Su Cruickshank

Cruickshank was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, the eldest of four children of pharmacist Duncan Cruickshank and his wife Joyce. She grew up in the suburb of Adamstown in a musical family. Her father played double bass and her paternal grandmother had been a singer. ==Career==

In the 1970s Cruickshank moved to London and worked as a singer in a variety of low-end jazz clubs. She returned to Australia in 1979 and began to rise to public prominence, notably through successfully hosting a string of Sydney's annual Jazz in the Domain summer outdoor concerts. She subsequently appeared in many Australian film and television roles and was especially well known for her role as Mrs. Einstein , the mother of Yahoo Serious in the 1988 surprise hit (in Australia) film Young Einstein and, from 1992, for her regular appearances on Bert Newton's top-rating nationally-broadcast morning entertainment show Good Morning Australia. In 1993-4 she hosted her own talk show on ABC TV called In Company with Su Cruickshank and she continued to make frequent guest appearances in a wide variety of Australian drama, comedy and light entertainment programs for the rest of the decade, as well as appearing in a number of TV commercials. ==Death==

Cruickshank suffered from a long-term illness in her last years and she died on 8 December 2009. A memorial concert was held to celebrate her life in her home town of Newcastle a week after her death. ==Personal life==

Cruickshank married and divorced in the 1970s and never remarried. She had two stepchildren, Effie and Saabeah Theos, to her Ghanaian partner of eight years. ==Acting roles==

Film • Somewhere in the Darkness (1998) • Your Move: An Emergency Life Saving Adventure (1997) • Young Einstein (1988) • Those Dear Departed (1987) • Playing Beatie Bow (1986) • Undercover (1984) • Fatty Finn (1980) Television • The Mike Walsh Show (1980) Guest as herself • E Street • A Country Practice • The Young Doctors as Bathsheba Smith (1981) • Stock Squad ==Publications==

• Cruickshank, Su, Bring A Plate to The Mortdale Scout Hall – The Autobiography of a Fat Tart Complete with Recipes, Sun Books, 1992, ==References==