Bob Ellis - Early Years

Early Years

Ellis was born in Lismore and raised a Seventh Day Adventist. He says the "seminal moment" of his life happened when he was ten and his 22 year old sister was killed while crossing the road. He attended Lismore High then Sydney University on a Sir Robert Menzies scholarship. On graduating he did a variety of jobs, eventually winding up at the ABC.

Ellis was a regular contributor to the Nation Review in the 1970s and subsequently contributed to Fairfax Media newspapers and National Times

In 1970 he became known for co-writing The Legend of King O'Malley, a musical play based on the life of King O'Malley, with co-author Michael Boddy). He became a popular playwright, usually working in collaboration. From 1975-85 Ellis and his wife also owned the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, during which time it became home to the Griffin Theatre Company.

Ellis has written several films, notably The Nostradamus Kid (1992), Cactus (1986) (with Paul Cox), My First Wife (1984) (with Paul Cox), Where the Green Ants Dream (Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen) (1984) film (with German film director Werner Herzog, Man of Flowers (1983) (with Paul Cox), Goodbye Paradise (1983), ... Maybe This Time (with Anne Brooksbank) (1981), Fatty Finn (1980), and Newsfront (1978). Most of his film scripts, as with his plays, were written in collaboration with other writers.

In 1980 Ellis signed a contract with the New South Wales Film Corporation to write ten feature film scripts over two years for $7,000 for each script, with a payment of $12,000 for the second draft if they wanted to make the movie. Ellis says he presented them with 33 ideas, and they chose five and he chose five.

He has also directed several films including The Nostradamus Kid (1992), Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train (1988), Unfinished Business (1985) and Run Rabbit, Run (2007).

His writing for television includes a miniseries The True Believers (with co-author Matt Carroll) and Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal (2008), with co-author Geoff Burton, made for Film Australia.