Steve Vizard
Encyclopedia
Stephen William Vizard, born 6 March 1956 in Richmond, Victoria
, is an Australia
n media personality, comedian, businessman and writer.
and was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School
. His father, Godfrey, had been a Patrol Officer in Papua New Guinea
in the early 1950s and had been involved in exploring and mapping the uncharted Gulf region around Kerema, including making first contact with native Kukukuku.
As a teenager, Stephen was raised on a bush property in the rural suburb of Warrandyte.
After finishing high school in 1973, Vizard won a scholarship to study Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne
.
From 1981 to 1986, Vizard practised law as a partner in a Melbourne City law firm and until 1988 worked as an international commercial negotiator for multinational RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc), mainly in Britain and Germany.
, Glenn Robbins
, Peter Moon
and Paul Grabowsky
, who would later work with Vizard as the band leader on his Tonight show.
From 1979 for six years Vizard was the Voiceover man for the iconic racing show Punter to Punter, starring Trevor Marmalade
, Dr Turf and Con Marasco, on community radio station Triple R.
In 1985 Vizard wrote and produced a feature film, The Bit Part, starring Nicole Kidman
, for which he was nominated for a Writers Guild award for Best Feature Film Screenplay.
In 1987 he was the Head Writer and a key performer on the groundbreaking television sketch comedy show, The Eleventh Hour, which kickstarted the television careers of Vizard, Maryanne Fahey, Mark Mitchell, Glenn Robbins
, Ian McFadyen
and Peter Moon
.
In 1987, Vizard performed in the first Melbourne International Comedy Festival
, launched by Peter Cook; and was one of the hosts of the Comedy Festival Gala in 1991.
In 1989, Vizard established, wrote and produced the hit primetime sketch comedy series Fast Forward. The series, which brought together the talents of some of the country's best performers, including Vizard, Peter Moon, Marg Downey
, Jane Turner
, Gina Riley
and Ernie Dingo
, and was Australia's highest rating comedy series. Fast Forward, and its successor programme, Full Frontal
, ran for 10 years and the show and its cast accumulated 14 Logie
awards (including Eric Bana
for best Comedy talent). Fast Forward was distributed internationally and in the UK screened on BBC1.
Steve Vizard is best known for playing character roles on Fast Forward, as advertising guru Brent Smyth (with Peter Moon), Darryl ( the gay airline Stewards, with Michael Veitch), 'Fakari' rug salesman Roger Ramshett (with Peter Moon), and Newsreaders Dirk Hartog. He also performed myriad impersonations, most notably of Derryn Hinch, Richard Carleton, Don Lane, Ian Turpie, George Donikian, Geoffrey Robertson and even Gough Whitlam in one instance. He also scripted and acted in Fast Forward's memorable send-ups of popular TV shows such as The Cosby Show
, Kung Fu
and The Munsters
.
Between 1990 and 1994 Vizard hosted his own top rating nightly national tonight show, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard
. He interviewed over a thousand guests including including Bob Hope
, Tim Robbins, Mel Gibson
, Chevy Chase
, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Steve Allen
, Barry Humphries
, Lou Rawls, Tom Jones
, Brit Ekland, Cleo Laine, Tiny Tim, Kylie Minogue
, Brigette Neilson, Audrey Hepburn
, Elle Macpherson, Shirley MacLaine
, Alice Cooper, BB King, Rob Lowe
, Dionne Warwick, Patrick Swayze
, Jerry Hall, Kirk Douglas
, Olivia Newton-John, Phil Collins, Sir Bob Geldof, Peter Allen, Sir Peter Ustinov, David Bellamy, Kim Wilde, Michael Aspel, Sally Field
, Charles Dance
, Whoopi Goldberg
, John Thaw, Quincy Jones
, Priscilla Presley, Robert Downey Jnr, Mickey Rooney, Martin Sheen, M C Hammer, Lyn Redgrave, ZZ Top, Leo McKern, Kathy Bates
, Jane Seymour, Darryl Hannah, Jeremy Irons
, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum, James Wood, Diana Ross, Jackie Collins, Harry Connick Jnr, Sir Harry Secombe, Gloria Estafan, Gerard Depardieu
, George Benson
, Fred Schepsi, Colleen McCullough, Burt Reynolds
, Billy Joel
, Bette Midler, Ben Elton, Phyllis Diller
, Alexei Sayle, Elliot Gould, Oliver Reed
, Oliver Stone
, Macauley Culkin, Spinal Tap, Robin Williams
and Cindy Crawford and various Prime Ministers and politicians.
Tonight Live often broadcast from overseas locations including Barcelona, London, New York. It featured a jazz band led by internationally recognised jazz composer and pianist, Paul Grabowsky. The show was said to have borrowed from the format used in Late Night with David Letterman
, although Vizard was off the air by the time Nine Network decided to commence screening Letterman in Australia.
By 1994, when he retired from his on-air roles, Vizard had appeared on the cover of numerous publications, from Time
to Rolling Stone
. Vizard was nominated for a Gold Logie
on four occasions, winning a Gold Logie as Australia's most popular television performer in 1991. Prior to his retirement as a performer, he won three further Logies
as Australia's most Popular Television Presenter as well as 4 Television Society Awards, a Variety Club for Best Comedy Artiste and a Rolling Stone
Magazine Award for Best Television Performer.
Vizard hosted many awards nights and concerts including the 1992 Logie Awards, the Bali Bombing Memorial Concert and the 1995 nationally televised 50th Anniversary of the End of World War Two Concert. During Vizard's hosting of the 1994 Australian Film Institute Awards, he joked about Australian screen legend Bill Hunter
, who had appeared in several nominated movies that year, "each and every nominated film must feature Bill Hunter. This is a pro-rata rule . . . Short films may enter into a Bill Hunter-sharing arrangement."
In 1998 Vizard performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
, narrating Saint-Saens Carnival Of The Animals.
. From 1989 to 2002 when Vizard retired as Chairman, Artist Services grew to one of the three largest production companies in Australia.
During that time Vizard and Knight acted as Executive Producers of over 1400 hours of prime time television shows including several series of Seachange
, the ABCs highest rating drama series, and several award winning mini series such as Kangaroo Palace
. He was the Executive Producer of Big Girl's Blouse
starring Jane Turner
, Gina Riley, Magda Szubanski
and Marg Downey, which created and first showcased the popular comedic characters Kath and Kim.
In 1996, Vizard’s Artist Services founded and owned with Foxtel
, the comedy channel. During Vizard’s chairmanship, the comedy channel produced and broadcast over 80 hours each year of original Australian programming, commissioning emerging writers and performers including This Is Gary Petty (starring Brian Nankervis
, Francis Greenslade, Matt Cameron ); Off Road (starring Lawrence Mooney); The Fifty Foot Show (starring Paul Fennech and Kitty Flanagan
); Home and Hosed (starring Shane Bourne, Bob Franklin and Ross Daniels); Small Tales and True ( Roz Hammond and Robyn Butler). Vizard remained Chairman of the comedy channel until 2001
As Executive Producer, Artist Services shows have been distributed internationally and received numerous awards including over 20 Logies, a dozen AFI
, Writers Guild and Television Society awards and an International Emmy nomination.
