Best known as Edie “Mummy” McDonald from Number 96, Wendy became a mid-70s household name with a comic performance audiences still remember, yet that iconic role is only the most visible chapter of a career that helped shape Australian theatre and television from the ground up.

Trained at Sydney’s Conservatorium and the Rathbone Academy, Wendy left for the UK when Australian theatre opportunities were scarce, cutting her teeth in repertory before returning in the early 1960s. She toured eight shows a week with J.C. Williamson across Australia and New Zealand, then built a formidable screen resume in staples like Homicide, Skippy and Boney, and even stepped into the light entertainment world as a panellist on Blankety Blanks.

Off-screen, Wendy’s influence runs deeper. Awarded a Member of the Order of Australia and the JC Williamson Award for lifetime achievement, she also became a producer and founded Performing Lines, and she was a pioneer of Aboriginal theatre on Australian stages. From The Cake Man to Jack Davis’s trilogy (The Dreamers, No Sugar, Barungin) and beyond, her productions helped carry First Nations stories to major Australian venues and international audiences. This episode goes behind the laughter and the legacy, including the unexpected leap into producing, the sheer workload of balancing theatre with television fame, the nights that changed careers, and the advice she would give to actors trying to break through today.