This story is part of the August 25 edition of Sunday Life. See all 13 stories . Genevieve Lemon is an actor and singer best known for playing Mrs Lewis in The Power of the Dog.
Here, the 64-year-old discusses inheriting her father’s stubbornness, what she remembers of her first kiss and how she meet her husband. “I’d beg to audition for ads featuring children but Dad was old-school and said no child of his was going into show business.” My paternal grandfather, Pip, was the manager of the Narrabeen branch of the Bank of New South Wales.
I never met him as died in World War II, but I remember the respect shown to his widow, Marjory, when we visited the beautiful red-brick bank building. My maternal grandfather, Jack, left for World War II when my mother, Patty, was nine. He never returned.
His wife, Daisy, died giving birth to a baby boy. So my mother was raised by her aunts from the age of 15. My father, Tony, directed TV commercials.
He was single-minded and wedded to his work. I’d go to sets and beg him to audition me for ads that featured children but he was old-school and said no child of his was going into show business. I was equally single-minded about performing, acting and singing, so I guess my stubbornness came from him.
Dad left our home when I was around seven. Eleven years later, he and my stepmum had my little sister, Kim. Dad may have often been absent in my life, but the times we had together were impactful.
Loading I spent 13 years in Catholic schooling during which I never had a male teacher. Nuns taught us, but our sex education came from priests. They came for sessions and we asked questions – we all tried to get a laugh.
I don’t think we were so cynical as to think, “What do priests know about sex?” My first kiss happened at a party when I was 13. Before the party, I asked my friend Joanne what a kiss might be like. She demonstrated on the back of her hand.
That night, when the lights were turned off, we all grabbed whoever was closest. The boy I grabbed was called David. That’s all I know about him.
My high school sweetheart was Jeff Truman. We did drama with Barry Hayes, a teacher from my brother Andrew’s school. Barry later took kids from Andrew’s school and mine to audition for an amateur theatre company.
Because of Barry, by the time I finished university I was acting professionally..
