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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Reg Livermore, Pitt Street, Sydney

1965 (printed 2020)
Robert McFarlane

inkjet print on paper (sheet: 60 cm x 60.3 cm, frame: 98.8 x 98.8)

Reg Livermore AO (b. 1938), stage and television entertainer, began performing as a teenager, hiring local venues to mount his own pantomimes. His professional career began in 1957 at the Phillip Street Theatre, where his first job was as understudy for Barry Humphries and Gordon Chater in Around the Loop. A brief time in London was followed by seasons with the Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli and at Melbourne's Union Theatre Repertory Company. In the mid 1960s he performed with the new South Australian Theatre Company before returning to Sydney for a fifteen-month stint in A Cup of Tea, A Bex and a Good Lie Down with Ruth Cracknell. The show was his entrée into television; he hosted a Saturday night show called I'm Alright Now before appearing regularly on The Mavis Bramston Show. After appearing in Hair in 1969, he was in Jesus Christ Superstar. His big break came with the role of Frank'n'Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in 1974. The following year, his own Betty Blokk Buster Follies played to record crowds in capital cities around the country.

He resurfaced on television in the late 1980s, presenting on Burke's Backyard and later on Our House. He has since performed in his own theatre restaurant show The Thank You Dinner; in Gilbert and Sullivan at the Sydney Opera House and the State Theatre; and in major musical theatre productions including The Producers, My Fair Lady and Wicked. His memoir Stages was published in 2018.

Robert McFarlane (1942-2023) photographed key figures in politics and the performing arts. His portrait of Livermore at the beginning of his career shows him as an urbane young man, and – in the manner of McFarlane's famous 1964 photo of Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins – is very evocative of its place and time. In 1965 Livermore was performing in A Cup of Tea, A Bex and a Good Lie Down with Ruth Cracknell at Phillip Street Theatre.

Purchased 2020
© Robert McFarlane/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Robert McFarlane (age 23 in 1965)

Reg Livermore AO (age 27 in 1965)

Subject professions

Performing arts

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency