Paul Karo, best known for his role of TV producer Lee Whiteman in The Box, has died age 89.

Born in Scotland in 1935, Karo — not his real surname — moved with his family to New Zealand in 1946. He adopted the name Karo, which is Māori, in his adopted homeland.

His early career was in journalism, being a cadet reporter for an Auckland newspaper for two years before he was dared to audition for a play, The Anatomist, scoring a leading role. This led to him joining the New Zealand Players Company for two years.

He came to Australia in 1957 and a week later won an understudy role with JC Williamson‘s production of All For Mary, starring with Margo Lee and Tony Ward, before a long list of further stage roles and television plays. Early television credits included plays Outpost, Quiet Night, Uncle Martino, Shell Presents productions Tragedy In A Temporary Town and Rope and an episode of courtroom series Consider Your Verdict. He reprised his role of football trainer Wally Sloss from the stage play And The Big Men Fly for the TV adaptation produced in 1963.

He appeared in The Magic Boomerang, Adventures Of The Seaspray and The Long Arm before a number of guest roles in Crawford Productions‘ cop dramas Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police. He said that his portrayal of a gay man in a Division 4 episode was what possibly led Crawford Productions to cast him as Lee Whiteman in The Box, the adults-only drama set behind the scenes of a fictional TV station.

As part of the mid-1970s phenomenon of gay or bisexual characters in Australian soaps, Lee Whiteman was extremely popular among viewers, although he did have to defend his camp portrayal of the TV producer. “Maybe I’m seen as camping it up too much with Lee, but he’s the character we use for lightness in The Box — not a comic, but called upon when the show needs lightening,” he told TV Times. “I’d originally intended him to be more the knowledgeable sophisticate who loves Shirley Bassey, stays up all night to watch old movies… that sort of thing. I think it would have been more authentic, but the role calls for me to play it camp and that’s the way it is.”

He played the role for two years, and starred in the series’ movie spin-off, and won a TV Week Logie Award for Best Australian Actor in 1976.

After The Box he went on to guest roles in Cop Shop, Skyways, Case For The Defence, The Sullivans, Holiday Island, Special Squad, Carson’s Law and Prisoner. Later credits included mini-series Golden Pennies, A Thousand Skies, Sword Of Honour, My Brother Tom and Nancy Wake.

His final TV credits included Phoenix, Janus, Blue Heelers, Good Guys Bad Guys and Seachange.

Source: TV Times, 18 August 1960, 29 June 1974, 24 August 1974. TV Week, 13 July 1974, 5 July 1975, 20 March 1976, 6 August 1983. IMDB