Hazel Phillips OAM
Born	Hazel Julia Lovegrove[1] (1929-11-17)17 November 1929 (age 96) Battersea,County of London,England,United Kingdom
Occupations	Singer television personality actress talk show hostess entertainer
Years active	1956–present
Known for	Girl Talk
Notable work	Beauty and the Beast The Mavis Bramston Show Girl Talk Number 96 The Set

Hazel Julia Phillips (née Lovegrove) (born 17 November 1929)^[1][2][3] is a British-Australian singer, actress and television talk show personality with a notable career in Australia.

Phillips is also a playwright, composer and lyricist who has written numerously for the stage, been a compere of radio shows, a newspaper columnist and briefly operated a dinner cabaret restaurant.^[4]

She has worked as an interviewer inHollywood, where she interviewed numerous stars, such asBing Crosby,Paul Newman andOmar Shariff andFess Parker.^[5][6]

Phillips has the distinction of playing the world's first lesbian character on TV, the character Marie Crowther on the serialNumber 96.^[7]

Phillips has appeared in numerous films including the Australian filmThe Set in 1970 and more recently in 2021, the Netflix filmLove and Monsters, and scheduled in a Paramount film starringSam Neill, and a TV commercial forFord^[8]

She is often depicted as Australia's answer toBetty White in terms of career success and longevity. Since the death ofMichael Charlton on 24 August 2025, she is both the oldest living and earliest winning of all of the survivingGold Logie winners.^[5]

^[5]Phillips was born as Hazel Lovegrove inBattersea (nowWandsworth),County of London (now south London). She has been singing and dancing since the age of three and in 1948 won the beauty pageantMiss South England. At the age of 20, she became engaged to Bill Phillips, a carpenter turned TV director and they emigrated to Australia as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1950–51, marrying shortly afterwards and having two children: Mark (born 1953) and Scott (born 1955). In 1961, at a time there were no seat belts in vehicles, the family was involved in a serious car accident, and Phillips sustained severe injuries to her chin. Her marriage broke up some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin, her husband's infidelity and anectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up.

Phillips started her career at radio2UE, having won a talent contest for Miss Television in Australia. Active in television since its inception in Australia, she became one of the first personalities onNetwork Seven. in 1963, Phillips made her break into show business with a role on the talk showBeauty and the Beast opposite beastEric Baume. She also began to appear on the satiricalThe Mavis Bramston Show, where she became a regular after having to choose betweenBramston andBeauty and the Beast.^[9]

After leaving the Seven network she hosted the midday talk showGirl Talk on the fledglingNetwork Ten, for which she won theGold Logie Award for the most popular female personality on Australian television in 1967.^[10] This was won jointly withGraham Kennedy who won the male award. She was the second female star to win that honour after entertainerLorrae Desmond, who won in 1962.^[9] She had guest roles on numerous television shows includingNumber 96 (as a lesbian sharing a flat with Vera),Matlock Police,A Country Practice,G.P. andPacific Drive, as well as mini-seriesBride of Christ.

Films includeThe Set (as a nude swimmer),Midnight Dancer,Walking Emily Home andLove and Monsters.

Theatre roles starting from 1956 includeThe Circle,Henry V,Pride and Prejudice andThe Merry Wives of Windsor, and stage versions ofGrease andThe Mavis Bramston Show.^[4]

She also featured in aMarilyn Monroe Cabaret Show in 2002.^[11]

In 2020, Phillips spoke to theStudio 10 program about gender pay gaps in the entertainment industry, stating female television hosts were paid less than their male counterparts, and that in the 1960s she had been paid less than one-tenth of the salaries paid to stars like Graham Kennedy andDon Lane.^[12]

In 2008, her autobiography,Black River, Bright Star (ISBN 9781921406171), was published by Zeus Publications.^[14]

Phillips is an activist for alternative medicine, she suffered a mild heart attack in 2009, and underwent a hip replacement^[when?]

In 2011, Phillips performed in thefifth series ofAustralia's Got Talent.^[15] She sang theFrank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young" and theMarilyn Monroe songDiamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend. Phillips reached the semi-finals in the over-65 category, but was eliminated in the public vote. She still performs with her son Scott’s quartet as a vocalist on occasion.

• Hazel Phillips atIMDb

• 1929 births
• Living people
• British television talk show hosts
• English women singers
• English stage actresses
• English soap opera actresses
• English expatriates in Australia
• Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
• Gold Logie winners
• Australia's Got Talent contestants
• Actors from the London Borough of Wandsworth
• Actresses from London
• People from Battersea

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