Mary Ward

Mary Lorraine Ward (6 March 1915 – 19 July 2021), also known as Mary Ward Breheny, was an Australian actress of stage, television, and film and radio announcer, singer and media personality and publicist. Her career spanned seven decades. Ward trained in England and Australia, and worked in both countries. Ward during the outbreak of World War II, was in high demand as a stage actress in England, before returning to Australia where she worked in local theatre, and became one of the first female radio announcers at the ABC in Australia, billed as the Forces Sweetheart on Radio Australia. At ABC Television, she appeared in a number of filmed stage plays, as well as featuring in Australian films, both made-for-television and theatrical, including the film Amy. She is perhaps best known—both locally and internationally for her stints as an actress in two television soap opera roles, portraying elderly characters including Prisoner, as "Mum" Jeanette Brooke, who was an original cast member in 1979 and appeared sporadically in the series until 1981. Ward subsequently featured briefly in soap opera Sons and Daughters in 1983 as Dee Morrell, in which she was classified as a recurring guest role (season 2 - Episodes 305–337). Ward post-Sons and Daughters, continued to have small guest roles in serials like The Young Doctors, Neighbours and Blue Heelers and retired in 2000, and in 2020, residing in Melbourne, turned 105 years old, and was at the time stated as being "possibly Australia's oldest living actress".