Norman Kaye

Acting

Norman Kaye

Born 1927-01-17 · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Norman James Kaye (17 January 1927 – 28 May 2007) was an Australian actor and composer. He was best known for his roles in the films of director Paul Cox. As an actor, he was strongly associated with the films of Paul Cox, appearing in 16 of them. He had small roles in Cox's Illuminations (1976) and Kostas (1979), and shared the lead with Wendy Hughes in Cox's 1982 film Lonely Hearts and the lead in Man of Flowers (1983), for which he won an AFI Award. Norman Kaye was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease prior to 1997. His inability to memorise scripts for the film Innocence led to the end of his collaboration with Paul Cox, as well as the end of his career in 2004. Kaye was in the advanced stage of the disease at the time of his death in Sydney on 28 May 2007. He had enjoyed a 35-year relationship with the opera director Elke Neidhardt, and she was at his side at his death.

Acting credits

Moulin Rouge! poster
7.5

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.

Moulin Rouge!

2001

Heaven's Burning poster
5.7

In Sydney, the newly married Midori is honeymooning with her husband, Yukio. She does not love him and fakes her own kidnapping to escape the marriage. Her lover is supposed to meet her, but fails to appear. She goes to a bank to get some cash, only to become a hostage in an unfolding robbery, until the getaway driver, Colin, saves her from his fellow robbers. They hit the road together, with the cops, her husband and the robbers in pursuit.

Heaven's Burning

1997

The Custodian poster
4.5

Detective James Quinlan has left his alcoholic wife, sprouting a bloom of insecurity, anger and self-motivation within him to expose the corrupt police force that surrounds him. He abandons his straight life to join his partner Detective Church in order to get on the inside of the circle of double-agents. He secretly sides with a reporter and an Internal Affairs lawyer to expose them to the press.

The Custodian

1994

Where the Green Ants Dream poster
6.9

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.

Where the Green Ants Dream

1984

Mad Dog Morgan poster
5.9

The true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during the 1850s.

Mad Dog Morgan

1976

Exile poster
5.0

Set in the last century, a man is outlawed and condemned to live alone on a small island, his only crime the theft of a few sheep. A girl from the mainland learns of his existence and, compelled by loneliness and romantic dreams, crosses the treacherous sea to join him. Together they create their own truth.

Exile

1994

Touch Me poster
5.1

Two women escape to the mountains where they enjoy each others company, apparently disappointed with their male partners.

Touch Me

1993

Buddies poster
6.4

Mike and Johnny are two mates who are mining sapphires in Emerald. Another bloke is trying to move in on their claim and things get ugly

Buddies

1983

Turtle Beach poster
5.3

Reporter Judith Wilkes leaves her husband and two sons in Sydney and goes to Malaysia to cover the story of the Vietnamese boat people. She becomes romantically involved with Kanan, and strikes up a friendship with Lady Minou Hobday, who keeps a regular vigil at "Turtle Beach" where the refugees try to secretly land, in the hope that one day her own children will arrive. Accompanying Minou one night, Judith witnesses a brutal massacre by the Malaysians, which spurs her on to expose the horrors of the internment camps at Bidong.

Turtle Beach

1992

The Riddle of the Stinson poster
7.2

A true story. In 1937, a routine passenger and mail flight crashes during bad weather on a flight between Brisbane and Sydney. A local bushman begins his own search, and finds the wreckage and two survivors ten days after the crash.

The Riddle of the Stinson

1988

Hungry Heart poster
9.0

Set in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, we see life through the eyes of Salvatore Bono, returning to his parents home after completing his internship as a doctor in the country.

Hungry Heart

1987

Paws poster
4.6

A talking Terrier with impressive computer skills teams up with two youngsters to stop a million dollars from falling into the wrong hands.

Paws

1997

Lust and Revenge poster
3.7

This caustic Australian comedy meant to burn those commercial interests who sponsor artists for tax breaks. It is also a sexually unresponsive wife's revenge against her cheating husband. Heiress Georgina Oliphant, the daughter of pharmaceutical magnate George Oliphant is on a mission to find a sculptor suitable of her father's sponsorship. Normally, George doesn't give a hoot about art, but tax time approaches and he needs a big deduction. Since large bronze statues are 100% deductible, that's what he wants. Georgina comes through with the lesbian sculptor Lily Carmichael who suggests a detailed male nude, sans fig leaf. For her model, Lily chooses unemployed hunk Karl-Heinz Applebaum who at first doesn't realize he is to model totally nude. Fortunately, coquettish Georgina is around to convince him to shed those clothes.

Lust and Revenge

1996

Island poster
5.6

Island is Paul Cox's serene and beautiful film which explores a spectrum of emotions - ranging from extreme passion to fear, leading to murder - from loneliness to sensuality. Three women from Australia, Sri Lanka, and Greece meet on a Greek island. All are exiles escaping from their own personal tragedies. Ultimately, it is the island itself, with the generosity and warmth of the islanders, which leads all three women to revelations about themselves and their place in the world.

Island

1989

Relatives poster
9.0

A family reunion among the squattocracy leads to conflict as various members assert their egos.

Relatives

1985

Deadline poster
6.3

A journalist sets out to report on a minor earthquake in the Australian outback, and finds that the tremor was a result of a small nuclear explosion - part of an extortion threat that has the government fearing nuclear blackmail. With the help of local reporters, and despite the harassment of the security agencies, he sets out to avert the crisis.

Deadline

1982

The Killing of Angel Street poster
6.5

Jessica Simmonds returns from overseas to find her retired professor father in a bitter public fight to save the historic Sydney waterfront houses on Angel Street. After her father's mysterious death, she joins forces with local residents and a union leader against corrupt forces. Based on the real life mysterious disappearance of Juanita Nielsen.

The Killing of Angel Street

1981

The Road poster
NR

The road through the wood is said to be haunted; but are the ghosts from the past or the future?

The Road

1964

Frenchman's Farm poster
5.7

An Australian woman's car breaks down in the country, and when she goes to get help, she's whisked back in time to 1944 and witnesses a murder. Returning to her car, time reverts to normal, but unable to convince anyone of her story, she investigates the crime herself.

Frenchman's Farm

1986

A Dangerous Summer poster
4.1

Building is Howard's passion, and he is so absorbed in his plans to build an elaborate resort in the Blue Mountains of Australia that he ignores certain obvious signals that his business partner is not entirely on the up-and-up. After a brush fire destroys the resort, an insurance investigator comes nosing around, whom Howard's partner deals with in a drastic manner. By the time Lloyds of London's senior investigator George Engels (James Mason in one of his last roles) arrives on the scene, Howard (Tom Skerritt) is anxious to set things to rights.

A Dangerous Summer

1982

No artwork available
10.0

A couple living together have a tense relationship. The woman's father dies and she becomes preoccupied with death. She almost drowns in the bath but then recovers her enthusiasm for life.

Illuminations

1976

Man of Flowers poster
5.2

An eccentric elderly man tries to enjoy the three things in life that he considers real beauty: collecting art, collecting flowers, and watching pretty women undress.

Man of Flowers

1983

The Nostradamus Kid poster
4.9

When he discovers the world is about to end, a lovestruck teen makes it his mission to bed the girl he has fallen for.

The Nostradamus Kid

1993

Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train poster
5.3

A convent teacher spreads a little happiness and makes enough money to support her crippled brother's habit by selling her favours regularly on a cross-country night sleeper. She makes sure she is in control of each encounter until one client reaches her more than she expects.

Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train

1987

Behind the camera