Charles 'Bud' Tingwell's make-up kit paints picture of actor's dedication to craft
By Louise Maher
Updated Tue at 3:19pm
AUDIO: Treasure Trove: Bud Tingwell's makeup kit(ABC News)
How much can you tell about an actor from the tools of his trade?
PHOTO: Bud Tingwell received an AM for his work in the performing arts. (www.budtingwell.com.au)
In the case of one of Australia's best-loved performers — Charles 'Bud' Tingwell — a lot, according to curators at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA).
Tingwell's make-up kit, stored in two small wooden chocolate boxes, was part of a large collection acquired by the NFSA after the actor's death in 2009.
The collection also includes the scripts of every performance he gave, the programs of all the plays he saw, personal correspondence and copies of interviews.
Jennifer Gall, NFSA assistant curator of documents and artefacts, said the make-up kit represented the actor's dedication and self-reliance.
"[He was] very dedicated to duty ... always doing the right thing and also being very independent," Ms Gall said.
"He was someone who knew he was responsible for his destiny and he's very careful about making sure that he had everything to do a good job."
Long and varied career
Tingwell's career started when he was still at school when he was employed on a Sydney radio station as Australia's youngest announcer.
After flying photo reconnaissance missions over Nazi-occupied North Africa in World War II, he performed in Australian theatre and scored a Hollywood role in The Desert Rats, supplying his own uniform.
He worked in London television for 16 years — on a long-running hospital soap, the Miss Marple series and Catweazle — before returning to Australia in 1973 to star in Homicide.
Over the next four decades he appeared in classic Australian films and TV shows including Breaker Morant, The Castle, Neighbours, and The Sullivans.
"He has that warmth and humanity and little facial gestures that are so distinctive and from a certain era of acting," Ms Gall said.
"He knew what it was like to interact with an audience and he kept that ability in his films."
Quality Hollywood make-up dates from 1950s
Katie Saarikko, NFSA curatorial officer and freelance make-up artist, said the make-up kit appeared to date from Tingwell's time in London during the 1950s.
It contains rouge, cake mascara and Max Factor pan sticks — the first cream-based foundation that was created in Hollywood in 1948.
"This is a product that is a standard in any film, TV or theatre artist's make-up kit and we still use the exact same product to this day," Ms Saarikko said.
The kit could have been used as a back-up if there was no make-up artist employed on the set or so Tingwell could apply his own.
"He would have practised and come up with his own techniques," Ms Saarikko said.
"It might show that he was little protective of his image and was aware of how to make himself look good."
The boxes also hold a fake moustache, a cigar cutter and a champagne cork with a coin wedged in it — an English custom to wish a married couple good luck.
Ms Gall said the quality of the cosmetics Tingwell chose also reflected his "perfectionist" personality.
"He did have that eye and that sense of planning for the future and taking care of whatever he owned," she said.
"He wasn't extravagant for the sake of having something luxurious; he bought things that he knew would last and that seems to really align with what else we know about Bud."
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