Ruth Cracknell's acting career spanned more than fifty-five years. Starting in radio, she became involved in Sydney's satirical Phillip Street revues in the late 50s. For decades she was a greatly respected theatre actress and then in 1983 she became truly famous when she accepted the role of the scatty Maggie Beare in ABC TV's enduringly popular Mother and Son, co-starring Garry McDonald.
She married Eric Phillips in 1957 and they had three children. In her best-selling memoir, A Journey from Venice (2000), she recalled poignantly her husband's sudden illness while abroad and his subsequent death.
Ruth Cracknell died in Sydney at the age of seventy-six after a short illness.
