[1] Their father Eric was an abusive and violent alcoholic[2] from whom the family would often escape to nearby cinema houses when he would fly into a rage.
This, together with his mother Lyle McClintock's love of Jerry Lewis films played a big part in Wherrett developing an interest in show business and a talent for comic impersonations.
[citation needed] After falling off stage during a university performance of The Three Musketeers, Wherrrett abandoned the idea of acting, but discovered his love of directing while in London in the mid-1960s.
He joined the Nimrod Theatre Company, and became co-artistic director in 1974, alongside John Bell,[3] the year it relocated to its Belvoir Street premises.
Most notably, Wherrett toured The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, including seasons in London and New York, where it garnered Off-Broadway OBIE awards.
[4] Wherrett also directed at NIDA, including a 1976 production of Romeo and Juliet, starring Mel Gibson and Judy Davis.
Wherrett procured Government funding for a new headquarters for STC and an extra performance space at what became Wharf Theatre, which opened in 1984.
Other notable productions wereThe Stars Come Out (1996), a gala concert for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) for the Melbourne International Festival, the musical Cabaret (1997), Rhonda Burchmore's Red Hot and Rhonda (1997) and Bell Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1998).
[19] His funeral service was held at St John's Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, with ushers provided by the Sydney Opera House.