He was best known for one of his early roles, that of Brother Francine in
Fred Schepisi's ''
The Devil's Playground (1976). While he worked mainly in film and television, he also worked in theatre, including musical theatre. He played Pontius Pilate in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar'' in 1972–73, and appears on the
original Australian cast recording. During 1980, Dignam was part of
A Shakespeare Company, funded by a one-off grant from the
Australia Council, and worked with actors
Ruth Cracknell,
Ron Haddrick and others on two texts for six months and then presented them at the
Seymour Centre. ==Personal life==