Leila Hayes, best known as Beryl in the long-running series Sons And Daughters, has died.

Born in country Victoria, she began her career as a singer, performing on radio as a teenager in the 1950s, followed by appearances on TV variety shows including Showcase, In Melbourne Tonight, The Jimmy Hannan Show and The Penthouse Club in the 1960s and early 1970s.

She then made the move to acting, with roles in Bluey, Matlock Police, Division 4, Bellbird, Power Without Glory, Twenty Good Years, The Sullivans, Blue Fire Lady, The Truckies, I Can Jump Puddles, Prisoner and Cop Shop. She later established an acting school, Leila Hayes Drama Studio.

Sons And Daughters: Peter Phelps, Tom Richards, Leila Hayes, Stephen Comey, Ann Henderson, Andrew McKaige

Her defining role came in 1982 with the premiere of Sons And Daughters, as devoted housewife and mother Beryl Palmer, wife of David Palmer (Tom Richards) and who frequently came to blows with his old flame, Patricia Hamilton (Rowena Wallace).

Beryl weathered six years of melodrama and was one of only four characters to stay with Sons And Daughters for its entire run. After the series ended, she had a stint doing late-night talkback radio in Sydney, had a guest role in A Country Practice and starred in stage production Steaming.

Although she kept a low profile in later years, she became a critic of the system where actors were not paid residuals for their work even when such productions were being paraded in repeats and DVD and streaming releases many years later. “It’s like being stuck in a 25-year time warp. I am being recognised today for work I did many years ago, but I do not get paid,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Leila Hayes is survived by her daughter Melissa, son-in-law Erik and grandsons Lucian and Liam.

Source: IMDB. The Age, 9 May 1958, 26 December 1958, 19 February 1959, 1 September 1966, 20 October 1966, 16 February 1967, 30 September 1971. TV Times, 2 June 1971. Sons And Daughters, The Sydney Morning Herald, Ausstage.

 

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