Harold Francis Lashwood OAM (13 August 1915 â€" 26 March
1992),professionally Hal Lashwood was an Australian vaudeville
performer, dancer, radio and theatre entertainer, television
personality, quiz host, unionist and councillor. A well-known
performer in radio he worked opposite Roy Rene.He was born Harold
Francis Davies in Paddington in Sydney to British-born vaudeville
actor John Richard Davies (who used the stage name Joe Lashwood) and
Australian Christina Margaret Colreavy. He was a dancer with a
theatrical company from the age of sixteen, becoming a speciality
dancer and early alumni with theatre company J.C. Williamson, then
became an actor with a travelling variety show. In 1941 he
transitioned into the theatre, appearing on stage in The Man Who Came
to Dinner in 1941 and then The Patsy, The Wind and the Rain and The
Squall opposite stars John M cCallum and Queenie Ashton. He also
worked in radio, becoming well known as Mister Lasho on Calling the
Stars, Australia's most listened-to program. He married Mollie Jean
Mackay, née Crothers, on 10 March 1947, and spent some time in
Maitland, where he was fined by the dean of Newcastle for organising a
dance on a Sunday.Lashwood was monitored by the Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) due to his links with left-wing
groups in the 1950s. In 1951 he became president of the Actors and
Announcers Equity Association of Australia, a position he held until
1976. In 1955 he contested the federal election as an independent
candidate for the safe Liberal seat of Wentworth, campaigning on the
issue of increased Australian content on television. In the late 1950s
he compered Shower of Stars, The Quiz Kids and Beat the Brains, and
hosted his own variety shows, Hal Lashwood's Alabama Jubilee and Hal
Lashwood's Minstrels. In 1963 he was appointed the inaugural chairman
of the Australian National Television Council. Hal Lashwood Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter