Songwriter, musician, actor, writer.
Rory O'Donoghue's parents were both active in English theatre, and specialised in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. They immigrated to Australia when Rory was about seven years old, and not surprisngly he too became involved in theatre from an early age. His first professional role was that of the Artful Dodger in a production of Oliver. While a student at Marist Brothers High School in North Sydney, he also led a four piece rock band called The Pogs.
In the mid-1960s O'Donoghue was asked by University of Sydney architecture student, Grahame Bond, to help out with the music for a univerity revuew. The pair kept in contact over the next seven years an in 1971 they worked together to create a series of sketches for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) that were broadcast as part of the half-hour television program The Comedy Game. One of the earliest episodes was a skit around about a character best described as a cross between a pantomime dame and a stand-over man. The sketch successfully transitioned into a series format for two years (1971-72) as The Aunty Jack Show. The show's principle characters were Aunty Jack and Errol (both played by Bond) and Thin Arthur and Neil (both played by O'Donoghue). Several musical recordings were released by the Aunty Jack Team, notably the album Aunty Jack Sings Wollongong (1974) and several singles - including the theme song and a duet by Neil and Errol called 'The Last Refrain' (1974).
In 1974 O'Donoghue collaborated with Grahame Bond and Tim Gooding on the stage production of Wollongong The Brave. It was to be produced by the ABC the following year. Only four episodes were made, however. Others to work creatively on the show were director Ted Robinson and comic actor Gary McDonald. Essentially a satirical comedy set in and about the southern NSW steel city, Wollongong The Brave the show marked the debut of McDonald's brilliant character, Norman Gunston, as well as Bond's own Kev Kavanagh. 1974 also saw the pair write the music for a pantomime Hamlet on Ice, which premiered at the Nimrod Theatre. Its 1975 revival was described as 'a jest at Shakespeare's Hamlet and Australian manhood among other things.'
The release of the film Fatty Finn in 1980 saw he and Rory O'Donoghue win an AFI Award for their collaboration on the film's soundtrack. In 1988 they again teamed up, this time for in order to present a cabaret two-man show.