Together with his Partner Andrew Knight, Vizard developed and was the Executive Producer of several feature films including The Sound Of One Hand Clapping (based on the award winning novel by Richard Flanagan
) and Dead Letter Office (starring Miranda and Barry Otto).
In 1995, Vizard sold half of the shares in his company Artist Services to John Fairfax Holdings
for a reported sum of AUD$9 million (1995). In 2000 Vizard sold his remaining 50% shares in Artist Services to UK based media company Granada
Media plc. for a reputed $25 million. Vizard remained as Chairman until 2002 when he resigned to spend more time on other business and creative interests.
Since 2002, Vizard has been involved in advising emerging Australian talent. He was a consultant to Network Tens comedy show,The Wedge, casting and working with Rebel Wilson
, Jason Ghan, Adam Zwier.
From 2003 he has been a consultant to one of Australia’s largest talent management companies, Profile Talent, whose clients include Hamish and Andy, Dannii Minogue
, Matt Preston
, Andrew O’Keefe and Sonia Kruger
.
In 2010, Vizard Executive Produced a reality series about Dannii Minogue
, “Dannii Minogue: Style Queen”, which was coproduced with ITV and broadcast in the UK on ITV
and in Australia on Foxtel.
In 1996, was appointed a Director of the telecommunications company Telstra Corporation Limited
, a position he held until his decision to retire from 17 September 2000 and not stand for re-election to the board
As President of the Screen Producers Association of Australia from 1995 to 1997, Vizard was an advocate for the establishment by the Australian Government of the Australian Commercial Television Production Fund to produce high quality Australian television drama telemovies and series. Vizard subsequently served on the Board of the ACTPF from 1995 to 1998.
Vizard has been an advocate for promoting Australian-made content on Australian television, radio and media. In delivering his 1999 Andrew Olle Media Lecture
, Vizard advocated the need to maintain Australian quotas for all Australian commercial television networks as well as proposing that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, the National Broadcaster, should be more fully funded and should commission and broadcast exclusively Australian content.
In 1998, Vizard was elected as a delegate for his home state of Victoria to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
in Canberra, representing the Australian Republican Movement
. After the constitutional convention, Vizard wrote the book Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention (ISBN 0140279830). The book became a best seller and was a prescribed text on the NSW HSC syllabus.
From 1998 to 2005, Vizard was the President of the Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria
, Australia's oldest and most richly endowed Art Museum, founded in 1858. Under Vizard's presidency, the Gallery commenced and completed two extensive public Museum building programs: the $150 million renovation of the International Gallery to house the International collection, including the 100 European masterpieces, Rembrandt to Picasso valued at over $2 billion; and the $400 million construction and opening of the new Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the only major public art gallery in the world dedicated to Australian art.
From 2001 to 2005, Vizard was Chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company which attracts major sporting, arts and cultural events to Victoria and Australia.
During Vizard's chairmanship events won by VMEC for Australia included the World Cycling Championships, World Gymnastics Championships, World Cup Soccer Qualifiers, International Rugby Tests, the renewal of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix
, World Superbike Championships
, World Swimming Championships, Mercedes Australian Fashion Week
, and others.
In February 2002 Vizard was the Convenor with the Premier of Victoria of a National Population Summit at which 50 of Australia's most prominent leaders spoke to over 1,000 delegates in a bipartisan debate about all aspects of Australia's population. The bipartisan resolutions from the Summit and the speeches were edited by Vizard and published by Penguin in Australia's Population Debate.
Other organisations with which he has acted as a Director or a Trustee include Film Australia
, Australian Children's Television Foundation
and the Transport Accident Corporation.
From 1997 to 2005,Vizard served as a Member of the Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club
.
, Graham Kennedy Treasures : Friends Remember the King (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008, ISBN 9780522855456) which he co-wrote with veteran writer, Mike McColl-Jones
.
Other books include Best Australian Humorous Writing (with Andrew O'Keefe, MUP, 2008), Australia's Population Challenge (with Hugh J. Martin and Tim Watts, Penguin, 2003,ISBN 0143001132); Two Weeks in Lilliput (Penguin, 1998), an account of Vizard's experiences attending the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention; Fast forward, the book : the complete guide to 3000 years of television (ISBN014013400); and The Top seven lists from 'Tonight live with Steven Vizard' (ISBN1863301623).
Vizard's one man play Coles Funny Picture Man, based on the life of the eccentric Victorian bookseller Edward William Cole
, was performed by AFI
award winning actor Norman Kaye
.
Vizard has been the recipient of an Australia Council
grant for Poetry and a University of Melbourne Writers Fellowship. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Feature Film Screenplay in 1985; and won ( as a co-writer) Writers Guild Awards for Best Comedy Television in 1989, 1990, 1992 1nd 1993.
, a position he held until his decision to retire on 17 September 2000 and not stand for re-election to the board.
After his retirement from Telstra, Vizard became involved in a number of legal proceedings, primarily related to the activities of his former bookkeeper, Roy Hilliard. In 2001 the Vizard family reported to the Police money missing from their family accounts, and Hilliard was subsequently charged with stealing and falsifying the accounts of the Vizard family companies, and in 2005 Hilliard was convicted of falsifying accounts. This led to Hilliards conviction and three year suspended jail sentence. Hillard also faced civil action related to the allegations of misappropriating money from the Vizard companies, with Vizard's bank Westpac
commencing civil proceedings in 2001. Westpac had conducted an investigation of the fraud and paid out to Vizard's companies some of the money the bookkeeper had taken, and then sued the bookkeeper to recover some of the costs. Vizard was a witness in Westpac's action. In December 2006, the Supreme Court of Victoria found in favour of Westpac and ordered Hilliard to repay over $2 million dollars in funds misappropriated from the Vizards to the bank plus interest. The judge also rejected claims Hilliard had made against Vizard relating to the use of overseas tax havens and that Hilliard had returned the stolen monies to Vizard. In September 2009, an Appeal by Hilliard against the judgement against him was rejected by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which affirmed that Hilliard had misappropriated over $3 million from Vizard, rejected Hilliard's claims against Vizard, and ordered Hilliard to repay the missing moneys and costs.
The third legal action involved Vizard directly and arose out of allegations made in 2003 at the criminal trial of his former bookkeeper Hilliard. Hilliard alleged that Vizard had insider traded while a director of Telstra. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission
(ASIC) followed-up the allegations with an 18 month investigation, including searching Vizard's home and office in December 2003. After the 18 month investigation, ASIC formally advised that it would not continue the investigation, that it had no evidence sufficient to prosecute Vizard for inside trading or any other crime.
Separately, in 2005 ASIC said it would commence civil proceedings against Vizard for breaching his director's duties. The case of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was that Vizard had breached Sections 183 and 232 of the Corporations Act of 2001 (Cwth). ASIC made no allegations of dishonesty against Vizard in those civil proceedings.
