Former Neighbours star Ian Smith opens up about cancer battle: ‘I was supposed to die in March'
Former Neighbours star Ian Smith has revealed he has beaten the odds so far after doctors told him he was supposed to die in March, just three short months after being diagnosed with 'non-fixable' cancer.
The beloved Aussie actor gave an update on his cancer battle in an emotional interview on Seven's The Morning Show on Wednesday, telling viewers he is 'feeling great' despite his grim medical prognosis.
'Let me tell you, I have got cancer. I know that because doctors tell me I have. But apart from that, no pain,' the 86-year-old told hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies. 'I get a bit nauseous sometimes, but that's not much.'
'I am having – oh, [I should] hold back from saying it – the easiest ride. Seriously. I mean, I think of the poor people who are having the worst possible cancers and I just say, 'I'm sorry guys, but this is the way I'm doing it.' And I don't know how I did it that way, because it certainly wasn't anything that I did.'
Smith – who played the loveable Harold Bishop on Neighbours for almost four decades – says that even he is surprised to still be around today after being told he only had months to live.
'I was supposed to die in March,' he said. 'I've possibly never felt better. Everyone looks at me and they say, 'Look at your hair.' And they're all jealous because I've got so much hair.'
But that's not to say the actor didn't lose his hair at the start of his treatment in December.
'Of course I went through the cancer thing. I started to lose my hair with the treatment, and then I went totally bald,' he recalled. 'Then I went on to the immunotherapy and [got] a head full of curly hair. Not just hair, but curly hair.'
Smith knows all too well what cancer treatments entail after watching his wife Gail battle and then tragically die from cancer in 2019.
He says that when he used to accompany her to her treatments, there was always this 'us and them' mentality. But after his diagnosis, his mind shifted when he became part of 'them'.
'Something changed. I haven't quite put my finger on what it is,' he said after doctors told him he had a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer.
'My wife died of cancer six years ago and I took her for her treatments. And I don't know if any of you have been into the treatment room where people get chemo and so forth, and it was us and them in my head. It was us and them – and that included Gail, my wife.
'And now it's them and us. Because now all of a sudden, I'm the one in the big, comfortable chair getting stuff fed into my arm. And it is different. You don't belong to the rest of humanity. And I can't tell you what the difference is. I'm the same person. I'm the same person with cancer. But I feel different. I'm very jealous of the other people, I am. There's a jealousy, for sure.'
Following his cancer diagnosis, Smith departed his role as Harold after almost four decades to focus on his health. But it was hard to walk away from a character he had played since 1987. His last ever episode aired last month.
'It was a kick in the pants for me,' he said. 'Cynical old me. I thought, 'Oh, yeah, I've been to lots of these goodbyes and yeah, yeah, yeah. You love me. Yeah. Yeah, sure. I'm the best man in the world.''
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The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Iconic Australian migrant story returns to the stage
Stephen Nicolazzo felt like throwing away his culture as a kid but is now using it to bring an Aussie classic to the national stage. Born of Melina Marchetta's iconic 1992 book and award-winning film starring Pia Miranda, Looking for Alibrandi the stage show has embarked on a first national tour. The story follows feisty protagonist Josie Alibrandi as she navigates her final year at a prestigious Catholic girls' school in Sydney. Along the way she finds her father, falls in love and grapples with her identity as a third-generation Italian growing up in Australia. It's an experience Nicolazzo shared as the grandson of Italian migrants. In primary school, the now 38-year-old was embarrassed to pronounce Italian words his classmates struggled with. "You want to throw away your culture and your ethnicity when you're younger because of all of the pressures of being discriminated against," he told AAP. "That's a really strange feeling because you lock away a part of yourself as a result of the pressures of expectation." The lived experience of young Australians from Italian cultures has improved over the past 30 years. "But there are many other migrants who have come to this country since the book was written," Nicolazzo said. "They're experiencing the same discrimination and tensions that Josie faced." The production highlights important issues of acceptance and tolerance, and is relatable to a wide audience. Nicolazzo points to the story's universal recognition of concepts like having to deal with over-bearing family members or being spoken to in a certain way. "The people that watch it are sobbing and laughing because there's a familiarity to it that goes beyond nostalgia," he said. The show first graced Sydney and Melbourne stages in 2022 and has since undergone script changes to enrich one of Jose's love interests, John Barton. "The audience is getting the best version of the show, which is five years in the making," Nicolazzo said. Three new cast members