Cornelia Frances Gone But Never Forgotten

It's a Sad Farewell as We Mourn One of Australia's Tv Greats

Cornelia Frances was still hoping for a miracle when, ravaged by cancer, she celebrated her 77th birthday in hospital with family and friends only weeks ago.

Sadly it was not to be for Cornelia, an off-screen softie who excelled at playing soap-opera bitches. The much-loved star of Home And Away, Prisoner, The Young Doctors and Sons And Daughters passed away on Monday, May 28, without ever returning to Summer Bay – which remained her fondest wish as she lay dying.

Always a trouper, Cornelia achieved a legion of new fans hosting the hit quiz show The Weakest Link from 2001-2002. But not even her indomitable spirit could beat bladder cancer, diagnosed in 2016, which later spread to her hip and spine.

‘I swear I have had a hex placed on me for the past 12 months,’ she laughingly told The Sunday Telegraph from her bed at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital earlier this year. ‘I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hipbone, which fractured. And then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat.’

To the very end, ‘Cornie’ enjoyed a tipple of her favourite French champagne – once confiding that her Dutch grandfather had told her never to drink anything less – and a tilt at The Times crossword, which she invariably solved.

Warm, witty and softhearted in real life, the English-born actress remained close mates with ex-husband Michael Eastland, adored their son Lawrence, 46, and doted on her 17-year-old granddaughter Tipani.