Vizard and ASIC settled the civil proceedings in 2005 on the basis that Vizard would not contest them, that ASIC made no allegations of dishonesty against Vizard, that a fine of $390,000 be imposed and Vizard agree to be disqualified from acting as a company director for 5 years. The penalties imposed on Vizard were part of a civil settlement agreed between him and ASIC. That settlement took the form of an "agreed statement of facts" jointly presented to the Federal Court by Vizard's and ASIC's lawyers, and Vizard agreeing the court should impose penalties for a breach of his duties as a director. In his judgement handed down on 28 July 2005, The Hon Justice Raymond Antony Finkelstein
found that Vizard had in fact breached Sections 183 and 232 of the Corporations Act of 2001 (Cwlth) through his activities. ASIC proposed a $130,000 fine per offence and 5 years disqualification. Justice Finkelstein disregarded the agreement reached between ASIC and Vizard and instead ordered a disqualification of 10 years, on the grounds that 5 was insufficient.
On 28 July 2005, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions formally announced that they had elected not to proceed with the criminal case against Vizard. In a media release, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg QC along with ASIC Chairman Jeff Lucy vigorously denied assertions by some sections of the media that they had "gone soft" on Vizard on account of his admissions during the civil penalty phase of the proceedings. At the time Vizard's admissions were made, they "were unavailable from a prosecutorial viewpoint", and they were made well after his office had determined that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
One of the key issues in the case was that the trades in question had not been made by Vizard, but instead by a company called CTI of which Vizard's accountant
Gregory Lay was the sole shareholder and director. A Vizard family company lent CTI money to invest and had an agreement to receive back proceeds (less a management fee). This structure meant that in order for a criminal prosecution to be mounted, ASIC would have required evidence from Lay to connect Vizard to the trades. Lay gave detailed evidence to ASIC but declined to make a further formal statement, or not without a full indemnity for himself and his firm. The DPP could not (under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983) give an indemnity without first knowing what it would be indemnifying him against.
Bugg also explained that, contrary to speculation, as a matter of policy the DPP would not bring a prosecution and subpoena
witnesses (such as Lay) in the hope of what they might say; it would undermine confidence in the justice system to start a prosecution merely hoping that critical evidence would become available.
The head of ASIC, Jeff Lucy, conceded that there was never a criminal case against Vizard and that the media outrage was caused by ASIC's failure to properly communicate the full facts to the media.
Since its establishment in 1991, Vizard House has provided over 20,000 room nights free accommodation for needy people visiting inner Melbourne hospitals.
From 1992 to 2002, the Foundation worked with the The Ian Potter Museum of Art
, University of Melbourne to support Australian artists. The collection of Australian art is permanently housed at the University of Melbourne. On 27 April 1994, the Vizard Foundation purchased 45 antiquities from an auction held by Christie's of London. These items are on permanent loan to the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne.
In 1991, Vizard purchased from Lord Alistair McAlpine the iconic Australian painting First Class Marksman by Sidney Nolan
, the only painting of the original 1945 Ned Kelly Series not owned and on public display in the National Gallery of Australia
. Vizard donated the painting to the Vizard Foundation and the painting was on public display in the National Gallery of Victoria
. In 2010, the Vizard Foundation sold the work for an Australian record of $5.4 million and committed the proceeds for charitable purposes, including indigenous scholarships.
In 1997, Vizard was a founding trustee with Walter Mikac
of the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation, to assist in education against violence to children.
In 1997, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, for service to the community, particularly through the Vizard Foundation, and to the arts. In 2008, three years after settling the civil legal proceedings with ASIC, Vizard voluntarily handed back his membership of the Order of Australia.
In 2002, he received the Australian Father Of The Year award
.
In 2004 Vizard was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Deakin University
Australia.
’s, Foxtel comedy series, The Jesters.
He has appeared as a regular weekly panellist on Channel Ten's prime time 7PM Project andThe Project and has filled in for one of the shows hosts, Dave Hughes
. He was a panellist and interviewer on the 7PM Project’s controversial interview with St Kilda sex scandal schoolgirl Kim in which the interviewers were clearly sceptical about her attempts to withdraw her previous allegations—the show aired her post-interview confession that she had just lied to them.
In July 2011, Vizard appeared in the movie Beaconsfield, playing the late 60 Minutes reporter Richard Carleton
in the drama about the Beaconsfield Mine collapse
in Tasmania and the rescue of miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb 14 days later.
In 2010, Vizard was nominated for a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contribution to the Film & Television Industry. Other nominees for the award included Rob Sitch
, Andrew Denton
, Brian Walsh, Kim Williams, Penny Chapman, the Fennessy brothers and Posie Graham Evans.
At the 2006 Logie Awards, Vizard appeared with long-time collaborator Michael Veitch
in a sketch that reprised one of their most famous roles, that of two camp, bitchy airline stewards. Their sketch lampooned Vizard's recent legal troubles.
In 1998, Vizard was an elected as a delegate for his home state of Victoria
at the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
in Canberra
, representing the Australian Republican Movement
. After the constitutional convention, Vizard wrote the book Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention (ISBN 0140279830).
, filling in for Eddie McGuire
who was in Vancouver
covering the Winter Olympics
.
In March 2010, Vizard signed with Melbourne's new talkback station, MTR 1377 where he is presenting Mornings.
Since his first radio program aired on Monday 19 April 2010, Steve has interviewed more than 1000 guests, including Academy Award-winning directors Peter Weir and Tom Hooper
, director of The Kings Speech, authors Jeffrey Archer, Booker Prize-winning Tom Kenneally, Jackie Collins, Peter Carey, Tim Flannery, Grammy-nominated musicians Josh Groban, Chris Botti, George Benson, President of the World Bank James Wolfensohn, Weird Al Yankovic, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Professor Ross Garnaut.
Vizard's radio program is also responsible for breaking news reports including the Christmas Island asylum seekers boat crash tragedy in December 2010. Steve conducted the first interviews with the schoolgirl at the centre of the St Kilda Football Club scandal and with David Galbally QC before the delivery of his report into the players’ scandal. He covered the Chilean mine and pursued the defrocking of convicted priests by the Catholic Church, on behalf of abused victims.
A number of comedians have appeared as guests or regulars on his show including Charlie Pickering, Peter Helliar, Fiona O’Loughlin, Mick Molloy and regular contributors Glenn Robbins, Corinne Grant, George McEncroe, Andrew Goodone and Shaun Micallef
.
Vizard's radio show received 3 nominations at the 2011 Australian Commercial Radio Awards including Best Talk Presenter in Australia.
In 2006 Vizard’s Toorak mansion set a real estate record for Melbourne, Australia when it sold for $17.75 million after Vizard received an unsolicited knock on the door offering to buy the landmark home.
Earlier in 2006, Vizard chased three burglars who had broken into his Orrong Rd Toorak Mansion. Vizard was awakened at 3am by his 16 year old daughter who had seen an intruder in her room, and Vizard pursued the intruders into the street in the nude where he was nearly driven over by the getaway Alfa Romeo. The robber, Richard Lovett who had a lengthy list of 93 prior convictions, was arrested later that day after becoming involved in a fight in which he stabbed a man in the chest, puncturing his lung, and was subsequently sentenced for the robbery to four years by the County Court of Victoria.
