BILL COLLINS. Born in Sydney, Australia, 1935. Educated at Sydney University, B.A., M.A., DipEd., and M.Ed. Taught in high school for four years; university lecturer; began reviewing movies in print (TV Times) and on television (ABC Television), 1963; moved from ABC to commercial station TCN Channel 9, 1967-74; presented movies on ATN Channel 7 Sydney, 1975-79; presented movies nationally on the Ten Network from 1980; currently presenting movies on the FoxTel movie network.

 

 

   

Bill Collins has been described as "Mr. Movies of Australia". He has presented films on television and on video since 1963 and has come to seem like a trusted and enthusiastic guarantor of whatever film he happens to be presenting. As a high school English teacher, long interested in the cinema and its possible role in the classroom, he completed a Master's degree in Education on the role of film in education and took up a position as a lecturer in English at the Sydney Teachers' College where he regularly introduced trainee teachers to the place of film in the high=school English curriculum.

In 1963 he made his first appearance on television, producing and presenting a series of filmed segments on film appreciation. That same year also saw him compiling a weekly column in the better of Australia's television guides, TV Times, entitled "The Golden Years of Hollywood". The column consisted of a series of reviews of upcoming Hollywood films to be screened on Australia's three commercial networks as well as the public broadcaster, the ABC. Collins' reviews were invariably to the point and reliable in their production credits at a time when this kind of information was not so easily available as it is nowadays. To write these reviews, Collins was having to preview many of the films. It seemed quite logical, then, when TCN Channel 9 (owned by Consolidated Press who co-published TV Times with the ABC) decided to have Collins host a Saturday night movie, with the generic name of The Golden Years of Hollywood. Collins continued to host the Saturday night movie on Channel 9 in Sydney until 1975 when he moved to the Seven Network. Channel 9 disputed that Collins had the legal right to call his Saturday night movie program The Golden Years of Hollywood and so the Seven program became Bill Collins' Golden Years of Hollywood. The change suited Collins because his career as a movie host was now taking off. His Saturday night movie was now increasingly seen nationally and as his earnings increased Collins quit his teaching job to concentrate full time on his television work. At Seven Collins began to host a Sunday daytime film, Bill Collins' Picture Time and also a more general program featuring film clips and promotion for new releases, Bill Collins' Show Business.

Collins moved yet again in 1980 in a move that made him even busier. Rupert Murdoch had recently acquired the third commercial network which he re-named Network Ten. The latter had always lagged in the ratings and Murdoch was determined to change this situation even if it meant spending a lot of money--to hire Collins away. Collins now became a national figure to the point that other movie hosts on regional stations ceased to have any importance and little recognition. By this time he seemed to be everywhere. Not only did he host a double feature on a Saturday night under the old title of The Golden Years of Hollywood, a double feature on Sunday lunch time and afternoon, the midday movie during the week on a capital city by capital city basis but also an afternoon book review and promotion program. Thanks both to the size of his program budgets as well as his commercial standing, Collins was able to do live interviews with major Hollywood actors including his very favourite, Clint Eastwood. He also published two books, lavishly illustrated, on his favourite films. In addition Collins also had his own series of Hollywood feature films on video which he hosted--Bill Collins' Movie Collection. Collins also made professional visits to fans across the country, these taking the form of breakfasts and lunches. To carry out these massive commitments Collins now had a staff of researchers and his own press and publicity agents. In 1987 because of the introduction of new cross-ownership rules in Australia media, Murdoch sold off Network Ten. Collins continued there until 1994. The network suffered from financial problems, so there was a curtailment of his programs. However, in 1995 he, in effect, rejoined the Murdoch camp when he began presenting films on Australia's first cable network, Foxtel, owned and operated by Murdoch's News Corporation and Telstra Corporation. Collins now hosts films produced by Twentieth Century-Fox on Foxtel Channel.

There is no gainsaying the achievement of Bill Collins. He appeared on Australian television at a time when Hollywood films, not only of the 1930s and 1940s, but also of the 1950s were becoming available for television programming. He has helped to make Hollywood films popular with generations who were born after the Hollywood studio era. As befits a former teacher, his introductions to particular films are invariably interesting, enthusiastic and well researched. He will often display a still or a poster, brandish the book on which a film is based (he has an extensive collection of these, often extremely rare books) or play some of a film's theme music. All of these ploys are in the service of not only giving the audience particular features to look for in the upcoming film but also contextualising it in terms of such frames as the biography of one of the leading figures. Nor has Collins been afraid to expose his audience to some of the fruits of more critical research with references to such material as a critical study of John Ford or an article in the U.S. film studies journal The Velvet Light Trap. Altogether Bill Collins is one of the most durable and valuable figures in the history of Australian television.

-Albert Moran