Rod Mullinar

Rodney Mullinar (born 1942) is a British Australian former actor, noted for his roles on Australian television.

Mullinar was born in Hereford, Hertfordshire, England and emigrated to Australia in 1966, at the urging of an Australian friend in London, actor Bill Hunter. He relocated to Sydney with his first wife actress Liz Mullinar who was at that time also an actor but would soon become a well-known casting agent.¹

Mullinar appeared in theatre productions, firstly with the Australian Theatre for Young People² and then with the Independent Theatre troupe in mid-1968 with whom he performed in the plays Wait Until Dark, Uncle Vanya, and Tango. He also had a major role in the controversial 1970 film The Set in which he plays Tony Brown, who has an affair with the film's protagonist, Paul, played by Sean McEuan. During the making of The Set, Mullinar, who was union shop steward for the film, was punched by another actor when Mullinar demanded to see his union card. The Sydney Morning Herald identified this actor as the female impersonator 'Kandy' Johnson, who was not a union member.³

Mullinar took the leading role in Australian espionage drama Hunter late in the show's run in 1968, however he appeared in just eight episodes due to the cancellation of the series. He subsequently played the title role in television series Ryan (1973).

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1969 claimed that, before migrating to Australia, Mullinar had a small role in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball as well as appearing in the British TV series Z Cars and No Hiding Place.⁴ An article in the Melbourne Age in June 1972 also claimed that Mullinar was a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and had appeared in the film Wake in Fright, the aforementioned Z Cars and Thunderball as well as Softly, Softly: Task Force (as this show began in 1969, this seems unlikely, but he may have been involved in its predecessor, Softly, Softly). It stated that Mullinar had been shortlisted for the role of Frank Banner in Division 4, which was ultimately given to Gerard Kennedy.⁵

Mullinar's other credits include: Cop Shop, Bellbird, Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, Against the Wind, Breaker Morant, Prisoner, Five Mile Creek, All Saints, Stingers, Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback, Reef Doctors, The Lost World, and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

Mullinar's second wife was actress Penny Ramsey. During publicity for Ryan, Mullinar and Ramsey chose to make their relationship public - they had a young daughter at this stage but were not yet married - under threat of exposure by persons unspecified.⁶