Bill McCarthy
Bill McCarthy’s wide-ranging television career spans 50 years and counting. McCarthy won a keen following when he anchored coverage of the 1974 Commonwealth Games. After five years presenting Television One’s network news (alternating with Dougal Stevenson), he became a producer and director, and did time as TVNZ’s head of sports. McCarthy set up his own company in 1990, and continues to make shows for cable television.
Ron Skelley
Ron Skelley spent 36 years with the National Film Unit’s sound department, contributing to the soundtracks of Weekly Review, Pictorial Parade, and many other NFU and independent films. He started at the NFU in 1949, and was in charge of the sound department from 1977 until his retirement in 1985. Skelley died in March 1992. Image Credit: Photo from The Evening Post, courtesy of Fairfax Media
Kell Fowler
During his 34 years as a National Film Unit cameraman, Kell Fowler filmed throughout New Zealand, and travelled as far afield as China and the South Pole. Career highlights included his work as cameraman and director of Oscar-nominated Antarctic film One Hundred and Forty Days Under the World (1964), and the filming of the sweeping three-screen vistas that featured in Expo 70 hit This is New Zealand.
Bruce Mason
For three decades, playwright and critic Bruce Mason played intelligent, impassioned witness to many key developments in Kiwi theatre and culture; a number of them his own. His play The Pohutukawa Tree has spawned more than 180 productions, and was watched by 20 million after being adapted for the BBC. The End of the Golden Weather is both a classic solo play, and movie.
Waynne Williams
Veteran cameraman Waynne Williams, MNZM, has shot everything from the Vietnam War and French nuclear testing to the Christchurch quake, TV drama Pukemanu and Australian movie The Box. Over more than half a century, Williams has worked on over 10,000 news stories. The Christchurch-based lensman runs Port Hills productions with partner Anne Williams.
Jon Bridges
Jon Bridges developed his stand-up comedy skills while studying English and Computer Science at Massey University. In the early 90s he moved into television with sketch show Away Laughing and drama Homeward Bound. In 1995 he joined the team of cult youth show Ice TV. By 2009 Bridges had become a producer, on the first of seven seasons of hit panel show 7 Days. The show won him two awards. In 2017 he oversaw the launch of Three's primetime show The Project. Bridges has written for kidult series Secret Agent Men and The Amazing Extraordinary Friends — plus a column for The Listener, from 2006 to 2011.
Peter Hayden
Peter Hayden’s long storytelling career spans fact, fiction, feather and fur. Hayden has worked extensively behind the scenes on a run of nature documentaries, made for company NHNZ. His acting career includes roles in classic goldmining drama Illustrious Energy and Maurice Gee series The Fire-Raiser. In 2017 Hayden was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film and television.
Mandy Toogood
In a television career that began with the TVNZ rock unit, director and producer Mandy Toogood has been responsible for a run of hit comedy shows and live extravaganzas: from TV Awards finalist Pulp Comedy, to NZ Idol, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. She's also been responsible for daily production for Trackside and TAB TV as executive producer for the NZ Racing Board.
Bert Bridgman
Remembered by his colleagues as “the leader in capturing New Zealand scenery on film from 1923 to 1954”, Bert Bridgman began his career as a cameraman in the days of silent film, and later directed the Centennial film One Hundred Crowded Years. He served as a war correspondent in the Pacific for the National Film Unit and was chief colour cameraman at the time of his death.
Selwyn Toogood
Selwyn Toogood hit the big time with It's in the Bag, a long running quiz show which he originated on radio and later took to television. His catch cry, "the money or the bag?" has become part of New Zealand folklore. He was also the self-described thorn between four roses, as host of daily panel show Beauty and the Beast.