have also joined the fold, including 23-year-old graduate Riley Warner, who plays Josie's knockabout boyfriend Jacob Cootes. The rising star is debuting in his first stage show, having met Nicolazzo as a student. "There's something about him that feels like a national audience needs to see him right away," Nicolazzo said. The show next appears in Sydney on June 11 before heading across NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Nicolazzo hopes audience members take one key message from his production. "It's about finding freedom from the shackles of a culture that doesn't want you to be a part of It," he said. "That's a hard thing to do but we can only do it by making art and talking to people." Stephen Nicolazzo felt like throwing away his culture as a kid but is now using it to bring an Aussie classic to the national stage. Born of Melina Marchetta's iconic 1992 book and award-winning film starring Pia Miranda, Looking for Alibrandi the stage show has embarked on a first national tour. The story follows feisty protagonist Josie Alibrandi as she navigates her final year at a prestigious Catholic girls' school in Sydney. Along the way she finds her father, falls in love and grapples with her identity as a third-generation Italian growing up in Australia. It's an experience Nicolazzo shared as the grandson of Italian migrants. In primary school, the now 38-year-old was embarrassed to pronounce Italian words his classmates struggled with. "You want to throw away your culture and your ethnicity when you're younger because of all of the pressures of being discriminated against," he told AAP. "That's a really strange feeling because you lock away a part of yourself as a result of the pressures of expectation." The lived experience of young Australians from Italian cultures has improved over the past 30 years. "But there are many other migrants who have come to this country since the book was written," Nicolazzo said. "They're experiencing the same discrimination and tensions that Josie faced." The production highlights important issues of acceptance and tolerance, and is relatable to a wide audience. Nicolazzo points to the story's universal recognition of concepts like having to deal with over-bearing family members or being spoken to in a certain way. "The people that watch it are sobbing and laughing because there's a familiarity to it that goes beyond nostalgia," he said. The show first graced Sydney and Melbourne stages in 2022 and has since undergone script changes to enrich one of Jose's love interests, John Barton. "The audience is getting the best version of the show, which is five years in the making," Nicolazzo said. Three new cast members have also joined the fold, including 23-year-old graduate Riley Warner, who plays Josie's knockabout boyfriend Jacob Cootes. The rising star is debuting in his first stage show, having met Nicolazzo as a student. "There's something about him that feels like a national audience needs to see him right away," Nicolazzo said. The show next appears in Sydney on June 11 before heading across NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Nicolazzo hopes audience members take one key message from his production. "It's about finding freedom from the shackles of a culture that doesn't want you to be a part of It," he said. "That's a hard thing to do but we can only do it by making art and talking to people." Stephen Nicolazzo felt like throwing away his culture as a kid but is now using it to bring an Aussie classic to the national stage. Born of Melina Marchetta's iconic 1992 book and award-winning film starring Pia Miranda, Looking for Alibrandi the stage show has embarked on a first national tour. The story follows feisty protagonist Josie Alibrandi as she navigates her final year at a prestigious Catholic girls' school in Sydney. Along the way she finds her father, falls in love and grapples with her identity as a third-generation Italian growing up in Australia. It's an experience Nicolazzo shared as the grandson of Italian migrants. In primary school, the now 38-year-old was embarrassed to pronounce Italian words his classmates struggled with. "You want to throw away your culture and your ethnicity when you're younger because of all of the pressures of being discriminated against," he told AAP. "That's a really strange feeling because you lock away a part of yourself as a result of the pressures of expectation." The lived experience of young Australians from Italian cultures has improved over the past 30 years. "But there are many other migrants who have come to this country since the book was written," Nicolazzo said. "They're experiencing the same discrimination and tensions that Josie faced." The production highlights important issues of acceptance and tolerance, and is relatable to a wide audience. Nicolazzo points to the story's universal recognition of concepts like having to deal with over-bearing family members or being spoken to in a certain way. "The people that watch it are sobbing and laughing because there's a familiarity to it that goes beyond nostalgia," he said. The show first graced Sydney and Melbourne stages in 2022 and has since undergone script changes to enrich one of Jose's love interests, John Barton. "The audience is getting the best version of the show, which is five years in the making," Nicolazzo said. Three new cast members have also joined the fold, including 23-year-old graduate Riley Warner, who plays Josie's