Jude Kuring

Career

Kuring joined the Australian Performing Group (APG) in Melbourne during the early 1970s and starred alongside Max Gillies, Graeme Blundell, Bruce Spence and others in a number of plays, variety shows and other stage productions written by David Williamson and Jack Hibberd. She continued performing with the APG and, in 1972, she became involved in an oppositional subgroup of the APG which included Micky Allen, Claire Dobbin, Kerry Dwyer, Laurel Frank, Helen Garner, Evelyn Krape and Yvonne Marini. The group held its first show, Betty Can Jump, later that year.

Although making her first appearance on the police drama Homicide in 1971, Kuring would not begin television acting for another four years until being cast in a minor role in the 1975 television movie They Don't Clap Losers. During the next few years, she was seen on the television series Alvin Purple as well as playing various characters on comedy shows including Wollongong the Brave, The Garry McDonald Show and The Off Show

In 1977, Kuring made her film debut as Mrs. Herbert in The Singer and the Dancer as Mrs. Herbert, the nagging daughter of Mrs. Bilson (Ruth Cracknell). Later that year, she appeared in her breakout role as Grace in the cult film Journey Among Women. She had supporting roles in Newsfront and The Journalist before being cast as Noeline Bourke in the soap opera Prisoner.

Largely portrayed as a lower class thief and the head of a small family of petty thieves, Kuring's character was introduced to the series as an inmate emerging to fight Monica Ferguson (Lesley Baker) for position of "top dog" while Bea Smith (Val Lehman) is recovering in hospital. One of the subplots during the first and second seasons of the series focused on her criminal family, and in one episode, her brother Col is killed by police during a hostage situation. Her character was released shortly after, however she was again caught breaking into a warehouse with her daughter Leanne and returned to Wentworth where she served another brief stint. Taking time off from the series, Kuring appeared in the 1980 film Maybe This Time for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role by the Australian Film Institute.

Kuring reappeared on the series, her character being reintroduced shortly after the death of her daughter Leanne, who had been killed during a protest at the prison. After being accepted into the prison's work release program, she is coerced to help one of the employees, Kay White (Sandy Gore), by using her family to steal fabric from the factory. She is set up by White however and, with the work release canceled, she is transferred to Barnhurst (another prison) for her own protection.

In 1981, she and Chris Westwood formed a women's subgroup in the APG. The two had been discussing the lack of women's roles in Australian theater, often relegated to the stereotypical "hooker with a heart of gold", or as a mother, and began organizing members at Nimrod Theatre. They were also given a $110,000 Limited Life Project grant from the Theatre Board of the Australian Council, which they used for a variety of projects including two sets of play readings, a series of acting workshops and included hosting a seminar on women, comedy and music.

After guest appearing on Waterloo Station in 1983, Kuring subsequently moved away from acting. However, she once more returned to her former career to play a prominent role in the movie Prisoner Queen, which centered on an obsessed fan of the Prisoner television series.