Steve Vizards younger brother, Andrew Vizard, is Professor of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne, and is an expert in animal health having served on numerous Boards including Animal Health Australia Ltd,, The Zoological Parks and Gardens of Victoria, and the Australian Wool Corporation.
From 1990, Vizard and his family owned and ran the rural Western Distrct station, Roxby Park, which they operated as a successful superfine wool Merino sheep stud. In 2002, Vizard sold Roxby Park to South Australian Tuna fishing magnate, Tony Santic
, the owner of three time Melbourne Cup winning horse, Makybe Diva
, who renamed the property Smytzer's Lodge, and uses it as the home of his Makybe Diva breeding and bloodstock operations.
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
, is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n media personality, comedian, businessman and writer.
Early life
Vizard was born in Melbourne Australia on 6 March 1956, the son of Godfrey Lancelot Pitt Vizard and June Purtell. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of HawthornHawthorn, Victoria
Hawthorn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara...
and was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, Christian, international, day school consisting of four campuses in Victoria, Australia - Kew , Donvale , the Carey Sports Complex in Bulleen and an outdoor education camp near Paynesville in eastern Gippsland called Carey...
. His father, Godfrey, had been a Patrol Officer in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
in the early 1950s and had been involved in exploring and mapping the uncharted Gulf region around Kerema, including making first contact with native Kukukuku.
As a teenager, Stephen was raised on a bush property in the rural suburb of Warrandyte.
After finishing high school in 1973, Vizard won a scholarship to study Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
.
From 1981 to 1986, Vizard practised law as a partner in a Melbourne City law firm and until 1988 worked as an international commercial negotiator for multinational RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc), mainly in Britain and Germany.
Performing
In 1976, whilst at Melbourne University, Steve Vizard appeared in the Archi Revue and the following year Vizard and fellow University students established, wrote and produced the inaugural University Law Revue. After being spotted in the Uni Revue, Vizard wrote material for the inner Melbourne comedy scene. Between 1976 and 1982, whilst still studying at Melbourne University, Vizard wrote and performed in over a dozen productions, working at such theatres and cabarets as The Last Laugh and the Flying Trapeze with a variety of local performers including Rod Quantock, Wendy HarmerWendy Harmer
Wendy Harmer is an Australian author, writer, radio show host, and comedienne.-Early life and career:...
, Glenn Robbins
Glenn Robbins
Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...
, Peter Moon
Peter Moon (comedian)
Peter Moon is an Australian comedian, best known for writing and performing in the sketch comedy Fast Forward....
and Paul Grabowsky
Paul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
, who would later work with Vizard as the band leader on his Tonight show.
From 1979 for six years Vizard was the Voiceover man for the iconic racing show Punter to Punter, starring Trevor Marmalade
Trevor Marmalade
Trevor Marmalade is the stage name of a comedian from Melbourne, Australia of Dutch descent. Jason grew up in Surrey Hills in Melbourne....
, Dr Turf and Con Marasco, on community radio station Triple R.
In 1985 Vizard wrote and produced a feature film, The Bit Part, starring Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, for which he was nominated for a Writers Guild award for Best Feature Film Screenplay.
In 1987 he was the Head Writer and a key performer on the groundbreaking television sketch comedy show, The Eleventh Hour, which kickstarted the television careers of Vizard, Maryanne Fahey, Mark Mitchell, Glenn Robbins
Glenn Robbins
Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...
, Ian McFadyen
Ian McFadyen
Ian McFadyen is an Australian writer, actor, and director. He is best known as the producer and performer on the Australian television series The Comedy Company which ran from 16 February 1988 to 11 November 1990...
and Peter Moon
Peter Moon (comedian)
Peter Moon is an Australian comedian, best known for writing and performing in the sketch comedy Fast Forward....
.
In 1987, Vizard performed in the first Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
, launched by Peter Cook; and was one of the hosts of the Comedy Festival Gala in 1991.
In 1989, Vizard established, wrote and produced the hit primetime sketch comedy series Fast Forward. The series, which brought together the talents of some of the country's best performers, including Vizard, Peter Moon, Marg Downey
Marg Downey
-Career:Downey first rose to prominence in the sketch comedy program The D-Generation on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the late 1980s. She subsequently appeared in later sketch comedy series with other members of The D-Generation, including Fast Forward, Full Frontal and Something Stupid...
, Jane Turner
Jane Turner
Jane Turner is an Australian actress, comedian and Logie Award winning comedy writer.Turner has appeared in many popular Australian TV programs, namely Prisoner in a straight dramatic role, with comedy roles in sketch comedy programs The D-Generation, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Big Girl's Blouse...
, Gina Riley
Gina Riley
Gina Riley is an Australian actress, writer, singer and comedian.Riley became a popular television performer in the sketch shows Fast Forward, its successor Full Frontal, Big Girl's Blouse and Something Stupid. In the latter she was also a producer and writer...
and Ernie Dingo
Ernie Dingo
Ernie Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor and television presenter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia.-Background:...
, and was Australia's highest rating comedy series. Fast Forward, and its successor programme, Full Frontal
Full Frontal (TV series)
Full Frontal was an Australian sketch comedy series which debuted in 1993. The show first aired on the Seven Network on 13 May 1993, and finished on 18 September 1997....
, ran for 10 years and the show and its cast accumulated 14 Logie
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
awards (including Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
for best Comedy talent). Fast Forward was distributed internationally and in the UK screened on BBC1.
Steve Vizard is best known for playing character roles on Fast Forward, as advertising guru Brent Smyth (with Peter Moon), Darryl ( the gay airline Stewards, with Michael Veitch), 'Fakari' rug salesman Roger Ramshett (with Peter Moon), and Newsreaders Dirk Hartog. He also performed myriad impersonations, most notably of Derryn Hinch, Richard Carleton, Don Lane, Ian Turpie, George Donikian, Geoffrey Robertson and even Gough Whitlam in one instance. He also scripted and acted in Fast Forward's memorable send-ups of popular TV shows such as The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
and The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
.
Between 1990 and 1994 Vizard hosted his own top rating nightly national tonight show, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard
Tonight Live With Steve Vizard
Tonight Live with Steve Vizard was a nightly Australian comedy chat show broadcast on Seven Network in Australia. It was a one hour live studio based show broadcast nationally 5 nights a week from February 1990 to November 1993, usually commencing at 10.30 pm every week night...
. He interviewed over a thousand guests including including Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Tim Robbins, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Lou Rawls, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Brit Ekland, Cleo Laine, Tiny Tim, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Brigette Neilson, Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
, Elle Macpherson, Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Alice Cooper, BB King, Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Dionne Warwick, Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
, Jerry Hall, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Olivia Newton-John, Phil Collins, Sir Bob Geldof, Peter Allen, Sir Peter Ustinov, David Bellamy, Kim Wilde, Michael Aspel, Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
, Charles Dance
Charles Dance
Walter Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. His most famous roles are Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown , Dr Clemens, the doctor of penitentiary Fury 161, who becomes Ellen Ripley's confidante in Alien 3 ,...
