Steve J. Spears

Writer | Actor

Steve J. Spears was an international award-winning writer, playwright, and performer whose career spanned stage, screen, and television. Steve began his creative career after abandoning law studies in Adelaide, quickly establishing himself across the worlds of comedy, theatre, music, and television.

His best-known theatrical work, The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, starring Gordon Chater premiered at the Nimrod in 1976 and went on to become an international success, touring three continents and winning the OBIE Award for Best Play Off-Broadway in 1979, as well as the AWGIE Award for Best Play in 1976. His plays, Froggie and Young Mo, also received high acclaim, with Froggie winning the Cleveland Critics Circle Award in the USA in 1985 and Young Mo earning the National Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Talent and Best Play in 1976. Other notable theatrical works, many of which were published by Currency Press, Outback Press, and Yackandandah Press, included Glory, When They Send Me Three and Fourpence, Namatjira Park, Africa, Those Dear Departed, and King Richard, his adaptation of which won Steve an AWGIE for Best Radio Adaptation in 1979.

In television, Steve wrote the episodes The Big Wish and Mr. Edmunds for the anthology series Winners (Network Ten). The Big Wish won the Festival Award for Outstanding Humour at the Chicago International Festival of Children's Films in 1990 and was nominated for both Best Children's Television Drama and Best Screenplay in Television Drama at the Australian Film Institute Awards in 1991. Mr. Edmunds was also nominated for Best Children's Television Drama at the 1991 AFI Awards. Steve also wrote The Greatest Tune on Earth for the Australian Children's Television Foundation, which received a Certificate of Merit at the 1990 Penguin Awards. Other television writing credits included Heartbreak High, E Street, A Country Practice, Neighbours, Hey Dad!, Chances, All Together Now, Skytrackers, Genie From Down Under, Ketchup, and Pig’s Breakfast.

Steve's talents also extended to the screen as an actor, with roles in Mad Max 2, The Empty Beach, and Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train. On stage, he appeared in productions of Hamlet, The Rocky Horror Show, On Our Selection, and Balmain Boys Don’t Cry.

In his later career, Steve authored a series of comedic murder mysteries featuring the showbiz lady detective Stella Pentangeli, including Murder at the Fortnight, Murder by Manuscript, and Innocent Murders.

Steve J. Spears passed away in 2007.

For enquiries regarding Steve J. Spears’ estate, please contact us via email or on 02 9319 7199.