Maxine Klibingaitis

Maxine Klibingaitis was an Australian actress who was best known for her roles in TV soap operas and serials. She was born in Ballarat, Victoria, to Polish immigrants. She started her career in England, where she performed as a singer and entertainer during World War II. She also represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. She returned to Australia in the 1960s and became the host of her own musical variety show, The Maxine Klibingaitis Show, which won her the first ever Gold Logie for a woman in 1962. She also toured Vietnam and other countries to entertain the troops, for which she was awarded an MBE. She later became an actress and played Bobbie Mitchell, a rebellious teen punk, in the cult drama soap opera Prisoner from 1983 to 1985. She also played Terri Inglis, an apprentice plumber who married Paul Robinson and then tried to kill him, in the popular soap opera Neighbours in 1985. She also appeared in other shows such as Special Squad, Fields of Fire, The Flying Doctor, Home and Away, Blue Heelers and Round the Twist. She made her film debut in 1989, appearing in James Ricketson's Candy Regentag, before going onto roles in Prisoner Queen: Mindless Music & Mirrorballs, Moonlight & Magic, Boronia Boys and Boronia Backpackers. She retired from acting in 2001 and wrote a play called Honey, based on a novel by Bryce Courtenay. She died suddenly and unexpectedly in Melbourne at the age of 58.