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Vale: John Walton

Australian actor John Walton, best known for the 1970s soap The Young Doctors, has died.

2014-07-16_2147Australian actor John Walton, best known for the 1970s soap The Young Doctors, has died.

Walton played the handsome and flirtatious Dr. Craig Rothwell for 2 seasons on the Grundy Organisation series which aired on Nine from 1976-83.

The series was a big early evening hit for Nine, with its mix of romance and melodrama within the walls of the fictional Albert Memorial Hospital.

Walton had numerous roles in classic Aussie soaps including The Sullivans, Cop Shop, Skyways, A Country Practice, GP,  McLeod’s Daughters, MDA, Blue Heelers, Home and Away, All Saints plus dramas including Bellamy, Bodyline, Five Mile Creek, Palace of Dreams, Halifax FP, Blue Murder, Twisted, Heartbreak High and Time Trax. In A Thousand Skies miniseries he played aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith.

Film credits include Undercover, Kangaroo, The Lighthorsemen, Shotgun Wedding and The Final Winter. He also performed on stage, including with the Melbourne Theatre Company.

His final screen credit was Sea Patrol in 2009.

A memorial service is to be held this Saturday morning at the University of NSW.

9 Responses

  1. Loved him in TYD & The Sullivans.
    So sad to hear this.
    He was a lovely man.
    I met him very briefly many years ago.
    Rest In Peace John.
    Thank you for sharing your gift.
    Condolences to all. 🙁

  2. TYD was commissioned by Nine to compliment Celebrity Squares. CS was originally at 6PM, Nine moved it to 5:30 and started the news at 6PM for while. The move was a failure, CS couldn’t compete against first run episodes of The Goodies on the ABC and was axed. The news moved back to 6:30 and The Young Doctors began at 6PM. Legend has it that a major character in the show was killed off during protracted contract negotiations after Kerry Packer phoned the producers telling them the actor had to go.

  3. What a handsome and charismatic actor he was. He was the quintessential Aussie bloke. I especially loved him in Kangaroo and The Lighthorseman. So sad to hear of his passing.

  4. Wow, who sourced this info. The Young Doctors actually went from late 1976 to 1983, not two years. John Walton was one of the original actors on TYD and was actually in the first scene. I’m not sure if he was in the show longer than a year. He followed TYD with an ongoing role in The Sullivans playing Micheal Watkins, opposite Megan Williams as Alice, who I think has also passed. Sad news, as he would have been comparitvely young.

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