Pioneering Australian media mogul and television producer, Reg Grundy, has died in Bermuda aged 92.
Best known for his role as producer of the internationally popular TV soap opera, Neighbours, Grundy’s production company also created many of Australia’s biggest TV shows in the 80s and 90s, including The Young Doctors, Prisoner: Cell Block H and Sons and Daughters.
Many famous actors and entertainers, including Russell Crowe, Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Liam Hemsworth, Chris Hemsworth and Alan Dale, all appeared or had their first break on Neighbours, which first aired on Australian television in 1985.
‘A great Australian’
Grundy started his career taking U.S. TV shows, including Wheel of Fortune, Blankety Blanks, Perfect Match and Sale of the Century, and turning them into Australian television hits.
His name eventually became so well known in Australia that “reg grundies” or “grundies” became a common rhyming slang word for underwear in parts of the country.
Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones, who was a friend of Grundy’s, announced the news of the death on his local 2GB radio program on May 9.
“Reg Grundy has passed away in the arms of his beloved wife Joy on their Bermuda estate,” Jones said. “So ends a remarkable chapter of a great Australian.”
Grundy was awarded an OBE in the 1983 Queen’s New Year’s Honors List and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2008 for his service to the Australian entertainment and television industry.