Leo 'Rumpole' McKern: The Accidental Actor

This long-awaited biography tells the story of a working-class Sydney boy who left Australian shores in the 1940s and went on to an extraordinary and renowned acting career. In England he become a major Shakespearean actor and made many films. Yet it was the gravelly-voiced, potato-faced Horace Rumpole in the long-running series Rumpole of the Bailey that made him a household name in Britain and Australia.

George Whaley is a director, actor, writer, and educator. He teaches directing and acting at the Sydney International Film School and cofounded the Emerald Hill Theatre in Melbourne and Theatre ACT in Canberra. He is formerly the founding director of University Theatre at Melbourne University, the resident director at the Old Tote in Sydney, the head of acting at NIDA, and the head of directing at AFTRS.