Ms Carol Burns

Actor

Carol Burns (class of 1964) was born and raised in Brisbane. Her mother was a receptionist and her father, a motor spare parts manager. She attended Milton State Primary School, where her initiation into the world of theatre began with speech and drama classes in 1958. Burns acted with Brisbane Arts Theatre and also Twelfth Night Theatre, where she was a student of theatre director, Joan Whalley, and also tutored within the junior drama workshops in Brisbane.

Burns' major television role was her performance in the cult television program Prisoner, in which she played the tough but affable lesbian bikie character, Frieda "Franky" Doyle. Although only appearing in the first 20 episodes, her character attained cult status, resulting in her winning a Logie Award for Best Lead Actress in a Series. Burns stated in a 2011 interview that she left the show due to very low pay and an increased workload as a result of the more rapid production of episodes. She also stated that it was her decision to be killed off as she did not want to be lured back.

Burns had acted exclusively in the theatre for ten years before film or television.  An experienced and versatile theatre actress, she went to the UK and appeared in numerous West End theatre  productions and had roles in TV series such as The Bill, Taggart and Heartbeat.  Burns also appeared in films, particularly during the late 1970s and 1980s, including The Mango Tree (1977), Bad Blood (1981), Starstruck (1982) and Strikebound (1984). 

Burns was married to Alan Lawrence, a British-born musician and composer, for 36 years. She passed away in 2015, after a brief cancer illness, aged 68 years.