Legendary Australian TV chef Peter Russell-Clarke has died following complications after a stroke.
Russell-Clarke died at his Melbourne home on Friday, surrounded by his family: his wife of 65 years, Jan, and two children, Peter and Wendy. He was 89 years old.
Born in Ballarat in 1935, Russel-Clarke rose to fame hosting “Come and Get It” on the ABC, appearing in about 900 of the five-minute-long episodes that pioneered modern cooking programs.
Despite successful careers as an illustrator, author and artist, Russell-Clarke became one of Australia’s first celebrity chefs thanks to catchphrases like “you beauts” and “where’s the cheese?”
“I realised that the bloke in front of the camera got more applause than the person who wrote it,” he told the ABC in 2017.
“So I wrote myself into the series and I became known as a cook rather than a painter or a writer.”
He went on to publish more than 35 cookbooks and illustrated more than 25 others, including the “Encyclopedia of Food.” His talent for art also landed him a stint as a political cartoonist for The Melbourne Herald.
Before hosting the show, Russell-Clarke worked as a TV and radio presenter for the Australian Dairy Corporation, the Australian Egg Board and Kraft Cheese.
Those roles led to invitations to cook for the Prince of Wales’s Silver Jubilee dinner in 1977, as well as Australian prime ministers, Victorian premiers and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Beverley Pinder, a close friend of Russell-Clarke, described him as a trailblazer for today’s celebrity chefs.
“He was such an engaging character. He was a true larrikin with amazing talent,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Modern-day cooking shows are all great because they’ve advanced from where he first started.”
“He was the epitome of the grassroots celebrity – his Bohemian style was the bridge that brought people closer to him … I truly loved him.”
Russell-Clarke is survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren.