the box", The Age, 12 July 2005.
• Quinn, K., "Farewell to a man who made mistakes … and amends", The Age, 21 December 2010.
• Stark, J., "Boxing history hits the canvas", The Age,29 September 2005.
• Silvers, A.R., "Wisconsin's Mercurio was a famous actor in Australia", The Journal Sentinel, 11 December 2010.
• Webb, C., "Celebrating dinky-di Americans", The Age, 7 June 2005.