Since 1984 – about the time an aspiring young Wellington actress called Rebecca Gibney was considering a shift across the Tasman – the Logie Hall of Fame has honoured the long-serving greats of Australian television.
In mid-August, Gibney became the fourth woman and the fourth Kiwi to get the industry tribute at the annual TV Week Logie Awards, recognising the fixture she’s been on Aussie screens through the years in shows like The Flying Doctors, Halifax f.p., Packed to the Rafters, Wanted, and more recently, the NZ-made Under the Vines.
Among those making the induction speeches was Gibney’s 20-year-old son Zac Bell, who is now in his third year at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School. Gibney and her production designer husband Richard Bell have just relocated from the coastal Dunedin home they’ve lived in since 2016 to the Marlborough Sounds, where the Listener catches up with her while she’s still unpacking from the house move and is looking forward to heading overseas for an Australian travel show.
It would appear that from the footage of your induction, you were not only inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame, but also made mother of the century. How are you feeling after the event?
To be honest, it’s still a bit surreal. I was completely blown away to be considered, let alone for it to happen and I am grateful for the honour and very proud. And Zac was incredible with his speech. I think that was the thing that tipped me over the edge.
Between This Is Your Life in 2022 and the Logies it seems a major part of the Australian television industry is now devoted to getting you on stage and making you cry. What do you think – other than an illustrious career – has brought this on now?
Ha, ha. I’m a good crier? I have always been incredibly open with my life and my career in Australia and in most interviews, no subject has been off limits. I guess when they were looking for another woman to be inducted – there are still only four – I think the feeling that I have been around for so long, worked very hard, and try to make life easy on set for everyone might have helped. My motto, learned on the set of The Flying Doctors from the legendary, late, great actor Maurie Fields, was: “Show up on time, know your lines and don’t be a dick.” Maybe that’s it?
Yes, you are the fourth woman and the fourth Kiwi. Any thoughts on those numbers?
Well, hopefully this is the start of many more women to come. I have no idea why it’s taken so long and why there are so few, as most of my life and career has been shaped by the women in it – from my mother to my first agent and the many female producers, directors, writers, actors and crew who have encouraged me to step behind the scenes and take more control over my roles. There is a huge array of phenomenal women in this industry, and I think they are recognising that. I could give them a list …
Looking at that list of past hall-of-famers, if there was a dinner party, who would you like to sit next to?
Probably John Clarke. He was a bonafide legend and from what I know from the people who knew him best, he was also one of the funniest, kindest men in the business, and very entertaining. His stories are legendary. But I think I would have just liked to chat about all things Kiwi. We are a small nation that has produced some of the most brilliant talents and I certainly think John is up there with the greatest.
Your forte has been playing lead characters across multiple seasons – Julie Rafter, Jane Halifax, Lola Buckley, Daisy Munroe. If you were a guest lecturing at a drama school, what would you tell the students about sustaining characters for so long?
First and foremost, I read the scripts over and over again until the words are stamped in my brain and I don’t think about them. Then you can truly inhabit a character from the way they walk, the way they eat, dress. Everything comes together so much easier if you are not thinking about remembering lines. I also bang on about getting enough sleep and hydrating. Water, water, water. And I’m not method, so I also don’t believe you have to stay up all night on a bender to look like you have stayed up all night on a bender. It’s called acting for a reason.
The Logie honour is for your television work. You’ve dipped in and out of feature films over the years and the divide between movies and television has become less pronounced than it was once. But would you have liked a movie career that was, well, bigger? Or has television fulfilled all your ambitions?
I have always believed what is for you will not pass you by. So, if a movie career was meant to happen then it would have. You never know, it still might. But for me, I have been so grateful to have been able to form deep friendships with the many actors and crew that I have worked long hours, days, months and sometimes years with and nothing will ever replace that. It is way more important than a role in a feature film. Also, films are so short, and relationships are so fleeting. Families really are formed on television sets – Packed to the Rafters is a testament to that.
With Zac following in your footsteps as an actor, when it comes to drama school training, have you ever uttered the words, “It wasn’t like that in my day”?
All the time! He just laughs and tells me to stop being a “boomer”. Zac is a wonderful performer and is very confident but, more importantly, he is a kind and very caring individual. And so polite and composed. Everyone at the Logies was marvelling at his composure while I was a puddle for most of the night.
So, what next? Enough irons in enough fires?
So many irons! We are currently developing season four of Under the Vines. I am doing a production in Sydney next year plus we are also developing two other new series, so I will be attending writers’ rooms over the next couple of months and I am about to head off in a few days to the US and Canada for Luxury Escapes Australia, which is a travel show screening on Foxtel. No rest for the wicked.
Under the Vines season three is on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ from September 15. Gibney also stars in the new Australian megachurch drama Prosper on TVNZ+.