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, John Thaw, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Priscilla Presley, Robert Downey Jnr, Mickey Rooney, Martin Sheen, M C Hammer, Lyn Redgrave, ZZ Top, Leo McKern, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
, Jane Seymour, Darryl Hannah, Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum, James Wood, Diana Ross, Jackie Collins, Harry Connick Jnr, Sir Harry Secombe, Gloria Estafan, Gerard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Fred Schepsi, Colleen McCullough, Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Bette Midler, Ben Elton, Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
, Alexei Sayle, Elliot Gould, Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
, Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, Macauley Culkin, Spinal Tap, Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
and Cindy Crawford and various Prime Ministers and politicians.
Tonight Live often broadcast from overseas locations including Barcelona, London, New York. It featured a jazz band led by internationally recognised jazz composer and pianist, Paul Grabowsky. The show was said to have borrowed from the format used in Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
, although Vizard was off the air by the time Nine Network decided to commence screening Letterman in Australia.
By 1994, when he retired from his on-air roles, Vizard had appeared on the cover of numerous publications, from Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
to Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone Australia
Rolling Stone Australia is an Australian-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published monthly, it is the Australian edition of the United States' Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone was initially released in Melbourne in May 1970 as a supplement in Revolution, an...
. Vizard was nominated for a Gold Logie
Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television
The Gold Logie Award has been awarded annually to the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the TV Week Logie Awards since 1960...
on four occasions, winning a Gold Logie as Australia's most popular television performer in 1991. Prior to his retirement as a performer, he won three further Logies
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
as Australia's most Popular Television Presenter as well as 4 Television Society Awards, a Variety Club for Best Comedy Artiste and a Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
Magazine Award for Best Television Performer.
Vizard hosted many awards nights and concerts including the 1992 Logie Awards, the Bali Bombing Memorial Concert and the 1995 nationally televised 50th Anniversary of the End of World War Two Concert. During Vizard's hosting of the 1994 Australian Film Institute Awards, he joked about Australian screen legend Bill Hunter
Bill Hunter (actor)
William John "Bill" Hunter was an Australian actor of film, stage and television. He appeared in more than 60 films and won two Australian Film Institute Awards.-Early life:Hunter was a son of William and Francie Hunter...
, who had appeared in several nominated movies that year, "each and every nominated film must feature Bill Hunter. This is a pro-rata rule . . . Short films may enter into a Bill Hunter-sharing arrangement."
In 1998 Vizard performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
, narrating Saint-Saens Carnival Of The Animals.
Film and Television Production
In 1989 Vizard established the independent production company Artist Services with his fellow writer and producer, Andrew KnightAndrew Knight
Andrew Stephen Bower Knight is a journalist, editor, and director of News Corporation.-Career:He joined The Economist Magazine in 1966 on the international business and investment sections...
. From 1989 to 2002 when Vizard retired as Chairman, Artist Services grew to one of the three largest production companies in Australia.
During that time Vizard and Knight acted as Executive Producers of over 1400 hours of prime time television shows including several series of Seachange
SeaChange
SeaChange was a popular Australian television show that ran for 39 episodes from 1998 to 2001 on the ABC. It was created by Andrew Knight and Deborah Cox and starred Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham, William McInnes, John Howard, Tom Long and Kerry Armstrong...
, the ABCs highest rating drama series, and several award winning mini series such as Kangaroo Palace
Kangaroo Palace
Kangaroo Palace is a 1997 drama television movie which aired on Seven Network.- Plot summary :In 1966, Catherine Macaleese is counting the days until she meets her father, a distant childhood memory, and starts a new life with him in England...
. He was the Executive Producer of Big Girl's Blouse
Big Girl's Blouse
Big Girl's Blouse is an Australian skit program that aired in the mid-1990s on the Seven Network. The show was created by Gina Riley, Jane Turner and Magda Szubanski who all went on to star in Kath & Kim. There were four one-hour episodes, plus the pilot, which are usually shown as eight half-hour...
starring Jane Turner
Jane Turner
Jane Turner is an Australian actress, comedian and Logie Award winning comedy writer.Turner has appeared in many popular Australian TV programs, namely Prisoner in a straight dramatic role, with comedy roles in sketch comedy programs The D-Generation, Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Big Girl's Blouse...
, Gina Riley, Magda Szubanski
Magda Szubanski
Magda Szubanski is a British-born Australian actress, comedian, television presenter, radio host and author.Szubanski's career began while she was studying at university and she progressed to television sketch comedy, as both a writer and performer...
and Marg Downey, which created and first showcased the popular comedic characters Kath and Kim.
In 1996, Vizard’s Artist Services founded and owned with Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
, the comedy channel. During Vizard’s chairmanship, the comedy channel produced and broadcast over 80 hours each year of original Australian programming, commissioning emerging writers and performers including This Is Gary Petty (starring Brian Nankervis
Brian Nankervis
Brian Nankervis is an Australian comedian. He was originally best known for his character of Raymond J. Bartholomeuz, an eccentric beat poet. The character was popular during the 1980s and 1990s in regular appearances on Hey Hey It's Saturday...
, Francis Greenslade, Matt Cameron ); Off Road (starring Lawrence Mooney); The Fifty Foot Show (starring Paul Fennech and Kitty Flanagan
Kitty Flanagan
Kitty Flanagan is an Australian comedian.She is best known in Australia for her work on the television series Full Frontal and in the United Kingdom for her work on The Sketch Show. Before getting a job at Full Frontal, Kitty spent 5 years masquerading as a copywriter before moving into stand-ups...
); Home and Hosed (starring Shane Bourne, Bob Franklin and Ross Daniels); Small Tales and True ( Roz Hammond and Robyn Butler). Vizard remained Chairman of the comedy channel until 2001
As Executive Producer, Artist Services shows have been distributed internationally and received numerous awards including over 20 Logies, a dozen AFI
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
, Writers Guild and Television Society awards and an International Emmy nomination.
Together with his Partner Andrew Knight, Vizard developed and was the Executive Producer of several feature films including The Sound Of One Hand Clapping (based on the award winning novel by Richard Flanagan
Richard Flanagan
Richard Flanagan is a novelist from Tasmania, Australia.-Early life:Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961, the fifth of six children. He is descended from Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s. His father is a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. One of his three...
) and Dead Letter Office (starring Miranda and Barry Otto).
In 1995, Vizard sold half of the shares in his company Artist Services to John Fairfax Holdings
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The group's operations include newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John Fairfax and Sons, later to become John...
for a reported sum of AUD$9 million (1995). In 2000 Vizard sold his remaining 50% shares in Artist Services to UK based media company Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
Media plc. for a reputed $25 million. Vizard remained as Chairman until 2002 when he resigned to spend more time on other business and creative interests.
Since 2002, Vizard has been involved in advising emerging Australian talent. He was a consultant to Network Tens comedy show,The Wedge, casting and working with Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson is an Australian actress, writer, and stand-up comedienne, known for her roles in the television series Pizza and Bogan Pride and the film Bridesmaids.-Early and personal life:...
, Jason Ghan, Adam Zwier.
From 2003 he has been a consultant to one of Australia’s largest talent management companies, Profile Talent, whose clients include Hamish and Andy, Dannii Minogue
Dannii Minogue
Danielle Jane "Dannii" Minogue is an Australian singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, radio personality, fashion designer and model...
