Occupation Actor Children Nana Coburn Role Television actor | Name Norman Coburn Years active 1956–present | |
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Similar People Nicolle Dickson, Lyn Collingwood, Nana Coburn, Alan Bateman | ||
Norman Coburn (born 6 March 1937 in Sydney) is a retired Australian actor of stage, television and film, notable for his roles primarily in TV soap operas, most especially in Home and Away for his long-standing Guinness World Record-listed role as Donald Fisher between 1988–2003, with sporadic returns in 2005 and 2007.
Contents
Home and Away: Donald Slaps Alan (1988)
Career
Coburn trained with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in North Sydney, Australia, before travelling to Britain in the 1950s to pursue an acting career. He appeared in iconic British TV shows such as Dixon of Dock Green and Coronation Street. He quit acting for a time and worked as a restaurateur in London and owned a vineyard in Cornwall in the 1970s. However, he returned to acting and to Australia in the 1980s.
Coburn is best known for his portrayal of Donald "Flathead" Fisher, the principal of Summer Bay High School, in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. He appeared from the show's pilot episode in 1988 until 2003. Coburn was featured in the Guinness World Records as the longest serving actor in an Australian serial, along with co-stars Ray Meagher and Kate Ritchie. Since his departure from Home and Away, he has returned in consecutive guest appearances, the last being in 2007.
He has also appeared briefly as Fred Sykes in the Seven Network soap opera Sons and Daughters, and had guest appearances in The Young Doctors, Special Squad and A Country Practice.
Personal life
Coburn originally resided in Sydney, and later Perth, Western Australia. He currently resides on Bruny Island south of Hobart, Tasmania. With his wife Tina, he has one daughter, actor and director Nana Coburn, who has also appeared in Home and Away.
In 2014, 10 years after leaving Home and Away, he was featured in a photo shoot for New Idea, in a reunion with former cast members Nicolle Dickson who played his daughter Bobby, Ross Newton (Greg) and Ryan Clark who played his grandson Sam Marshall. He said he was still surprised that people still remember him as "Flathead" Fisher