Barry Hugh Crocker AM (born 4 November 1935[1]) is an Australian Gold Logie-winning character actor, television personality, singer, and variety entertainer with a crooning vocal style.
[7] He had the lead role as Governor Alan Smith in the short-lived prison drama Punishment (1981), and guest-starred in two episodes of the Australian satirical black comedy series Review with Myles Barlow.
Later TV roles included parts in Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers, and Housos for SBS, and The Strange Calls, an ABC2 comedy series.
It was a rare accolade, because Crocker had already been the subject of this prestigious TV program thirty years earlier, in 1975, when the show was hosted by Roger Climpson.
Crocker was caught by surprise when host Mike Munro and the TV production team arrived, after a lot of careful planning by his long-term partner, Katy Manning, the English actress.
Crocker was chosen by Chaim Topol to co-star as his nemesis Lazer Wolfe in a long-running Australian season of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.
In 1959, after successfully touring and a number of television appearances, he convinced Cyril Stevens, of Spotlight Records in Thornbury,[8] to audition him and his musical partner.
[9] In May 1973, Crocker released the album Music Makes My Day, on Festival Records, featuring an updated version of American rockabilly singer Robin Luke's "Susie Darlin'".
The recording featured Olivia Newton-John and Pat Carroll on backup vocals, and enjoyed chart success, peaking at number 7.
Crocker wrote and recorded an unofficial theme song for the Australian rules football team, Geelong, entitled Come on the Cats.
In February 2022, news of the cancellation of Neighbours in the British press prompted fans of the TV show to download the theme song.