, Matt Preston
Matt Preston
Matt Preston is a British-Australian food journalist and restaurant critic. He is best known for his role as a judge on Network Ten's MasterChef Australia and his weekly food column in the Herald Sun 'Taste' supplement...
, Andrew O’Keefe and Sonia Kruger
Sonia Kruger
Sonia Melissa Kruger is an Australian television presenter. She is best known for co-hosting the popular Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, hosting 10 Years Younger in 10 Days and for the role of Tina Sparkle in the hit 1992 film Strictly Ballroom.-Early life:Born in Toowoomba,...
.
In 2010, Vizard Executive Produced a reality series about Dannii Minogue
Dannii Minogue
Danielle Jane "Dannii" Minogue is an Australian singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, radio personality, fashion designer and model...
, “Dannii Minogue: Style Queen”, which was coproduced with ITV and broadcast in the UK on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and in Australia on Foxtel.
Other Contributions
From 1990 to 2005, in addition to his on and off air roles with Artist Services, Vizard pursued a number of other business interests and public service roles.In 1996, was appointed a Director of the telecommunications company Telstra Corporation Limited
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
, a position he held until his decision to retire from 17 September 2000 and not stand for re-election to the board
As President of the Screen Producers Association of Australia from 1995 to 1997, Vizard was an advocate for the establishment by the Australian Government of the Australian Commercial Television Production Fund to produce high quality Australian television drama telemovies and series. Vizard subsequently served on the Board of the ACTPF from 1995 to 1998.
Vizard has been an advocate for promoting Australian-made content on Australian television, radio and media. In delivering his 1999 Andrew Olle Media Lecture
Andrew Olle Media Lecture
The Andrew Olle Media Lecture was established in 1996 by the presenters and staff at 702 ABC Sydney to honour the memory of ABC Radio broadcaster Andrew Olle, who died in 1995 of a brain tumour.The Andrew Olle Lecturers have been:...
, Vizard advocated the need to maintain Australian quotas for all Australian commercial television networks as well as proposing that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, the National Broadcaster, should be more fully funded and should commission and broadcast exclusively Australian content.
In 1998, Vizard was elected as a delegate for his home state of Victoria to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
Australian Constitutional Convention 1998
The Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 was a Constitutional Convention which gathered at Old Parliament House, Canberra from 2–13 February 1998. It was called by the Howard Government to discuss whether Australia should become a republic...
in Canberra, representing the Australian Republican Movement
Australian Republican Movement
The Australian Republican Movement is a non-partisan lobby group advocating constitutional change in Australia to a republican form of government, from a constitutional monarchy.-Foundation:...
. After the constitutional convention, Vizard wrote the book Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention (ISBN 0140279830). The book became a best seller and was a prescribed text on the NSW HSC syllabus.
From 1998 to 2005, Vizard was the President of the Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
, Australia's oldest and most richly endowed Art Museum, founded in 1858. Under Vizard's presidency, the Gallery commenced and completed two extensive public Museum building programs: the $150 million renovation of the International Gallery to house the International collection, including the 100 European masterpieces, Rembrandt to Picasso valued at over $2 billion; and the $400 million construction and opening of the new Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the only major public art gallery in the world dedicated to Australian art.
From 2001 to 2005, Vizard was Chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company which attracts major sporting, arts and cultural events to Victoria and Australia.
During Vizard's chairmanship events won by VMEC for Australia included the World Cycling Championships, World Gymnastics Championships, World Cup Soccer Qualifiers, International Rugby Tests, the renewal of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix
Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
, World Superbike Championships
Superbike World Championship
Superbike World Championship is the worldwide Superbike racing Championship. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Championship season consists of a series of rounds held on permanent racing facilities...
, World Swimming Championships, Mercedes Australian Fashion Week
Australian Fashion Week
Australian Fashion Week is an annual fashion industry event showcasing the latest seasonal collections from Australian and Asia Pacific Designers...
, and others.
In February 2002 Vizard was the Convenor with the Premier of Victoria of a National Population Summit at which 50 of Australia's most prominent leaders spoke to over 1,000 delegates in a bipartisan debate about all aspects of Australia's population. The bipartisan resolutions from the Summit and the speeches were edited by Vizard and published by Penguin in Australia's Population Debate.
Other organisations with which he has acted as a Director or a Trustee include Film Australia
Film Australia
Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia. Its mission was to create an audio-visual record of Australian culture, through the commissioning, distribution and management of programs that deal with matters of national interest or...
, Australian Children's Television Foundation
Australian Children's Television Foundation
The Australian Children's Television Foundation is a non-profit, government-funded organisation in Australia concerned with the development, production, dissemination and promotion of children's television and other audio-visual material for children....
and the Transport Accident Corporation.
From 1997 to 2005,Vizard served as a Member of the Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club
Melbourne Cricket Club
The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....
.
Writing and publications
In addition to writing for theatre, television and film, Vizard has written and edited several books, including a 2008 biography of Graham KennedyGraham Kennedy
Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...
, Graham Kennedy Treasures : Friends Remember the King (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008, ISBN 9780522855456) which he co-wrote with veteran writer, Mike McColl-Jones
Mike McColl-Jones
Mike McColl-Jones is a veteran comedy writer for Australian television. He wrote for Graham Kennedy, Don Lane and Bert Newton.McColl-Jones is the author of "My Funny Friends" and Graham Kennedy Treasures: Friends Remember The King-References:...
.
Other books include Best Australian Humorous Writing (with Andrew O'Keefe, MUP, 2008), Australia's Population Challenge (with Hugh J. Martin and Tim Watts, Penguin, 2003,ISBN 0143001132); Two Weeks in Lilliput (Penguin, 1998), an account of Vizard's experiences attending the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention; Fast forward, the book : the complete guide to 3000 years of television (ISBN014013400); and The Top seven lists from 'Tonight live with Steven Vizard' (ISBN1863301623).
Vizard's one man play Coles Funny Picture Man, based on the life of the eccentric Victorian bookseller Edward William Cole
Edward William Cole
Edward William Cole, also known as 'E. W. Cole of the Book Arcade', was a bookseller and founder of the book arcade, Melbourne, Australia.-Early life:...
, was performed by AFI
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
award winning actor Norman Kaye
Norman Kaye
Norman James Kaye was an Australian actor and musician. He was best known for his roles in the films of director Paul Cox.Kaye was born in Melbourne and educated at Geelong Grammar School...
.
Vizard has been the recipient of an Australia Council
Australia Council
The Australia Council, informally known as the Australia Council for the Arts, is the official arts council or arts funding body of the Government of Australia.-Function:...
grant for Poetry and a University of Melbourne Writers Fellowship. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Feature Film Screenplay in 1985; and won ( as a co-writer) Writers Guild Awards for Best Comedy Television in 1989, 1990, 1992 1nd 1993.
Legal proceedings
In 1996, Vizard was appointed a Director of the telecommunications company Telstra Corporation LimitedTelstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
, a position he held until his decision to retire on 17 September 2000 and not stand for re-election to the board.
