The Australian Film Walk of Fame

Celebrating Australian cinema legends on the Australian Film Walk of Fame at the historic Ritz Cinema in Randwick

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By ALEC SMART

The Australian Film Walk of Fame is a collection of circular brass plaques on the footpath outside the Randwick Ritz Cinema that celebrate actors and influential figures for their contributions to Australian cinema. 

Established in 2008 by Barry Watterson, organiser of the Australian Film Festival, and Randwick City Council, it was officially opened the following year by Midnight Oil singer Peter Garret, who was, at the time, Federal Minister for the Arts.

The first recipient that was inducted into the walkway in 2008 was Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, a well-known face of Australian film and TV. He was also a local lad – born and raised in Coogee – and for a while he volunteered as a surf lifesaver at Coogee Surf Life Saving Club.

Tingwell’s career began in radio – he worked as a cadet at 2CH Sydney radio station while still at school and became Australia’s youngest radio announcer. Sadly, he died in 2009, aged 86, the year after he was honoured at the Walk of Fame. 

The following year, Michael Caton and New Zealand actor Roy Billing were similarly honoured with a plaque in the walkway. 

The moustachioed Caton is probably best known for two defining roles: Uncle Harry in the long-running Australian family series The Sullivans and for the droll, wise-cracking father Darryl in the celebrated film The Castle.

Billing is familiar to Australians from the Melbourne chapter of the Underbelly TV drama series about the notorious Moran family and their associates – he played organised-crime boss “Aussie Bob” Trimbole.

In 2010, Claudia Karvan and Steve Bisley were inducted into the Film Walk of Fame. 

Claudia Karvan is a well-known talent in screen and television and began her distinguished acting career aged 11 in Molly, a drama about a singing dog.

In 2011, Gary Sweet and veteran star Jack Thompson were honoured, followed by Barry Otto and Deborah Mailman in 2012.

Then the footpath awards were halted. It was feared they wouldn’t be resurrected and might follow the decline of a similar path of honour – known as ‘the Footpath of Fame’ – that still exists on the western side of Pier One in Dawes Point, alongside Sydney Harbour.

Pier One Footpath of Fame

Instead of brass plaques, the Pier One celebrity walkway features a collection of concrete slabs set into the ground. 

When the concrete sections were first poured and hadn’t yet set, the actual luminaries – personalities from sports and entertainment culture – carved their signatures and pressed their hands (or feet, in the case of Big Bird from the children’s TV series Sesame Street) into its impressionable surface.

A few who’ve since fallen from grace, such as Rolf Harris, appear there too. 

Pier One was first constructed in 1912 as a cargo wharf and used as a transit point for cross-harbour ferries between Dawes Point and Milsons Point before the 1932 opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Thereafter, it was a passenger terminal for ships and, until 1977, international ocean liners. 

Pier One was revitalised in 1982 as a recreational hub. The ‘Footpath of Fame’ was created during this era, when the pier alongside was a thriving centre of mixed commerce, arts & crafts, assorted cafes and historic revival stalls. 

However, Pier One fell into decline in the mid-1990s, but has since been revitalised as a luxury hotel.

The fading Footpath of Fame is still there, albeit beneath an outside dining area.

Walk of Fame relaunch

In 2022, after a hiatus of 10 years, the Australian Film Walk of Fame at The Ritz in Randwick was revived and that year honoured Aboriginal Australian actress Leah Purcell. 

The multi-talented Purcell is best known for The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, a film she directed, co-produced, wrote the script and played the lead role. It was adapted from the novel (published 2019) and stage play she wrote, which was inspired by a Henry Lawson short story.

In 2023, actress Sigrid Thornton was honoured at the Walk of Fame, followed by actor/producer/director David Wenham in February 2025. 

Incidentally, David Wenham’s portrait won the 2019 ‘Packing Room Prize’ (staff favourite) at the distinguished annual Archibald Prize, which was displayed among the finalists at the Art Gallery of NSW. Neighbourhood Media interviewed the artist, Tessa MacKay, in 2024.

The Ritz Cinema, the Heritage-listed theatre in St Paul's Street, Randwick, was designed in 1937 by Crimean-born architect Aaron Bolot, who previously worked with Walter Burley Griffin, the designer of Canberra.

Bolot was inspired by the then-trending style of Art Deco, a French-originated arts and architecture movement founded in Paris in 1910 that stood for Arts Décoratifs. Art Deco embraced modernism and luxury, and introduced what were then new materials – chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic – into building construction. 

Although other Bolot designs, such as several apartment complexes around Potts Point, are still in situ, the Randwick Ritz is the last of his theatre-cinemas still standing. In 1984, the owners applied to demolish The Ritz but were blocked by Randwick Council in a legal challenge that saved it, and it has since been Heritage-listed.

In June 2025, two non-actors were honoured in The Ritz’s Walk of Fame – celebrated film critics  Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton (the latter a director of the Sydney Film Festival for nearly two decades). 

Sadly, the launch event was Stratton’s last public appearance – he passed away on 14 August 2025.

Known for their long-running TV show At The Movies (2004-14), which was preceded by The Movie Show (1986-2004), the duo discussed and often debated newly-released films and gave them a rating out of five stars.

Only seven films achieved a perfect 5-star rating by both Pomeranz and Stratton:

• Good Night, and Good Luck

• Brokeback Mountain

• No Country for Old Men

• Samson & Delilah

• A Separation

• Amour

• Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).