Bruno Lawrence

Bruno Lawrence

Born: February 12, 1941
Died: June 10, 1995
in Worthing, West Sussex, England
Born David Charles Lawrence in Worthing, West Sussex, England, he migrated with his family to New Zealand in 1946, settling in New Plymouth before moving to Wellington in 1948.

Lawrence spent most of his life in New Zealand, but also worked extensively in Australia. He was a renowned jazz and rock drummer, playing drums in many bands, including Max Merritt & The Meteors, Quincy Conserve,Blerta, and The Crocodiles. His last recording was with Bernie McGann, Larry Gales and Jonathan Crayford on "Jazz at the St. James" in 1989.

In the early 1970s, Lawrence founded Blerta ("Bruno Lawrence's Electric Revelation and Travelling Apparition"). The multi and theatrical co-operative toured New Zealand and in parts of Australia. Blerta saw him performing alongside many people he would work with later as an actor, including director Geoff Murphy, and actors Martyn Sanderson and Ian Watkin.

Movies for Bruno Lawrence...

No Petrol, No Diesel
Title: No Petrol, No Diesel
Character: Rex Devlin
Released: August 1, 2009
Type: Movie
A small town, on State Highway 1, where nothing ever happens...then Rex Devlin dies in a suspicious car wreck and a mysterious stranger moves into the Temuka Hotel. Why is one of the world's biggest multinational corporations so desperate to buy a dowdy little backwater petrol station? Has Oscar Devlin really come all the way home from Los Angeles to sort out his meager inheritance, or is it Frankie he's come to see?
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Numero Bruno
Title: Numero Bruno
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2000
Type: Movie
Numero Bruno is a warts and all biography of widely popular actor, musician and counter-cultural hero Bruno Lawrence. Lawrence's intense, charismatic screen presence was key to ground-breaking Kiwi films, Smash Palace, The Quiet Earth and Utu. Directed by Steve La Hood, this documentary features interviews with family and friends, and liberal excerpts from Lawrence's film and musical work, including performances by 70s alternative Aotearoa icons Blerta and clips showcasing his seminal collaborations with Geoff Murphy.
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Gino
Title: Gino
Character: Mr. Palzetti
Released: June 1, 1994
Type: Movie
Gino Pallazetti is in love with Lucia Petri and his career as a stand up comedian is about to take off.
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Title: Frontline
Character: Brian Thompson
Released: May 9, 1994
Type: TV
Frontline is an Australian comedy television series which satirised Australian television current affairs programmes and reporting. It ran for three series of 13 half-hour episodes and was broadcast on ABC TV in 1994, 1995 and 1997.
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Title: The Feds
Character: Larry 'Icehouse' Porter
Released: September 20, 1993
Type: TV
The Feds is a series of Australian television films starring Robert Taylor, which were first broadcast on the Nine Network 1993-1996. The Feds revolves around the activities of the Australian Federal Police, who protect the national interests from crime in Australia and overseas. Nine telemovies were produced in the series.
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Jack Be Nimble
Title: Jack Be Nimble
Character: Teddy
Released: September 15, 1993
Type: Movie
Jack and Dora, abandoned by their parents as babies, are desperate to find each other after years of adoption. Jack's young life has been spent with a sadistic family. Dora, whose life has been somewhat better, has developed extra-sensory powers which tell her that Jack's in danger and drives her to search for him.
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The Rainbow Warrior
Title: The Rainbow Warrior
Character: Detective Sr. Sgt. Terry Batchelor
Released: May 22, 1993
Type: Movie
Peter Wilcox (Voight), as skipper of the 'Rainbow Warrior', a Greenpeace ship, docks in Auckland, July 1985, preparing for a protest against French nuclear testing in the south pacific. When a bomb rips open the vessel, killing a crew member, he must convince the police superintendent (Neill) that this is an act of terrorism. Determined not to allow outside forces to threaten their harbor, the police embark on a pursuit of the persons responsible. The events that follow nearly bring down an allied nation's government.
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Spotswood
Title: Spotswood
Character: Robert, Carey's Father
Released: January 23, 1992
Type: Movie
Wallace is an efficiency expert, managing the high-profile downsizing of a major auto parts factory. But when he is hired to evaluate a small moccasin factory which seems from another era, Wallace has to reconsider the rapid modernization he advocates, as he is confronted by the human faces such plans hurt.
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Cowboys of Culture
Title: Cowboys of Culture
