Born: Established: 1944 Shanghai,
Actor and script-writer.
From the late 1960s, Serge Lazareff was a regular actor in Australian television programs, appearing in such series as The Rovers (1969-1970), The Long Arm (1970), The Thursday Creek Mob (1971), Spyforce (1973), Boney (1972-1973), Ryan (1973), Matlock Police (1972-1974), The Rise and Fall of Wellington Boots (1975), Division 4 (1971-1975), McManus MPB (1976), The Lost Islands (1976), Homicide (1970-1977), The Outsiders (1977), Bluey (1976-1977), The Young Doctors (1977), Chopper Squad (1979), Glenview High (1979), Bellamy (1981), Sons and Daughters (1982), Carson's Law (1983), Special Squad (1984), Five Mile Creek (1985), A Country Practice (1982-1987), The Dirtwater Dynasty (1988), Richmond Hill (1988), E Street (1989), and G.P. (1991).
Although he played small roles (in long-running series, such as The Rovers and Matlock Police, indeed, he played multiple small, discrete roles across a period of some years), he also played substantial roles in such programs as Dynasty (Christopher Mason, 1970-1971), The Spoiler (Teddy, 1972), Cash and Company (Sam Cash, 1975), Young Ramsay (Ray Turner, 1977-1980), and Prisoner (David Andrews, 1981).
His last substantial television role was in Heartbreak High, on which he was working as a writer at the time.
He also appeared in a number of films, including Ned Kelly (1970), Three to Go (1971), Flashpoint (1972), Sidecar Racers (1975), The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975), Eliza Fraser (1976), Say You Want Me (1977), Rusty Bugles (1981), The Best of Friends (1982), The Departure (1986), Great Expectations: The Untold Story (1986), The Lighthorsemen (1987), and Luigi's Ladies (1989).
Since the late 1980s, Lazareff has worked more as a script-writer than as an actor. The programs to which he has contributed scripts or on which he was worked as a script editor include Neighbours, Mission Top Secret, Water Rats, Heartbreak High, All Saints, Head Start, Home and Away, and E Street.
Further Reference
'Serge Lazareff: Writer and Actor [interview]'. Heartbreak-High.com (http://www.heartbreak-high.com/crewinterview_serge.htm) (Sighted: 22/10/2012)
One of Australia's highest rating dramas, All Saints is a Logie Award-winning Australian medical drama set in the fictional All Saints Western General Hospital in suburban Sydney. The stories originally focused on the nursing staff of Ward 17 run by Nursing Unit Manager Terri Sullivan. It was sometimes referred to as the 'garbage ward' because it took the overflow of patients.
In 2004 Network Seven producers overhauled the series in an effort to increase the show's gradually dwindling audience. They achieved this by closing down Ward 17 and transferring some of the staff to the Emergency Department managed by Frank Campion. Several other new lead characters were also introduced. The changes also saw the storylines begin to focus more on the lives of the doctors and nurses.
Another significant change to the series came in early 2009 when the producers introduced the Medical Response Unit. Central to this development was the helicopter which took doctors to rescue situations outside the hopsital and which in turn brought patients to the All Saints Emergency Department. The show's name was also changed at this time to All Saints: Medical Response Unit. The increased production costs created by having scenes shot on location played a part, however, in the series being cancelled mid-year. The series ended with the Emergency Department and Medical Response Unit teams having a dinner to farewell the last remaining original character, Von Ryan on her final day at All Saints.
All Saints was popular in many countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and Iran.
Water Rats is an Australian police television series which was broadcast on the Nine Network between 1996 and 2001. The series was based around the men and women of the Sydney Water Police who fight crime across Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney Harbour.
A one-hour soap opera focusing on life in a gritty inner-city suburb.