Alexander ‘Lex’ Marinos, awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1994 for service to the performing arts as an actor, director and writer, has died aged 75.
He is remembered as a tireless advocate for community empowerment, an inspirational mentor for younger actors, a champion of diversity in the arts, a firm but caring teacher, and a warm and caring friend to many.
Marinos died on Friday 13 September, “at home, at a moment of his choosing, surrounded by family and the sounds of Bob Dylan accompanying our vigil. There was so much love in the room,” a statement posted by his family on social media announced.
He had previously been diagnosed with leukaemia in 2005, a condition which he managed successfully, but which returned in 2023.
Born in Wagga Wagga, NSW on 1 February 1949, Marinos was the son of a Greek immigrant father, Fotios ‘Frank’ Marinopoulos and Greek-Australian mother, Anne Karofilis (whose convict roots were previously explored in the TV series Who Do You Think You Are) and grew up around his family’s Greek cafés in the Riverina region of New South Wales.
He went on to study a Bachelor of Arts at the University of New South Wales, graduating with honours in Drama, and in the late 1970s became an ABC radio broadcaster with 2JJ, the precursor to Triple J.
A renaissance man
As an actor, his early roles included Ahmed in Alex Buzo’s landmark play Norm and Ahmed in a 1970 production at Playbox Theatre (Phillip Street) in Sydney, a 1976 production of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties at the Melbourne Theatre Company’s Russell Street Theatre, and a touring production of George Hutchinson’s No Room For Dreamers produced by Ensemble Theatre, which played at multiple venues in Australia and the UK, including Edinburgh, in 1980.
His most recent stage performance was in Saman Shad’s The Marriage Agency at Kings Cross Theatre in September 2022.
Marinos’ breakthrough role was as the Italian-Australian character Bruno on the television sitcom Kingswood Country from 1980-1984, a milestone moment of representation for non-Anglo Australians at the time.
Speaking about the role in 2021 with the Greek community newspaper Neos Kosmos, Marinos recalled: “It did provide a focal point for kids who were ‘Other’, and to see someone representing them on TV became not a responsibility of sorts, but I became aware of it.”
He also appeared in numerous other television programs, including 1992’s The Last Days of Chez Nous, 2011’s The Slap (based on the Christos Tsiolkas novel of the same name), Rake (2014) and the recent reboot of sitcom Mother and Son (2023).
Writing about his creative process in Platform Papers 53, The Jobbing Actor: Rules of Engagement regarding his development of his character in The Slap (that of Manolis, the ageing father of one of the protagonists), Marinos wrote: “I began my preparation by re-reading the novel, gathering all the information about Manolis in order to build his back story. I began my wider research using the massive archive about Greek Australians that my friends, photographer Effy Alexakis and historian Leonard Janiszewski, had accumulated. I listened tearfully to some interviews Leonard had done with Dad. I talked to Christos’ father and tried to capture some of his vocal mannerisms. I looked at photos and listened to Greek music from the period. Until I felt I knew Manolis.”
Read: Lex Marinos on The Actor’s Role
As a stage actor, Marinos worked with a variety of Australian companies, including Belvoir and its precursor Nimrod, STC (Sydney Theatre Company) and the MTC (Melbourne Theatre Company).
Paying tribute to Marinos, a Belvoir spokesperson said: “Lex was a renaissance man. He was prepared to do the hard work of supporting the arts at the Australia Council; he did radio, was a commentator, a writer, an advocate and always an enthusiast.
“As an actor he brought humour and seriousness in equal measure, with a very Australian energy in the rehearsal room, the theatre and the pub afterwards. He knew our stages well, in the Nimrod days in productions such as Hamlet on Ice and The Tooth of Crime, and for Belvoir in a diverse array of shows; Ruben Guthrie, Ngapartji Ngapartji, Beyond the Neck and, most recently, The Sugar House, where in classic Belvoir fashion he played a dizzying succession of roles, from a world weary policeman to a retired refinery-worker patriarch.”
Embracing challenge and change
In 1996, Marinos was approached to be a founding member of Wodonga’s newly-established HotHouse Theatre (which was then in the process of reinventing itself after 16 years as the Murray River Performing Group).
As writer, director, artistic director, teacher, consultant and Vision Australia Radio broadcaster Chris Thompson recalls: “When we approached [Lex] in 1996 to be a founding member of the brand new HotHouse Theatre Artistic Directorate he said ‘yes’ straightaway – well, almost straightaway. First of all he asked who’d come up with this stupid idea of a regional theatre company being run by 12 artistic directors instead of one – then he laughed in a way that said this was a challenge he wasn’t going to miss out on and jumped right in (along with Roger Hodgman, Chris Corbett, Kim Durban, Marion Potts, Philip Piggin, Alison Stievan-Taylor, Trevor Matthews, Audray Banfield, Meg Simpson and Julianne Long).
“They were exhilarating days when everything seemed possible and Lex’s acerbic wit and wisdom, and willingness to have a crack, along with a decent sense of naughtiness and a touch of the s**t stirrer, was a key factor in what made that room tick. He was a good person to have in a tight spot, a good person to learn from, a good person to hear tell stories, just a good person. Very sad that he’s gone,” Thompson said.
Director, advocate and teacher
In addition to his acting and advocacy work, Marinos also directed films including An Indecent Obsession and Boundaries of the Heart, the television programs Bodyline and Embassy, and a number of documentaries and theatre productions. His writings appeared in The Bulletin, The Weekend Australian, and Good Weekend.
In July 1995 he joined the Australia Council for the Arts and was appointed Chair of the Community Cultural Development Board, overseeing the Australia Council’s community cultural activities. He served as Deputy Chair of the Australia Council from 1997-1998 and later continued his association with the Council for many years, hosting and facilitating forums for the Community Cultural Development Board.
Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette AM said: “Lex was a force for good in everything he turned his hand to. A brilliant actor, director and broadcaster, and to many at Creative Australia (formerly the Australia Council for the Arts), he was a much-loved and admired colleague. He continued and developed a long-standing and proud tradition of support and advocacy for the arts and cultural needs of ethnic and social groups within Australia. Our thoughts are with Lex’s family, friends and all those who had the privilege of working with him. He will be greatly missed.”
Marinos was also a skilled drama teacher. Speaking with ArtsHub in 2016, he revealed the challenges of preparing his students for the sometimes brutal realities of life as an actor, especially regarding rehearsals.
“It’s a difficult paradox and the irony is that we want people to expose themselves and be vulnerable, yet at the same time there is so much about the business that is hard. The fact that you will go to audition after audition and you won’t get the job and you’ll continually get feedback that you’re not good enough, that you’re too this or too that and you’re not getting the role… You have to be tough. You have to develop a mental strength and learn to deal with rejection,” he explained.
A memorial service for Lex Marinos will be held in the coming weeks.