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
Director Geoff Steven's personal perspective on the Kiwi cinema renaissance of the 1970s. It traces the development of the local film industry from the ‘she'll be right' days when filming permits were unknown, and all that was needed to get a picture up were a Bolex camera, enthusiasm and ingenuity.
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The Rogue Stallion
Title: The Rogue Stallion
Character: John Peterson
Released: January 1, 1990
Type: Movie
After her father's death, Anna Peterson and her family move from Australia to her father's ancestral home in New Zealand.
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The Delinquents
Title: The Delinquents
Character: Bosun
Released: December 21, 1989
Type: Movie
A small town in Australia, in the late 1950s: Brownie and Lola are deeply in love. But because they are under-age, their parents are against their relationship and try to separate them.
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Grievous Bodily Harm
Title: Grievous Bodily Harm
Character: Det. Sgt. Ray Birch
Released: October 26, 1988
Type: Movie
A schoolteacher (John Waters) becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife (Joy Bell) did not die in a car accident, as everyone else thinks.
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The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy
Title: The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy
Character: Detective Sergeant Batchelor
Released: October 9, 1988
Type: Movie
Dramatisation of the sinking of the Greenpeace ship 'The Rainbow Warrior' by French agents in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1985.
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As Time Goes By
Title: As Time Goes By
Released: September 29, 1988
Type: Movie
A surfer abandoned in the middle of the Australian Outback encounters an alien who time-travels in a ship that looks like a 1950s greasy spoon restaurant and embroils the hero in a chase that involves him sorting out a time paradox so that he can wind back time to prevent the Japanese winning World War II.
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Rikky and Pete
Title: Rikky and Pete
Character: Sonny
Released: June 9, 1988
Type: Movie
Rikky (Nina Landis) and her brother Pete (Stephen Kearney) struggle to keep their lives from spinning out of control in small town Australia.
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Initiation
Title: Initiation
Character: Nat Molloy
Released: June 20, 1987
Type: Movie
After the death of his mother, teenage Danny visits his father Matt Malloy on a lonesome farm in Australia, where he lives with a girlfriend and her daughter Stevie. The farm has been going bad lately, so Matt starts smuggling Marijuana for a drug connection. When Danny joins him on one of his flights, the two-seater crashes in the middle of nowhere. Since his father is wounded, he has to conquer the jungle alone in search for help.
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Title: The Great Bookie Robbery
Character: Cracka Park
Released: November 15, 1986
Type: TV
On 21st April 1976, gunmen held up more than 50 members of Melbourne’s venerable Victorian club, escaping with several million dollars in untraceable cash.The robbery had been so brilliantly planned and executed that police were left without a single clue–and so strict was the robbers’ code of silence that not even the underworld was aware of their identities.
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Bridge to Nowhere
Title: Bridge to Nowhere
Character: Mac
Released: May 16, 1986
Type: Movie
Kids on an outing in the forest come up against a mysterious hermit who lives on the other side of a bridge, and he is definitely not happy to see them.
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The Quiet Earth
Title: The Quiet Earth
Character: Zac Hobson
Released: September 8, 1985
Type: Movie
After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
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An Indecent Obsession
Title: An Indecent Obsession
Character: Matt Sawyer
Released: May 23, 1985
Type: Movie
Sister Honour Langtree (Wendy Hughes), is in charge of a military hospital for psychiatric patients. She however transgresses boundaries by developing a sexual attraction for a new patient.
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Death Warmed Up
Title: Death Warmed Up
Character: Tex
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
A kid is hypnotized by a scientist to kill his parents and ends in a mental institution. As a grown up he returns to seek revenge over the scientist.
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Heart of the Stag
Title: Heart of the Stag
Character: Peter Daley
Released: July 28, 1984
Type: Movie
Chilling story of a farmhand who realizes his popular boss has been committing incest with his daughter for years.
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Utu
Title: Utu
Character: Williamson
