Graham Dunnett Robertson, December 13, 1930-November 10, 2025.
One of Canberra’s most-loved theatre personalities, Graham Robertson, has died at Clare Holland House after a short illness, surrounded by family. He was 94.
A respected teacher and former principal of Farrer Primary School, Robertson was also a long-time contributor to Canberra’s vibrant theatre scene.
Together with his late wife, the pianist Norma Robertson – who predeceased him earlier this year — he raised a blended family of eight children, four each from their previous marriages, all while leading a busy life as a headmaster.
Robertson’s long performance history spanned everything from Lola Montez during the Bicentennial year to Canberra Rep’s Old Time Music Halls, where he became a familiar comedian. He also shone as a straight actor in productions such as Pride and Prejudice and The One Day of the Year.
In later life, he became celebrated for his interpretations of Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett. In Geoffrey Borny’s 2009 production of Krapp’s Last Tape at Tuggeranong Arts Centre, he won a Canberra Critics’ Circle Award and one critic praised that performance as being “punctuated with perfect delivery of Beckett’s dry humour”.
He was equally admired in the 2015 production of Tuesdays with Morrie at The Q, where he was credited with making the ageing professor Morrie Schwartz “so real as to allow the audience to forget they were watching a play”.
Possessed of a strong sense of humour, Robertson – who enjoyed a glass of red to the very end – also liked to claim the title of proud president of the Veteran Thespian Golf Society.
He is survived by his eight children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at Gold Creek Chapel on November 18, followed by a celebration at Canberra Repertory Theatre.
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