Lynette Curran

Lynette Curran (born 1945), is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Australian television series and films. Between 1967 and 1974 she was a regular in soap opera Bellbird. She also acted in the film version of the serial, Country Town (1971) and co-starred with Barry Otto in the highly acclaimed 1985 film adaptation of Peter Carey's award-winning novel Bliss.

She started acting in the theatre in 1964. Theatre work includes The Country Wife, Rookery Nook, Richard II, Just Between Ourselves, and Ashes for the Melbourne Theatre Company. She also played in Steaming for the Seymour Centre in Sydney.

Curran was a cast member of soap opera Bellbird when it started in 1967. She left the series permanently in 1974; at the time she left she was the program's last remaining original cast member.

Curran made several film appearances in the 1970s, with roles in sex comedy Alvin Purple (1973), and in dramas I'm Here, Darlings! (1975), Caddie (1976) and Heatwave (1982). Late 1970s television appearances include soap opera Number 96 (in 1976), and police procedurals Bluey and Cop Shop. Curran was a recurring cast member of soap opera The Restless Years (1977–1981), playing the scheming Jean Stafford. She won a Sammy Award for her role in Australian Broadcasting Corporation series Spring and Fall.

Later roles include feature films The Delinquents (1989), The Boys (1998), Japanese Story (2003), Somersault (2004) and These Final Hours (2013). For her appearance in Somersault she won the 2004 AACTA award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

On television she played Brenda Jackson in the Love My Way, and acted in Underbelly: The Golden Mile and Cleverman. She has recently been seen in Wentworth as Vera Bennett's elderly, terminally ill mother (2015).