Lex Marinos

Lex Marinos OAM
Marinos in 2014
Born	Alexander Francis Marinos (1949-02-01)1 February 1949 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
Died	13 September 2024(2024-09-13) (aged 75) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, radio presenter
Years active	1967−2017

Alexander Francis Marinos OAM (1 February 1949 – 13 September 2024) was an Australian actor and television director, radio personality and voice artist. He was most notable for his role as Bruno, the Italian son-in-law of Ted Bullpitt, in the 1980s Australian comedy television series Kingswood Country, and as host of "Late Night Legends" on ABC2. With Ted Robinson, he was also a presenter on radio station 2JJ (Double Jay), now Triple J, in the late 1970s.

Biography

Marinos was born on 1 February 1949 in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, the son of a Greek immigrant father, Fotios ("Frank") Marinopoulos and Greek-Australian mother, Anne Karofilis, who was the daughter of Adonis ("Tony") Karofilis, a Greek migrant from Kasos, Greece and Minnie Matheson, an Australian of Scottish and English origin, with descent going back to Marinos's maternal great-great-great-grandparents, Samuel Bradley, a convict, and Marian Mortimer, a free emigrant, who arrived in Hobart, Tasmania, in the 19th century.

Marinos' maternal grandparents, Adonis and Minnie, owned Greek café's in towns across the Riverina region of New South Wales, including Wagga Wagga and The Rock, and also in the town of Bogan Gate. He graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in Drama. In the late 1970s, he began presenting on the ABC youth radio station 2JJ, later becoming a presenter on ABC Local Radio, including the show "Late Night Legends".

In 1980, he was cast as Bruno in the television comedy, Kingswood Country, the role for which he is most famous.

Marinos died in Sydney on 13 September 2024, aged 75, after a two-decade battle with leukemia. His family announced on social media that he died "peacefully... at home, at a moment of his choosing, surrounded by family and the sounds of Bob Dylan."

Honours and awards

Marinos was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1994 for "service to the performing arts as an actor, director and writer." He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001. He was also a former Deputy Chair of the Australia Council and the Community Cultural Development Fund of the Australia Council.

In 2008, he delivered the tenth annual Tom Brock Lecture, on the history of Australian immigration and rugby league.

In 2012, the cast of The Slap, including Marinos, received the Equity Award for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Movie or Mini-Series.

Filmography

As on-screen participant

Year	Title	Role
	The Rovers
1972	The Aunty Jack Show
1972	Switched On Set	Presenter
1975	Scattergood: Friend of All
1975	Matlock Police	Kevin Hanson
	King's Men
1978	Chopper Squad
1979	Cathy's Child	Con Havros
1980	Kingswood Country	Bruno (1979–1984)
1981	Hoodwink
1983	Goodbye Paradise	Con
1984	City West	Tim Pappas
1988	Pandemonium	Detective Sergeant Dick Dickerson
1990	Embassy	Tariq Abdullah (1991–92)
1991–1994	Live and Sweaty	Lex "the Swine" Marinos
1992	The Last Days of Chez Nous	Angelo
1993	A Country Practice
1993	Bedevil	Dimitri
1996	Water Rats	Bellamy
2000	Pizza	Lawyer
2005	Lunchtime	Narrator
2011	The Slap	Manolis
2014	Rake	Spiro
2017	Glitch	Steve Tripidakis

As director

Year	Title
1984	Bodyline
1985	Remember Me
1985	An Indecent Obsession
1987	Perhaps Love
1987	Hard Knuckle
1988	Boundaries of the Heart
1992	Gillies and Company
1994	A Country Practice

External links

• Lex Marinos at IMDb