Biography

Vincent Ball

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With the outbreak of war, Vincent left his job with the Australian General Electric Company and became a pilot with the Australian Air Force in England. He returned to Australia and his old job in 1945 but couldn't settle. He tried amateur dramatics. but his accent was a mixture of Australian, Cockney (due to his stay in London) and Canadian (having mixed with Canadian forces). To correct this, he had elocution lessons, which resulted in him marrying his teacher, Doreen. They had a daughter, Catherine. With his diction corrected, he wrote letters asking for auditions. One of these was to the Rank Organisation who replied, asking him to call and see them if he was in the neighbourhood. He got a job as a stoker on a cargo ship, but the journey took six months instead of the expected six weeks. Undaunted, he presented himself at the Rank offices where he impressed with his enthusiasm. They gave him a job as stand-in for Donald Houston in an underwater fight with an octopus in the film The Blue Lagoon. He then won a scholarship to RADA from where he went into rep, working his way up to juvenile lead in Rain Before Seven, Barnett's Folly and Nitro. He got a few bit parts in films before moving into slightly larger parts in such as A Town Like Alice, Robbery Under Arms,and Danger Within. He moved back to Australia in the 70's, appearing in various TV series and films,such as Breaker Morant, Phar Lap and Muriel's Wedding.
- IMDb mini biography by: tonyman 5

His first film job was as a "swimming double" in The Blue Lagoon (1949). The leading man of the film, Donald Houston couldn't swim, so Ball doubled for him, in scenes entirely shot in the studio tank. He later said his chief memory of the film was being constantly reminded by director Frank Launder to keep his face turned away from the camera - and that he'd been unaware that for water to not appear cloudy on-screen, it had to be ice-cold.
Has a brother who was an acrobat.
Prior to turning to acting he sailed 2 and a half times round the world working as a ships deck hand.
Prior to his training at RADA he was working as a brick layers apprentice.
He made his British stage debut in a juvenile role at the Q theatre and went on to work in rep at Hayes, Leatherhead and Horsham.

All my life, I wanted to be a cowboy in films. I was born in Wee Waa, N.S.W., where my father was a linesman for the railways. Then we moved to Moree, where there was a film matinee every Saturday. For sixpence I could sit there and worship Tom Mix and all the other marvellous Western veterans until I nearly burst. For ninepence you could get the additional thrill of a hot pie. gravy and peas at the local café. I'd been riding a horse all my life because we had one to pull the sulky. Most of the time the poor thing was carrying me.
[on writing to the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios in the UK] They replied: "If you should ever happen to be round this way, pop in and see us." The fact that I was 13,000 miles away didn't deter me for a minute. I hung round the docks for a week until I could find a job on a ship pointing in the right direction. She was a Swedish cargo ship and I got the lowest form-of-life-type chores. Six months later. I finished up in Sweden.
Alter my discharge in 1945. the old determination to learn acting took over so I joined the Whitehall Academy of Dramatic Art in Sydney. I must have had the most bastardised accent in the business. one-third Aussie, one-third Canadian, and one-third Cockney.