Dreaming of Jeannie

Simon Stabler talks to actress Annette Andre, a star of the detective series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

- Simon Stabler

Two decades before Kylie Minogue became the UK’s favourite Australian import, there was Annette Andre. Perhaps best known as Jeannie

Hopkirk, widow of Kenneth Cope’s spectral detective in the adventure series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Sydney-born Annette first trod the boards as a dancer, aged three.

“I trained with a ballet school out there,” recalls Annette. “Then I was asked to join the Australian Ballet Company which was an amazing company. I just started with them, a few rehearsals, and they called me into their office and said to me: ‘Sorry, we can’t have you.’

“And I nearly died. I said: ‘Why?’ They said: ‘You’re too young. You’re 15 and you’ve got to be 16.’ I went home and said: ‘I’m finished. I’ve done it. But don’t worry Mum, I’m still going to be kicking up my legs on the stage.’

“I did a bit of amateur theatre. It’s all good for the training. And then I got a job in a musical and I did that for a while. And then I went on from there. I had to knock on doors, and I had to force myself onto things. Radio was big time out there then. There was no television. So, radio was big, and theatre.

“And a nun from my old school was wonderful. She said: ‘I know a woman who runs a radio school. I think I can get you into the school if you’re interested.’ I said: ‘Yes.’ And that’s what I did.