Terence Donovan dies at 90, Australian soap star remembered

Terence Donovan, the British-Australian actor who became a familiar face in the long-running soap worlds of Neighbours and Home and Away, died peacefully in Melbourne on Saturday night at 90. His son, Jason Donovan, announced the death on social media on Sunday and described his father as his “best friend” and “our world,” a tribute that showed how far Terence Donovan’s reach extended from Australian living rooms to the next generation of screen fame.

Born in London, Terence Donovan moved to Australia with his parents at 14, then worked as a house painter and a truck driver before acting took hold. That path helped define the kind of screen presence he brought to television: practical, grounded and immediately recognisable. Over more than half a century on Australian screens, he moved between the serial drama that made him famous and the broader television landscape that kept him there.

He was best known for playing Doug Willis in Neighbours and Al Simpson in Home and Away, two shows that became cultural anchors for audiences in Australia and Britain and helped make the soap opera a durable export. Donovan also appeared in Cop Shop, Division 4, Breaker Morant and The Man from Snowy River, credits that reflected a career spanning serial television and film at a time when Australian screen work was building a national identity while remaining legible to overseas viewers.

His death at 90 came shortly after he had marked his birthday, with Jason Donovan sharing tributes and photos online. The younger Donovan, now 58, has spent decades in the public eye himself, and his message made plain that Terence Donovan’s legacy was not confined to one role or one era. It ran through the soap opera format that turned recurring characters into household names and through a family line that linked British-born roots, Australian work and a cross-generational audience.