Original Airdate Period: 1954-1955
The Fat Man: Murder Calls the Undertaker
Starring: Lloyd Berrell as The Fat Man
Network: ABC (Australia)
A desperate man pleads with Brad Runyon to help him as he feels he is being stalked and targeted for murder. When the phone call with this character is interrupted by gunfire, the Fat Man goes around to where the call was made - a dilapidated American gothic-style home and finds his client upstairs, dead. Who has given the undertaker this nasty bit of business?
This episode is from the Australian version of The Fat Man, which premiered on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on September 9, 1954 and ran through 1955 for a total of 52 episodes. It was later syndicated by the Artansa label, and 36 episodes remain in circulation today. The role of Brad Runyon was played in this version by New Zealander Lloyd Berrell. Most of the original American episodes of The Fat Man with J Scott Smart have not survived. Together they complete old-time radio’s portrayal of Dashiell Hammett’s rotund sleuth.
Lloyd Berrell (13 February 1926 - 30 December 1957) was a New Zealand actor who played Reuben "Roo" Webber in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time. He also starred in the original stage production of Sumner Locke Elliott's Rusty Bugles as well as a number of productions for the Mercury Theatre.
Berrell was born in Wellington, the only son of a doctor and his wife who moved to Australia when Berrell was a boy. He began acting on radio as a child, including appearing on The Youth Show. He did a variety of roles and often worked as a compare. Berrell received acclaim for playing the title role in the radio play Ned Kelly in 1942.
In 1944 Berrell was questioned by police for his role in disturbances in a strike by Actors Equity. During World War II he served in Australian Broadcast Control Unit from 1944 to 1946. In 1945 he was in Sons of the Morning on stage at the New Theatre. In 1948 Berrell had a key role in the play Rusty Bugles which had a long run. That year he performed in A Pickwick Story for Mercury Mobile Players, a company originally established by Peter Finch. By 1948 he was earned over ₤1,000 a year, mostly in radio.
In 1950 he was in a production of Julius Caesar at the Independenｔ Theatre alongside Rod Taylor. The following year he did Anna Christie for John Alden. Berrell did voice over for the documentary Fighting Blood (1951). Berrell was in several plays at the Mercury Theatre in Sydney in 1952, including The Twins, Point of Departure, and The Happy Time.
In 1953 he won a Macquarie Award for best actor in a radio drama. He also took the lead in the Australian radio version of "Tom Corbett Space Cadet" for Artransa in 1953, originally a US TV & Radio series 1950-55. Few films were made in Australia in the 1950s, however Byron Haskin used some Australian actors in His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), shot in Fiji, including Berrell. Berrell was cast as the villain in King of the Coral Sea (1954), a rare Australian financed feature of the time, then Haskin used him again in Long John Silver (1954), filmed in Australia. He did the narration for Antarctic Voyage (1956).
Berrell achieved his greatest success to date when cast as Roo in the Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in 1956. He toured this around the country for the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. Also for the Trust, Berrell was in The Relapse (1957) and Hamlet (1957, as Claudius), which both toured. Berrell's last appearance was as a truck driver in The Shiralee (1957).
Berrell was married in 1946 and separated in 1948. Berrell sued to have her return but lost the case when he admitted he spanked his wife twice. They had one child. The divorce came through in 1951. He married happily a second time to Betty, a fellow actor. He died of a heart attack on board ship while travelling to London.