knockabout boyfriend Jacob Cootes. The rising star is debuting in his first stage show, having met Nicolazzo as a student. "There's something about him that feels like a national audience needs to see him right away," Nicolazzo said. The show next appears in Sydney on June 11 before heading across NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Nicolazzo hopes audience members take one key message from his production. "It's about finding freedom from the shackles of a culture that doesn't want you to be a part of It," he said. "That's a hard thing to do but we can only do it by making art and talking to people." Stephen Nicolazzo felt like throwing away his culture as a kid but is now using it to bring an Aussie classic to the national stage. Born of Melina Marchetta's iconic 1992 book and award-winning film starring Pia Miranda, Looking for Alibrandi the stage show has embarked on a first national tour. The story follows feisty protagonist Josie Alibrandi as she navigates her final year at a prestigious Catholic girls' school in Sydney. Along the way she finds her father, falls in love and grapples with her identity as a third-generation Italian growing up in Australia. It's an experience Nicolazzo shared as the grandson of Italian migrants. In primary school, the now 38-year-old was embarrassed to pronounce Italian words his classmates struggled with. "You want to throw away your culture and your ethnicity when you're younger because of all of the pressures of being discriminated against," he told AAP. "That's a really strange feeling because you lock away a part of yourself as a result of the pressures of expectation." The lived experience of young Australians from Italian cultures has improved over the past 30 years. "But there are many other migrants who have come to this country since the book was written," Nicolazzo said. "They're experiencing the same discrimination and tensions that Josie faced." The production highlights important issues of acceptance and tolerance, and is relatable to a wide audience. Nicolazzo points to the story's universal recognition of concepts like having to deal with over-bearing family members or being spoken to in a certain way. "The people that watch it are sobbing and laughing because there's a familiarity to it that goes beyond nostalgia," he said. The show first graced Sydney and Melbourne stages in 2022 and has since undergone script changes to enrich one of Jose's love interests, John Barton. "The audience is getting the best version of the show, which is five years in the making," Nicolazzo said. Three new cast members have also joined the fold, including 23-year-old graduate Riley Warner, who plays Josie's knockabout boyfriend Jacob Cootes. The rising star is debuting in his first stage show, having met Nicolazzo as a student. "There's something about him that feels like a national audience needs to see him right away," Nicolazzo said. The show next appears in Sydney on June 11 before heading across NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Nicolazzo hopes audience members take one key message from his production. "It's about finding freedom from the shackles of a culture that doesn't want you to be a part of It," he said. "That's a hard thing to do but we can only do it by making art and talking to people."
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Thousands of meatballs and dolmades on menu at Greek GleNTi festival in Darwin
Preparing for Darwin's largest annual multicultural festival is no easy feat, with a small army of volunteers having been hard at work for weeks to put on a feast for this year's GleNTi. Throughout the past week, thousands of meatballs and dolmades have been rolled and tonnes of seafood has been prepared for the major Greek festival. It has all been to ensure that the tens of thousands of attendees at the beloved annual event leave full and satisfied. Since its launch in 1988, GleNTi has grown in size every year to become one of the biggest weekends on Darwin's social calendar. These days GleNTi is a two-day extravaganza, with food, dancing, music and plate-smashing filling the busy schedule at Bicentennial Park on the Darwin Esplanade. Michael Koulianos, president of the Greek Orthodox Community of Northern Australia, which organises GleNTi, said the festival was an annual highlight of Darwin's event calendar. "It's a celebration of our Greek heritage, but also of our families, our community and our standing in the NT," he said. "It brings us all together. It brings friends, families but also the wider community together as well". On Wednesday, members of the Greek community held a working bee to wrap dolmades for the festival. The parcels, which are often called "fylla" by Darwin's predominantly Kalymnian Greek population, are made of grapevine leaves stuffed with rice, meat, herbs and spices. Katina Vrodos, who has been making dolmades her whole life, said they were one of the festival's highlights. "I started [making dolmades] in Greek school … and have continued all these years," she said. She keeps a keen eye on the volunteers, ensuring quality standards are upheld. "This recipe is mine from more than 40 years ago," she said. The preparation is a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. High school student Anna Koulianos — Mr Koulianos's daughter — was among the young people who pitched in. "I have memories sitting at my Yiya's table at her house, her teaching me how to do it from