Jude Kuring

Judith Kuring (born 23 November 1948) known Jude Kuring is an Australian actress who appeared in theatre, film and television during the late 1970s and early 80s. She remains best known for her stint as the recurring character of petty criminal Noeline Bourke in the soap opera Prisoner in 1979 until 1980.

Kuring had small roles in films including The Singer and the Dancer, Journey Among Women, Newsfront, The Journalist, ...Maybe This Time and Prisoner Queen.^[1]

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Although making her first appearance on the police drama Homicide in 1971, Kuring would not begin television acting for another four years until being cast in a minor role in the 1975 television movie They Don't Clap Losers. During the next few years, she was seen on the television series Alvin Purple as well as playing various characters on comedy shows including Wollongong the Brave.

In 1977, Kuring made her film debut in The Singer and the Dancer as Mrs Herbert, the nagging daughter of Mrs Bilson (Ruth Cracknell).^[3] Later that year, she appeared in her breakout role as Grace in the cult film Journey Among Women. She had supporting roles in Newsfront and The Journalist.

She was subsequently cast as Noeline Bourke in the soap opera Prisoner.^[4]

Noeline was largely portrayed as a lower class thief and the head of a small family of petty thieves, Bourke was introduced to the series as an inmate emerging to fight Monica Ferguson (Lesley Baker) for position of "top dog" while Bea Smith (Val Lehman) is recovering in hospital. One of the subplots during the first and second seasons of the series focused on her criminal family, and in one episode, her dimwitted brother Col is killed by police during a hostage situation. Her character was released shortly after, however she was again caught breaking into a warehouse with her daughter Leanne and returned to Wentworth where she served another brief stint.^[5]

Taking time off from the series, Kuring appeared in the 1980 film Maybe This Time for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role by the Australian Film Institute.^[6]

Kuring reappeared on the series, her character being reintroduced shortly after the death of her daughter Leanne, who had been killed during a protest at the prison. After being accepted into the prison's work release program, she is coerced to help one of the employees, Kay White (Sandy Gore), by using her family to steal fabric from the factory. She is set up by White however and, with the work release canceled, she is transferred to Barnhurst (another prison) for her own protection.^[5][7]

After guest appearing on Waterloo Station in 1983, Kuring subsequently moved away from acting.

Kuring after a long tenure away from acting, once more returned to her former career in 2013 to play a prominent role in the movie Prisoner Queen, which centred on an obsessed fan of the Prisoner television series.^[4]

In 1995, Jude featured in the pilot of an LGBTQI+ sitcom called Buck House, playing the lead role of Phyllis Buck. Originally filmed before a live studio audience at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, Buck House underwent considerable rewrites following its initial popularity. A new 8-episode series was created for streaming on the internet in 1997. That series and the 1995 pilot starring Jude Kuring can be viewed on https://aussiegaysitcom.com

In 2013, she appeared in film The House Cleaner and in 2017 7 from Etheria.

Kuring, has also worked in theatre having started her acting career in that genre in 1968, when she joined the Australian Performing Group in Melbourne in the early 1970s,performing in a number of plays, variety shows and other stage productions, written by David Williamson and Jack Hibberd. Roles include Romeo and Juliet and McBeth

in 1981, alongside Chris Westwood, Kuring formed a women's group as a subgroup of APG, they had been discussing the lack of roles for women in local theatre, rekegated to the "hooker with a heart" or mother, and began organising memberss at the Nimrod Theatre, they were given a 110.000 grant from Limited Life Project" which they utillised for play readings and a series of workshops and included a seminar on women, comedy and music.

• Jude Kuring at IMDb
• Jude Kuring at Pramfactory.com