Gold Logie removed from sale

The TV Week Gold Logie awarded to actress Rowena Wallace in 1985 has been withdrawn from sale on Ebay.

Bidding for the item had originally hit $18,900 but at the closing stages of the auction all pre-existing bids were cancelled, with the seller citing legal reasons, sending the price back to the initial reserve of $2000.

The seller advised that the item was no longer for sale but the listing could not be taken off the site as it was too close to the auction’s pre-determined end time.

Wallace was awarded the Gold for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television for her portrayal of Patricia ‘Pat The Rat’ Hamilton in the hit series Sons And Daughters.  She was the first female to win the Gold Logie since TV Week abandoned the separate male and female Gold awards in 1978.

As well as the Gold, during the years she played Patricia Hamilton she also collected four Logies, for Best Actress and Most Popular Actress.

After leaving Sons And Daughters in 1985, Wallace scored roles in the mini-series Glass Babies, telemovie Relatives and the Sixties-themed drama All The Way.

At the time she was also an ambassador for the World Vision organisation, appearing in a number of documentaries aimed at raising awareness and funds for the charity.

But then the leading roles dried up — not helped by her outburst to a Sydney newspaper in 1991 deriding Home And Away after the show’s producers had just signed her up for a guest role.  The part was re-cast to Debra Byrne although many years later Wallace did make guest appearances in Home And Away and Seven’s hospital drama All Saints.

She also appeared in ill-fated soaps Echo Point and Pacific Drive, soapie send-up Shark Bay and in a Prisoner-themed episode of SBS comedy Pizza.

Over the past few years she has appeared in Neighbours, reality show Celebrity Overhaul,  low-budget movie Ryder Country and in the short-run comedy Micro Nation.

While battling illness and depression over several years, Wallace also made the headlines for the wrong reasons — most notably for falsely claiming $30,000 in Centrelink benefits.  She has appeared on A Current Affair a number of times, often highlighting her perilous financial state which had led to the attempt to sell  the Gold Logie.

Currently based in the Victorian town of Wonthaggi, Wallace is heading back to her native Queensland where her career started back in the 1960s.

Wallace’s Gold Logie auction comes after another Logie, claimed to date back to the 1960s but from an unknown recipient as the base plate had been removed, was removed from Ebay after TV Week’s publishers considered legal action.  The award was later advertised for sale on rival website Gumtree.

A few years earlier the 1975 Silver Logie awarded to Number 96 star Bunney Brooke, who died in 2000, was sold on Ebay for around $2200.

Source: Ebay. TV Week, 4 May 1985.
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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2012/12/gold-logie-removed-from-sale.html

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