a really young age," she said. She joked that she felt the pressure of carrying on a tradition so deeply protected by her grandmothers, but also said the practice made her feel "at home". There were several other workshops held throughout the week, including rolling meatballs, or "keftedes", and preparing honey puffs, also called "loukoumades". Organisers say all up, there will be about 3 tonnes of souvla, 600 kilograms of dolmades, 2 tonnes of octopus and 800kg of calamari — though the true numbers are hard to quantify. Many hands made light work of the preparations, with the working bees drawing volunteers from beyond the Greek community. "We've got Darwin High School, we've got St John [Ambulance] volunteer corps and a lot of other non-profit organisations taking part as well, including the Filipino community," Mr Koulianos said. Politicians also rolled up their sleeves and got to work, with federal MP Luke Gosling and NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro among the volunteers. "We start our preparations in January every year, but the last three months are quite intense," Mr Koulianos said. "That's when we really gear up, and obviously the last month is sleepless nights to really get everything done." However, not all the preparations for this year's GleNTi have been smooth sailing. On Friday, the day before the festival kicked off, an NT Health investigator found one of the GleNTi stallholders, the Kalymnian Brotherhood, had breached food safety standards when preparing their tonnes of octopus. In a statement, an NT Health spokesperson said it had deemed the octopus "unsuitable for consumption". "As a result, Environmental Health Officers have requested the provider dispose of the affected octopus," the spokesperson said. NT Health said the decision would have a "very minor impact" on the festival. In a Facebook post, the Kalymnian Brotherhood denied any wrongdoing and said the investigators made "false accusations". "We want to make it clear our octopus prep was conducted properly and in the correct manner," they said. The Kalymnian Brotherhood said in the same post the group would not take part in this year's festival as a result. Mr Koulianos said organisers had found a solution and octopus would still be available. "We did stay up all night, rang some suppliers [and] local distributors, and found octopus, so we are definitely going to have octopus this GleNTi," he said. "I think it's going to be enough, probably about a tonne. "Normally we sell about two tonnes over the GleNTi weekend, but it's going to be enough for people to taste it, let's put it that way". GleNTi is being held on Saturday and Sunday at the Bicentenial Park on Darwin's Esplanade.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
What's on: Barunga, Beer Can Regatta, Finke and GleNTi equals plenty of fun for Territorians
WHAT'S ON THIS WEEKEND It's arguably the fullest weekend of the year, so if I am honest, I really hope you've already got your plans sorted, Darwin. The Barunga Festival is on this weekend, which will see people pack up and head just a little way out the Central Arnhem Rd (It's far enough to play 'Let's Go' by King Stingray, for sure) to enjoy a three-day program of music, sport, and cultural events. And if you're lucky enough to be heading to the Red Centre for the adrenaline-pumping Finke Desert Race, you're in for a good time. But what if you're staying in town? Have you heard of the Over 30s Club? If it sounds lame, you're probably still in your kebab at 3am on Mitchell St era and I'm so happy for you – but if you're interested in a boogie without the late-night taxi home: The Over 30s starts at 5pm on Saturday at Discovery – and wraps up at 9pm. Delightful. For even more wholesome fun, please head to Mindil Beach on Sunday for the iconic Beer Can Regatta. This event is one of those ones that makes you look around and laugh and think 'gosh I love you Darwin'. It's equal parts chaos and hilarity – it's unpolished community spirit and classic Darwin fun. SOMEWHERE YOU NEED TO EAT If you thought I was missing something in the what's on section … don't worry – how could I miss the GleNTi. The Greek GleNTi is a huge festival where the Greek community share their culture … and amazing food, all day Saturday and Sunday. Last year we went for lunch, then came back for an early dinner to try something else, and then stayed for the Ouzo and Loukoumades, which is how I highly recommend you experience all of the food. LOCALS TIP Reminiscing about the Finke while writing this article got me thinking about Central Australia. I've been seeing a lot of love letters to Alice lately, and I also agree that there's just something about the Centre – I still can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel it every time. I think it might be something to do with the complete stillness when you stop for a moment at the top of Kings Canyon, and the feeling you get when floating above the contrasting reds and greens at sunrise. It's probably also the warm days but crisp air at night, and how fresh it feels to dive into a cold desert oasis after a day in the sun. It's the culture and the stories, learning about Arrernte country. Maybe it's the feeling when you're driving through the ranges, and every corner you turn makes you say 'wow look at that' out loud – again. So if this long weekend has you thinking about planning a trip for the next one – consider a trip south down the Stuart Highway.
