Cathy was first brought to my attention when she appeared in one of the most memorable storylines in
the history of Home and Away. Playing Meg Bowman, her character moved to Summer Bay to spend her final days -
but soon fell in love with Blake Dean - against the initial wishes of her over-protective mother. As Meg's
condition deteriorated, Blake took her to the beach where she later passed away after viewing the sunset
one final time.
From an Inside Soap article (May 1998):
This fortnight, Cathy joins the many Australian actors who have swapped soaps when she appears in Neighbours as Darren's new boss, Sondra.
The character is set to cause trouble when she is left in charge of the house Darren is renovating. She insists that he accompany her to a dinner-dance, which, needless to say, doesn't please Libby.
"She's the Heather Locklear of Ramsay Street," warns the 23-year-old actress, referring to the star who plays scheming Amanda in Melrose Place. "She's going to wreak havoc."
After leaving Home and Away, Cathy appeared in the steamy soap Chances and a sitcom called Newlyweds. But when Newlyweds was cancelled, she was left out of work. "I'm a workaholic, so I went insane," she says. "I kept thinking, 'What can I do today?' and 'Perhaps I'm really bad at this, that's why I'm not working'."
From TV Week (June 1994):
"The character, Cassie, is not like I am, because it's a comedy. It's nothing like me, so I'm not drawing any parallels to my own life. Except it's funny that I did get this job as an ex-girlfriend."
In the Hey Dad! episode, Cathy plays Cassie, a country girl. "I'm Ben's ex," she says. "I've decided to try and get him back, so I turn up with a story about a rich fiance to make Ben jealous. To try and avoid me, he makes up a story saying he's engaged to Tracey. I break down and tell him the truth and so does he."
At the other end of the spectrum, is the Blue Heelers role Cathy filmed in Melbourne a week before flying to Sydney to do Hey Dad! "It was fantastic. I can't believe they gave me the role," she says. "It was for a 16-year-old, tough, semi-alcoholic prostitute. So opposite to anything I've ever done. It's so different to Newlyweds."
From TV Week (March 1992):
(On Home and Away) - Told she would be playing a leukemia victim, Cathy researched the illness and made visits to Melbourne's Alfred Hospital. A difficulty of the role, she says, was portraying a character with the side effects of leukemia. "Meg gets very breathless and eventually finds it hard to speak and walk."
Another difficulty has been coping with talk that she is involved in a romance with her Home and Away co-star Les Hill (Blake). Of their time together in Home and Away, Cathy says: "It has just been wonderful. But there is no romance in real life."
"Our relationship could have become more than just friends, because there was chemistry, but it all seemed too hard. I'm in Melbourne again, Les is in Sydney."
Cathy, whose mother is respected TV, radio and charity identity Rosemary Margan, was most recently seen in the TV1 telemovie The King. "The King is the story of Graham Kennedy, Australia's first and greatest homegrown superstar. It traces his rise from working class kid, through radio, TV, film, and back to TV again. Against this backdrop of professional success it also tracks Kennedy's personal tragedies - the loneliness, the unrealised ambitions and the terrible pressures of being under Australia's spotlight in the 1950's and 60s. The King is not just about a man - it's also the story of the birth of television, a cultural phenomenon that has helped define a nation and made us who we are today."
From an Inside Soap article (May 1998):
This fortnight, Cathy joins the many Australian actors who have swapped soaps when she appears in Neighbours as Darren's new boss, Sondra.
The character is set to cause trouble when she is left in charge of the house Darren is renovating. She insists that he accompany her to a dinner-dance, which, needless to say, doesn't please Libby.
"She's the Heather Locklear of Ramsay Street," warns the 23-year-old actress, referring to the star who plays scheming Amanda in Melrose Place. "She's going to wreak havoc."
After leaving Home and Away, Cathy appeared in the steamy soap Chances and a sitcom called Newlyweds. But when Newlyweds was cancelled, she was left out of work. "I'm a workaholic, so I went insane," she says. "I kept thinking, 'What can I do today?' and 'Perhaps I'm really bad at this, that's why I'm not working'."
From TV Week (June 1994):
"The character, Cassie, is not like I am, because it's a comedy. It's nothing like me, so I'm not drawing any parallels to my own life. Except it's funny that I did get this job as an ex-girlfriend."
In the Hey Dad! episode, Cathy plays Cassie, a country girl. "I'm Ben's ex," she says. "I've decided to try and get him back, so I turn up with a story about a rich fiance to make Ben jealous. To try and avoid me, he makes up a story saying he's engaged to Tracey. I break down and tell him the truth and so does he."
At the other end of the spectrum, is the Blue Heelers role Cathy filmed in Melbourne a week before flying to Sydney to do Hey Dad! "It was fantastic. I can't believe they gave me the role," she says. "It was for a 16-year-old, tough, semi-alcoholic prostitute. So opposite to anything I've ever done. It's so different to Newlyweds."
From TV Week (March 1992):
(On Home and Away) - Told she would be playing a leukemia victim, Cathy researched the illness and made visits to Melbourne's Alfred Hospital. A difficulty of the role, she says, was portraying a character with the side effects of leukemia. "Meg gets very breathless and eventually finds it hard to speak and walk."
Another difficulty has been coping with talk that she is involved in a romance with her Home and Away co-star Les Hill (Blake). Of their time together in Home and Away, Cathy says: "It has just been wonderful. But there is no romance in real life."
"Our relationship could have become more than just friends, because there was chemistry, but it all seemed too hard. I'm in Melbourne again, Les is in Sydney."
Cathy, whose mother is respected TV, radio and charity identity Rosemary Margan, was most recently seen in the TV1 telemovie The King. "The King is the story of Graham Kennedy, Australia's first and greatest homegrown superstar. It traces his rise from working class kid, through radio, TV, film, and back to TV again. Against this backdrop of professional success it also tracks Kennedy's personal tragedies - the loneliness, the unrealised ambitions and the terrible pressures of being under Australia's spotlight in the 1950's and 60s. The King is not just about a man - it's also the story of the birth of television, a cultural phenomenon that has helped define a nation and made us who we are today."