Actress Judy Banks died at the age of 86 on Saturday (Jan. 22).

Judy was a pioneer of Melbourne television, co-hosted a radio show on Mornington Peninsula radio, was a stage performer from the 1950s, and ran a school of television and dramatic arts/ She was a good friend of this newspaper.

Judy’s showbiz credits included Salad Days, Lock Up Your Daughters and Free As Air. Her early work in the pioneering days of television included In Melbourne Tonight, Bandwagon, Saturday Party and Personally Yours.

In 1963, she starred with Michael Cole in the ABC-TV national show Four For The Show. In 1969, she hosted Breakfast A Go-Go with Fredd Bear on ATV-0. Her crew included Colin McEwan, Michael McCarthy, Tedd Dunn and producer Bob Phillips (who she married). Later, she and Fredd Bear (Dunn) co-hosted The Wonderful World of the Young.

Other TV credits included Australian Playhouse, Homicide, The Flying Doctors and City Homicide. She ran the Judy Banks School of Television, and TV World (the Australian Museum of Modern Media) at Moorooduc. With her husband Bob, Judy presented the weekly Sugar and Spice weekly radio program on Peninsula radio station 3RPP (on which Editor Ash Long appeared for several years).