Francis William Thring IV (11 May 1926 – 29 December 1994) was an Australian character actor in radio, stage, television and film; as well as a theatre director.

[2] Thring Sr. was also a noted film producer (The Sentimental Bloke), and partner in the nationwide Australian theatre circuit Hoyts.

Frank said his earliest memory is of his mother standing on a stepladder in the foyer of the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, and arranging gladioli in the vases attached to the pillars.

He was memorable as Herod in Irene Mitchell's production of Oscar Wilde's Salome at Melbourne's Arrow Theatre in 1951,[5] and made his British theatrical debut in the same part in 1954.

Two years later, he played Sir Lancelot Spratt in Doctor in the House, which ran for 240 performances at the Victoria Palace in London.

[6] He was Saturninus in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre production of Titus Andronicus with Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and Anthony Quayle.

Among his other acclaimed stage roles were George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, Captain Ahab in Orson Welles's Moby-Dick, Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1, and Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galileo.

Later in life he returned to the stage playing the butler in the Melbourne Theatre Company's production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1988.

Thring is the only actor to portray on film both of the historical figures directly responsible for authorizing the crucifixion of Christ according to the Gospels.

[12] He was featured in numerous TV commercials and guest-starring roles on popular weekly series, variety programs and quiz shows, often dressed in black funereal attire and other sinister costumes - the interior of his house was featured in an Australian TV program and the walls were also black.

[citation needed] Thring was appointed 1982 King of Moomba, "this doyenne [sic] of film and theatre looked nothing short of majestic in his regal garb and riding on a thespian-inspired float".