Gary McDonald height - How tall is Gary McDonald?

In 2015, he was a featured subject on the ABC documentary series Australian Story.

The series, which satirised many aspects of Australian culture and show business, was a mixture of live and pre-recorded interviews, awkward musical segments – excruciatingly sung by Gunston himself in the broadest "strine" accent – and continuing comedy sketches such as "Norman's Dreamtime" (in which Norman read stories to a group of children, such as "Why Underpants Ride Up").

His popularity among Australians is reflected his being listed, after public nomination and vote, as a National Living Treasure – someone who has made an outstanding contribution to Australian society in any field of human endeavour.

McDonald joined the cast of the Network Ten drama series Offspring in 2012 (series three) and is now a series regular. He plays Doctor Philip Noonan.

In 2003, McDonald was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia for service to the community by raising awareness of mental health issues and the effects of anxiety disorders and depression on sufferers and carers, and to the arts as an entertainer.

Two portraits of McDonald have won awards at the Archibald Prize. In 1999 a portrait by artist Deny Christian won the Packing Room award and, in 2006, Paul Jackson's "All the world's a stage" won the Peoples Choice award. In 2016, yet another painting of McDonald was a finalist in The Archibald Prize by Kirsty Neilson entitled "There's No Humour in Darkness".

McDonald's condition first came to the public's attention when he reached crisis point after an abortive attempt to revive the Gunston character in 1993. Then again in 1997, McDonald suffered a severe episode during the launch of a new series, Rip Snorters. McDonald's condition also caused him to withdraw from the 2003 production of Patrick Marber's Howard Katz.

McDonald played Arthur Beare in the television series Mother and Son, starring alongside Ruth Cracknell over six seasons from 1984 until 1994. He won several Logie Awards for his role in the show (see below).

In 1975, McDonald further developed the Gunston character on television in the Norman Gunston Show, for which he won a Gold Logie. His writing team included Morris Gleitzman (now a successful children's author) and veteran TV comedy writer Bill Harding, who had written for the Australian TV satire The Mavis Bramston Show.

It was while working on The Aunty Jack Show in 1973, that McDonald first performed the character for which he became best-known, the gauche and inept TV personality Norman Gunston. Gunston's first appearance was in a series of brief sketches written by Wendy Skelcher which saw him reporting uncomfortably on a "sex-scandal drought" in the New South Wales city of Wollongong; a drought he eventually breaks by appearing naked on camera.

McDonald was born in Bondi, a beachside Sydney suburb. He was educated at Cranbrook School. During his time at Cranbrook, McDonald developed an interest in acting and, despite family objections, went on to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), where he obtained a Diploma in Acting in 1967.

Garry George McDonald AO (born 30 October 1948) is an Australian actor, satirist and comedian. In a career spanning five decades he has had many theatre, television and film roles, and has been listed as a National Living Treasure. He is best known as the seemingly naive celebrity interviewer Norman Gunston, through whom he pioneered the "ambush interviewer" technique since followed by many others. He received a Gold Logie award for the television Norman Gunston Show in which he developed the character. He is also famed for his role of the hapless Arthur Beare in the television sitcom Mother and Son. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2003 for service to the community in the mental health field and to the arts as an entertainer, he has also been a board member of the Australian mental health organisation beyondblue.