Released: June 27, 1984
Type: Movie
In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Maori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.
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Wild Horses
Title: Wild Horses
Character: Tyson
Released: April 18, 1984
Type: Movie
Amid the high country of the North Island interior, wild horse roam and breed. With the trees gone, Dan Mitchell and the Sullivan brothers, turn to the wild horses as a source of income. With rope and snare - and the help of an experienced horse catching team - Sam and Sara's example, the rough ex-loggers learn to respect a delicate balance between the wild horses and their catchers. The best stallions are left to breed and their riding horses are retired back into the wild herds.
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Making Utu
Title: Making Utu
Character: Self
Released: February 5, 1983
Type: Movie
Making of documentary on the set of New Zealand's first epic Utu (1983), working with little money and dealing respectfully with matters of cultural protocol. Merata Mita discusses complex issues of inter-cultural conflict.
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Carry Me Back
Title: Carry Me Back
Released: June 1, 1982
Type: Movie
Two brothers take their father into the city for the weekend for a rugby game and a night on the town. However, the old man dies in their hotel and the boys need to smuggle his body back to their farm and make it appear that he died there to satisfy a clause in his will or else they won't inherit the property.
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Warlords of the 21st Century
Title: Warlords of the 21st Century
Character: Willie
Released: January 1, 1982
Type: Movie
It's the 21st century, the Oil Wars have made a mess of the planet and the land outside major cities is lawless. After Hunter comes to the aid of Corlie, who has run away from the villainous Straker, he takes her to the peaceful community of Clearwater. Unfortunately for the citizens of Clearwater, Straker fully intends to get Corlie back.
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Race for the Yankee Zephyr
Title: Race for the Yankee Zephyr
Character: Barker
Released: November 28, 1981
Type: Movie
In a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand hunter Gibbie Gibson discovers a plane wreck from WW2. When he tells it around, a gang of crooks follows and threatens him and his daughter, because they know there are 50 million dollars in the wreck. Helicopter pilot Barney helps Gibbie against them, risking his life thereby.
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Smash Palace
Title: Smash Palace
Character: Al Shaw
Released: May 1, 1981
Type: Movie
Al Shaw's life revolves around motor racing and his back country junkyard, the "Smash Palace". His French wife, Jacqui, doesn't appreciate the lack of attention due to Al's obsession with cars. When Al finds her in the arms of another man, he takes his daughter, Georgie and heads for the bush, desperately hoping to hold on to the only family he has left.
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Goodbye Pork Pie
Title: Goodbye Pork Pie
Character: Mulvaney
Released: February 5, 1981
Type: Movie
Gerry hires a car in Kaitaia with a stolen licence and travels to Invercargill with John, whose wife has just left him. The ultimate New Zealand road trip adventure.
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Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Title: Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Character: Pat Vesey
Released: January 31, 1980
Type: Movie
A docu-drama covering one of the most famous cases in New Zealand history, the murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe in 1970.
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Wild Man
Title: Wild Man
Character: Wild Man
Released: January 1, 1977
Type: Movie
The story of two itinerant con men, the Wild Man and the Colonel, who operate on the West Coast gold mining towns of the New Zealand South Island during the latter part of the last century.
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Tank Busters
Title: Tank Busters
Character: Bruno
Released: December 30, 1970
Type: Movie
The Italian Job meets cheap jugs and a student union gig in this early heist tale from Geoff Murphy (Goodbye Pork Pie). The plot follows some university students — short on exam fees and beer money — and their scheme to crack a campus safe.
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Hurry Hurry Faster Faster
Title: Hurry Hurry Faster Faster
Released: July 15, 1965
Type: Movie
Before the Blerta bus and Goodbye Pork Pie's yellow mini hit the road, some friends with more energy than cash dressed up as mad doctors and criminals, and began making films. This freeform short about running late is an early product of varied schemers who were key in the Kiwi film renaissance. Geoff Murphy plays the man in a hurry, and Bruno Lawrence is Dr Brunowski. Warning: final credits not to be trusted.