After his retirement from Telstra, Vizard became involved in a number of legal proceedings, primarily related to the activities of his former bookkeeper, Roy Hilliard. In 2001 the Vizard family reported to the Police money missing from their family accounts, and Hilliard was subsequently charged with stealing and falsifying the accounts of the Vizard family companies, and in 2005 Hilliard was convicted of falsifying accounts. This led to Hilliards conviction and three year suspended jail sentence. Hillard also faced civil action related to the allegations of misappropriating money from the Vizard companies, with Vizard's bank Westpac
Westpac
Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....
commencing civil proceedings in 2001. Westpac had conducted an investigation of the fraud and paid out to Vizard's companies some of the money the bookkeeper had taken, and then sued the bookkeeper to recover some of the costs. Vizard was a witness in Westpac's action. In December 2006, the Supreme Court of Victoria found in favour of Westpac and ordered Hilliard to repay over $2 million dollars in funds misappropriated from the Vizards to the bank plus interest. The judge also rejected claims Hilliard had made against Vizard relating to the use of overseas tax havens and that Hilliard had returned the stolen monies to Vizard. In September 2009, an Appeal by Hilliard against the judgement against him was rejected by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which affirmed that Hilliard had misappropriated over $3 million from Vizard, rejected Hilliard's claims against Vizard, and ordered Hilliard to repay the missing moneys and costs.
The third legal action involved Vizard directly and arose out of allegations made in 2003 at the criminal trial of his former bookkeeper Hilliard. Hilliard alleged that Vizard had insider traded while a director of Telstra. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator...
(ASIC) followed-up the allegations with an 18 month investigation, including searching Vizard's home and office in December 2003. After the 18 month investigation, ASIC formally advised that it would not continue the investigation, that it had no evidence sufficient to prosecute Vizard for inside trading or any other crime.
Separately, in 2005 ASIC said it would commence civil proceedings against Vizard for breaching his director's duties. The case of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was that Vizard had breached Sections 183 and 232 of the Corporations Act of 2001 (Cwth). ASIC made no allegations of dishonesty against Vizard in those civil proceedings.
Vizard and ASIC settled the civil proceedings in 2005 on the basis that Vizard would not contest them, that ASIC made no allegations of dishonesty against Vizard, that a fine of $390,000 be imposed and Vizard agree to be disqualified from acting as a company director for 5 years. The penalties imposed on Vizard were part of a civil settlement agreed between him and ASIC. That settlement took the form of an "agreed statement of facts" jointly presented to the Federal Court by Vizard's and ASIC's lawyers, and Vizard agreeing the court should impose penalties for a breach of his duties as a director. In his judgement handed down on 28 July 2005, The Hon Justice Raymond Antony Finkelstein
Raymond Finkelstein
Raymond Finkelstein QC is an Australian lawyer and judge. From 1997 until 2011, he served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. His judgments were highly influential in commercial law, giving rise to new approaches in insolvency, competition law and class actions.-Early life and...
found that Vizard had in fact breached Sections 183 and 232 of the Corporations Act of 2001 (Cwlth) through his activities. ASIC proposed a $130,000 fine per offence and 5 years disqualification. Justice Finkelstein disregarded the agreement reached between ASIC and Vizard and instead ordered a disqualification of 10 years, on the grounds that 5 was insufficient.
On 28 July 2005, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions formally announced that they had elected not to proceed with the criminal case against Vizard. In a media release, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg QC along with ASIC Chairman Jeff Lucy vigorously denied assertions by some sections of the media that they had "gone soft" on Vizard on account of his admissions during the civil penalty phase of the proceedings. At the time Vizard's admissions were made, they "were unavailable from a prosecutorial viewpoint", and they were made well after his office had determined that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
One of the key issues in the case was that the trades in question had not been made by Vizard, but instead by a company called CTI of which Vizard's accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
Gregory Lay was the sole shareholder and director. A Vizard family company lent CTI money to invest and had an agreement to receive back proceeds (less a management fee). This structure meant that in order for a criminal prosecution to be mounted, ASIC would have required evidence from Lay to connect Vizard to the trades. Lay gave detailed evidence to ASIC but declined to make a further formal statement, or not without a full indemnity for himself and his firm. The DPP could not (under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983) give an indemnity without first knowing what it would be indemnifying him against.
Bugg also explained that, contrary to speculation, as a matter of policy the DPP would not bring a prosecution and subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
witnesses (such as Lay) in the hope of what they might say; it would undermine confidence in the justice system to start a prosecution merely hoping that critical evidence would become available.
The head of ASIC, Jeff Lucy, conceded that there was never a criminal case against Vizard and that the media outrage was caused by ASIC's failure to properly communicate the full facts to the media.
Philanthropic activities
In 1991, Vizard and his family founded the Vizard Foundation, which established Vizard House, a refuge for people in need.Since its establishment in 1991, Vizard House has provided over 20,000 room nights free accommodation for needy people visiting inner Melbourne hospitals.
From 1992 to 2002, the Foundation worked with the The Ian Potter Museum of Art
The Ian Potter Museum of Art
The Ian Potter Museum of Art, established in 1998, is an art museum at the University of Melbourne in the city of Melbourne,capital of the state of Victoria, Australia....
, University of Melbourne to support Australian artists. The collection of Australian art is permanently housed at the University of Melbourne. On 27 April 1994, the Vizard Foundation purchased 45 antiquities from an auction held by Christie's of London. These items are on permanent loan to the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne.
In 1991, Vizard purchased from Lord Alistair McAlpine the iconic Australian painting First Class Marksman by Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, the only painting of the original 1945 Ned Kelly Series not owned and on public display in the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
. Vizard donated the painting to the Vizard Foundation and the painting was on public display in the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
. In 2010, the Vizard Foundation sold the work for an Australian record of $5.4 million and committed the proceeds for charitable purposes, including indigenous scholarships.
In 1997, Vizard was a founding trustee with Walter Mikac
Walter Mikac
Walter Mikac is an Australian pharmacist who became widely known in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre, where his wife Nanette Mikac and daughters, six-year-old Alannah Mikac and three-year-old Madeline Mikac were among 35 people killed by Martin Bryant on 28 April 1996.In the subsequent...
of the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation, to assist in education against violence to children.
In 1997, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, for service to the community, particularly through the Vizard Foundation, and to the arts. In 2008, three years after settling the civil legal proceedings with ASIC, Vizard voluntarily handed back his membership of the Order of Australia.
In 2002, he received the Australian Father Of The Year award
Australian Father Of The Year award
The Australian Father Of The Year award is an Australian award to honor and showcase a fine example of Australian fatherhood. Spanning over fifty years, the ‘Australian Father of the Year’ has been awarded to high-profile, famous fathers, from prime ministers & politicians to sportsmen and business...
.
In 2004 Vizard was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Deakin University
Deakin University
Deakin University is an Australian public university with nearly 40,000 higher education students in 2010. It receives more than A$600 million in operating revenue annually, and controls more than A$1.3 billion in assets. It received more than A$35 million in research income in 2009 and had 835...
Australia.
Recent Performances
Vizard is a regular on various television shows including Tens Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Nine’s Today Show and A Current Affair. Vizard has also appeared in a regular role in Mick MolloyMick Molloy
Michael "Mick" Molloy is an Australian comedian, writer and producer who has been active in the fields of radio, television, stand-up and film.-Biography:...
