Robina BeardOAM (born 1938) is an English-born Australian actress, dancer and choreographer. Beard has appeared in numerous stage and TV roles, but is best known as "Madge the Manicurist" in thePalmolive dishwashing liquid advertisements.

Born inTwickenham, London, England in 1938, Beard came to Australia with her family in 1949. Her education in dance began at age six and in Sydney she was trained in theCecchetti method.^[1]

Her professional career began in 1955 when she danced in the musicalCan-Can forJ. C. Williamson's.^[1] She performed in a number of musicals and plays at thePhillip Street Theatre includingAlice in Wonderland in 1959 andThe Boy Friend in 1968.^[2] She appeared asDormouse in the 1962 teleplay ofAlice in Wonderland, alongsideNoel Ferrier (Humpty Dumpty) andChips Rafferty (White Knight).^[3][4]

Beard joined GTV-9 in Melbourne in 1965, working first as their first weather girl and then appearing onIn Melbourne Tonight.^[1] She also appeared inBarley Charlie, the first sitcom produced in Australia and shown across theNine Network.^[5] She subsequently had roles in many well-known Australian series, includingNo. 96,G.P.,Home and Away andAll Saints.^[1]

Beard is best known as 'Madge', the manicurist in the Australian and New Zealand advertisements, forPalmolive dishwashing liquid from 1968, with the slogan, "You're soaking in it".^[6][7]

She adapted and directed a production ofThe Wizard of Oz which played at theRegent Theatre during the 1980Festival of Sydney.^[8] In 1981 she directed Greg Millin'sRobin Hood, which was described as "wonderful school holiday entertainment for the whole family".^[9] She re-stagedSesame Street Live at theCapitol Theatre for the 1982Festival of Sydney, then toured the production on a 16-week tour of Australia followed by New Zealand and Asia.^[10]

In 2018 Playscript published her book,My Life – You're Soaking In It.^[11]

Beard first performed the role ofDaisy Bates in the play,Tales of Kabbarli, by Geoffrey Sykes at 313 Theatre,Coniston, New South Wales in 2007.^[12] She is reprising the play in Sydney in 2023 at Actor's Pulse inRedfern.^[13]

Beard was awarded theMedal of the Order of Australia in the2011 Australia Day Honours for "service to the arts, particularly through dance".^[14] In July of the same year she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at theAustralian Dance Awards.^[15]

• Official website
• Robina Beard atIMDb 
• Robina Beard on YouTube

• 1938 births
• Living people
• Actors from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
• Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
• 20th-century Australian actresses
• 21st-century Australian actresses
• 20th-century Australian dancers
• Australian choreographers
• Australian theatre directors
• Australian women choreographers
• Australian women theatre directors
• People from Twickenham

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