Wagga Museum Curator Michelle Maddison’s The Lex Factor exhibition celebrates Wagga local Lex Marinos. Picture: Marguerite McKinnon.
When Wagga Museum Curator Michelle Maddison had the idea of creating an exhibition about the late great Wagga actor Lex Marinos, she said it was like “being hit by a bolt from the blue”. But she will never forget the shocking reaction when the museum approached the man himself.
“He said to my [then] manager [Luke Grealy], ‘She better get her skates on’. It was then we discovered that he was very ill,” Michelle said.
Lex revealed he had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He had six months to live.
At that moment the exhibition went from a nod to a major tribute of a local hero who captured and reflected Aussie comedy and culture from the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. Now due to demand, the exhibition has been extended until the end of May.
Lex Marinos’ career
Born in Wagga Wagga in 1949 to proudly Greek parents, Lex Marinos had a flair for entertainment. In the 1970s he got his first television role in the ABC TV series The Rovers. Lex said at the time, “I was offered a wog role – Italian I think – but I didn’t mind. I was thrilled to get the opportunity.”
In 1972, Lex Marinos came out swinging and cemented his comedic prowess in TV’s, The Aunty Jack Show. Playing Aunty Jack’s double opposite Graham Bond, both actors dressed in women’s clothing, spoke in a deep voice, and wore facial hair with pride. With the show’s most famous line, “I’ll rip your bloody arms off!,” The Aunty Jack Show created an Australian milestone by introducing colour TV to audiences.
Hot shoe shuffle – Lex teams up with Angela Gilltrap and Strictly Dancing host Paul McDermott in 2004. Photo: Supplied.
But it was in 1981 when Lex got his biggest claim to fame by playing Bruno Bertolucci in the now cringe-worthy and politically incorrect TV show Kingswood Country. In what would shock modern day sensibilities, the 1980s comedy centered around Ted Bulpitt, a bigoted, insular character obsessed with his Holden Kingswood. It was a national sensation.
Playing Bruno, “The Wog from Wagga”, Lex spearheaded one of Australian TV’s first ongoing non-Anglo-Saxon roles. A positive was that he helped to break the stereotype of fake accents and dumbed-down characters.
Lex Marinos also mastered films, both in front of and behind the camera. A lifelong cricket tragic, Lex made his directorial debut in the 1984 miniseries Bodyline about the Don Bradman era, when he joined the writing team. That same year, he reunited with actor Gary Sweet, and directed him and actor Wendy Hughes in the film adaptation of Colleen McCullough’s novel, An Indecent Obsession.
Lex worked consistently over the years, notably providing comic ‘expert’ commentary on the 2004 TV show Strictly Dancing, while showing his range in the controversial ABC TV series The Slap in 2011.
In 2013 Lex returned to Wagga to don the baggy green for the triumphant movie Backyard Ashes.
Lex was so much more than a TV personality. He was a teacher, an author, and a visionary. He created one of the segments that honoured new migrants coming to Australia in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The exhibition
Collating his huge body of work into a flawless detailed exhibition, Ms Maddison said it had been a career highlight to capture Lex’s spirit. The initial plan was to have Lex open the exhibition last year, but his failing health resulted in Lex telling her to “have a plan B”.
Lex Marinos in arguably his most famous role as “Bruno the Wog from Wagga” on TV’s “Kingswood Country” in the 1980s. Photo: Supplied.
“He decided that he would film a welcome, so that everyone coming to see the exhibition gets a personal welcome from Lex,” Ms Maddison said.
“He filmed the welcome to the exhibition the day before he passed away. So it meant a lot to us that he was, you know, that he was prepared to do that. He’s a pretty amazing character,” she said.
The Lex Factor: From Wagga to the World has been so popular the exhibition has been extended until the end of May, allowing visitors and locals to immerse themselves in pop culture nostalgia, and discover just how big an impact a boy from Wagga had on Australia’s history.
“It feels like, just coming into the exhibition, that his spirit’s still here. He was such a multifaceted man who did so much for Australia, but he never forgot that he was from Wagga, and he was so proud of his connection with Wagga,” Ms Maddison said.
The exhibition at the Museum of the Riverina Historic Council Chambers site is open Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, Sunday 10 am to 2 pm [including on Anzac Day]. Entry is free.