’s, Foxtel comedy series, The Jesters.
He has appeared as a regular weekly panellist on Channel Ten's prime time 7PM Project andThe Project and has filled in for one of the shows hosts, Dave Hughes
Dave Hughes
David William "Hughesy" Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, radio and television presenter. He is currently co-host on the Network Ten's The Project and Before the Game as well as the breakfast radio show Hughesy and Kate.-Television:Hughes co-hosted the ABC comedy talk show The Glass House...
. He was a panellist and interviewer on the 7PM Project’s controversial interview with St Kilda sex scandal schoolgirl Kim in which the interviewers were clearly sceptical about her attempts to withdraw her previous allegations—the show aired her post-interview confession that she had just lied to them.
In July 2011, Vizard appeared in the movie Beaconsfield, playing the late 60 Minutes reporter Richard Carleton
Richard Carleton
Richard George Carleton was a multi-Logie Award winning Australian television journalist.-Education:Carleton was born in Bowral, New South Wales...
in the drama about the Beaconsfield Mine collapse
Beaconsfield mine collapse
The Beaconsfield Mine collapse occurred on 25 April 2006 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia. Of the 17 people who were in the mine at the time, 14 escaped immediately following the collapse, one was killed and the remaining two were found alive using a remote-controlled device...
in Tasmania and the rescue of miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb 14 days later.
In 2010, Vizard was nominated for a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contribution to the Film & Television Industry. Other nominees for the award included Rob Sitch
Rob Sitch
Robert Ian Sitch , is an Australian director, producer, screenwriter, actor and comedian.-Early life:Sitch attended St Kevin's College and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Trinity College. He worked at the Royal Womans Hospital...
, Andrew Denton
Andrew Denton
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...
, Brian Walsh, Kim Williams, Penny Chapman, the Fennessy brothers and Posie Graham Evans.
At the 2006 Logie Awards, Vizard appeared with long-time collaborator Michael Veitch
Michael Veitch
Michael Veitch is an Australian comedian, author and broadcaster, best known for his roles on the sketch comedy television shows The D-Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal, as well as for his books on Second World War aviation and the Bass Strait Islands.Veitch emerged from the tradition of...
in a sketch that reprised one of their most famous roles, that of two camp, bitchy airline stewards. Their sketch lampooned Vizard's recent legal troubles.
In 1998, Vizard was an elected as a delegate for his home state of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
at the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention
Australian Constitutional Convention 1998
The Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 was a Constitutional Convention which gathered at Old Parliament House, Canberra from 2–13 February 1998. It was called by the Howard Government to discuss whether Australia should become a republic...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, representing the Australian Republican Movement
Australian Republican Movement
The Australian Republican Movement is a non-partisan lobby group advocating constitutional change in Australia to a republican form of government, from a constitutional monarchy.-Foundation:...
. After the constitutional convention, Vizard wrote the book Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention (ISBN 0140279830).
Radio
In February 2010, Vizard began a brief stint on Melbourne radio station Triple MTriple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
, filling in for Eddie McGuire
Eddie McGuire
Edward Joseph "Eddie" McGuire AM is an Australian television presenter and businessman known for his long association with Australian rules football and the Channel 9 television network....
who was in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
covering the Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
.
In March 2010, Vizard signed with Melbourne's new talkback station, MTR 1377 where he is presenting Mornings.
Since his first radio program aired on Monday 19 April 2010, Steve has interviewed more than 1000 guests, including Academy Award-winning directors Peter Weir and Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper (director)
Thomas George "Tom" Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films at the age of 13, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and...
, director of The Kings Speech, authors Jeffrey Archer, Booker Prize-winning Tom Kenneally, Jackie Collins, Peter Carey, Tim Flannery, Grammy-nominated musicians Josh Groban, Chris Botti, George Benson, President of the World Bank James Wolfensohn, Weird Al Yankovic, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Professor Ross Garnaut.
Vizard's radio program is also responsible for breaking news reports including the Christmas Island asylum seekers boat crash tragedy in December 2010. Steve conducted the first interviews with the schoolgirl at the centre of the St Kilda Football Club scandal and with David Galbally QC before the delivery of his report into the players’ scandal. He covered the Chilean mine and pursued the defrocking of convicted priests by the Catholic Church, on behalf of abused victims.
A number of comedians have appeared as guests or regulars on his show including Charlie Pickering, Peter Helliar, Fiona O’Loughlin, Mick Molloy and regular contributors Glenn Robbins, Corinne Grant, George McEncroe, Andrew Goodone and Shaun Micallef
Shaun Micallef
Shaun Patrick Micallef is an Australian actor, comedian and writer. After ten years of working in insurance law as a solicitor in Adelaide, Micallef moved to Melbourne to pursue a full-time comedy career in 1993...
.
Vizard's radio show received 3 nominations at the 2011 Australian Commercial Radio Awards including Best Talk Presenter in Australia.
Personal life
Steve Vizard married Sarah Wilmoth in 1988 and they have 5 children.In 2006 Vizard’s Toorak mansion set a real estate record for Melbourne, Australia when it sold for $17.75 million after Vizard received an unsolicited knock on the door offering to buy the landmark home.
Earlier in 2006, Vizard chased three burglars who had broken into his Orrong Rd Toorak Mansion. Vizard was awakened at 3am by his 16 year old daughter who had seen an intruder in her room, and Vizard pursued the intruders into the street in the nude where he was nearly driven over by the getaway Alfa Romeo. The robber, Richard Lovett who had a lengthy list of 93 prior convictions, was arrested later that day after becoming involved in a fight in which he stabbed a man in the chest, puncturing his lung, and was subsequently sentenced for the robbery to four years by the County Court of Victoria.
Steve Vizards younger brother, Andrew Vizard, is Professor of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne, and is an expert in animal health having served on numerous Boards including Animal Health Australia Ltd,, The Zoological Parks and Gardens of Victoria, and the Australian Wool Corporation.
From 1990, Vizard and his family owned and ran the rural Western Distrct station, Roxby Park, which they operated as a successful superfine wool Merino sheep stud. In 2002, Vizard sold Roxby Park to South Australian Tuna fishing magnate, Tony Santic
Tony Santic
Tony Šantić Tony Šantić Tony Šantić (born 17 October 1952, Lastovo, Croatia, is a noted Australian thoroughbred owner and tuna farmer. He came to Australia with his family in 1958, aged six. His parents settled in Geelong, Victoria for the next 8 years before Tony and his mother moved to Port...
, the owner of three time Melbourne Cup winning horse, Makybe Diva
Makybe Diva
Makybe Diva is a British-bred, Australian-trained Thoroughbred who became the first racehorse to win the famed Melbourne Cup on three occasions: 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, she also won the Cox Plate. Makybe Diva is the highest stakes-earner in Australasian horse racing history, with winnings...
, who renamed the property Smytzer's Lodge, and uses it as the home of his Makybe Diva breeding and bloodstock operations.
Further reading
- Bedwell, S: "Vizard Uncut: The Full Story", Melbourne University Press, (2007), (ISBN 9780522854749)
- Wood, Leonie. Funny Business. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2007. ISBN 1741753295