Hudson, Keith Francis

Positions summary

Actor for ABC and commercial radio, 1940s and 1950s; appeared in ABC television plays 1959-1962; Examiner in Speech and Drama for the Australian Music Examinations Board, 1959-1978; Tutor in Faculty of Education 1965-1986.

Biography

Commencing in 1940 and continuing through much of the 1950s, Keith Hudson was a well known and busy actor for the ABC and commercial radio. He also appeared in ABC television plays during 1959-62. He was Examiner in Speech and Drama for the Australian Music Examinations Board from 1959-78 and Senior Victorian Examiner from 1970. Hudson's association with Monash began when he worked as a Sessional Tutor from 1965-67. In 1969 he became Senior Tutor, and in 1974 Principal Tutor which he remained until his retirement in 1986. He began by helping with English Method, but soon became speech adviser to all students. He worked closely with DipEd students on communication and presentation, and at a higher degree level offered Modern Developments in the Teaching of Spoken English and Drama. As a result of study leave overseas in 1981-82 he wrote an extensive report on the state and status of spoken English in Victoria and chaired the VISE Advisory Committee on Oral English. He later undertook research on radio acting in Melbourne in the 1940s and collected much useful data for an historical study of this period. Since he retired in poor health and was unable to manage his affairs, Mr Hudson's papers came to the Archives via Dr Alan Gregory, a friend and colleague in the Faculty of Education. A further accession was received from Mr Hudson's solicitors, Gair and Brahe, after Mr Hudson's death in 1990. Notes for a eulogy delivered by Dr Gregory can be found among the Gregory papers held by the Archives as MON 49.

Papers

Personal records 1931-1985
A collection related to both Hudson's work in the faculty, and to his earlier career as an actor. The collection includes appointment diaries, publicity photos and a scrapbook, along with photocopies from the ABC Archive which Hudson had gathered in preparation for a history of ABC radio, and preliminary chapters on the proposed monograph. The series also includes receipt and bank books for the Dorothy Dwyer Memorial Fund of which Hudson had been Chairman.