FAREWELL TO THE GOGGOMOBIL MAN!
WE REMEMBER THE STAR BEHIND OUR FAVOURITE TV AD
Tommy Dysart was a respected character actor with a celebrated 60-year career in TV, film and theatre. But for many Australians, the late Scotsman will forever be remembered as the muchloved ‘Goggomobil man’.
Sadly, Tommy passed away this month in Melbourne at the age of 86.
After emigrating to Australia and studying at famed acting school NIDA, Tommy began his career in stage musicals before scoring parts in a series of classic TV shows, including
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Phoenix Five, Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police and
Cop Shop.
It was his role as Prisoner’s
vicious and cold prison officer Jock Stewart from 1980 to 1982 that really catapulted Tommy to a different level of stardom. His menacing character murdered inmate Sharon Gilmour (played by Margot Knight) in a storyline that gripped Australia.
Still, nothing could have prepared Tommy for the adulation he received for his portrayal of a frustrated Goggomobil owner, unable to find a mechanic to fix his rare 1960s German vehicle – or who could understand his Scottish accent – in a 1990s
Yellow Pages commercial.
The Sydney Morning Herald called it Australia’s most memorable TV commercial of that decade, and included it alongside Mortein’s 1960s Louie the Fly advert in a list of the best ever Aussie ads.
“It’s almost impossible not to warm to the sentiment in this classic feel-good ad… his childish delight when he connects with a fellow Goggomobil nerd is beautifully infectious as is his final line, ‘It’s a wee ripper!’” the report said.
Tommy’s Goggomobil catchphrase
“Not the Dart!” entered the national lexicon. The role was so powerful that he later controversially appeared as the ‘Goggomobil man’ in commercials for car insurers Shannons, which upset Telstra so much that they took the company to court.
More recently, Tommy appeared in drama series All Together Now, Blue Heelers and Neighbours. He is survived by wife Joan Brockenshire, who also appeared in Prisoner and the Yellow Pages commercial, and son Kole.