Esben Storm

Esben Storm (26 May 1950 – 28 March 2011) was a Danish Australian actor, screenwriter, television producer, television director, voice artist and songwriter.

Early life
Storm came to Australia with parents Laurits and Ane in 1958, after Laurits lost the family farm to lawyers. After settling in Melbourne, his father worked as a builder's labourer and built a darkroom, where Esben learned photographic processing, composition and lighting.

Career
Storm was well known for his work with the Australian Children's Television Foundation, headed by Patricia Edgar, where he worked for 15 years. The company sold programs to 92 countries, and Storm was involved in writing, acting, editing, and directing numerous programs, including Round the Twist. He worked to adapt John Marsden's Tomorrow series but lost the rights to the film.

Film making
Storm started making films at 18 with his then partner Haydn Keenan. His early work was mostly serious in nature, including a 1983 documentary about the Hilton Bombing in Sydney called With Prejudice. He wrote and directed 27A (1974), In Search of Anna (1978) (with film stills and publicity shots by Carol Jerrems, who was then his girlfriend), Deadly (1991), and Subterano (2003). He directed Devil's Hill (1988), the Tasmanian film in the Touch the Sun series of bicentennial telemovies. In 2007, he directed the SBS comedy series Kick.

Storm also worked on several television series such as Round the Twist, The Genie from Down Under (as scriptwriter and director), Sky Trackers (as script consultant), Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers (as the show's creator, scriptwriter and dialogue director), Blue Heelers (as a director), Crash Zone, and Winners (for which he directed the episode "The Other Facts of Life").

Acting
In 1976, Storm acted in Hanging About, a film by Carol Jerrems, who was then his girlfriend and living with him in Willoughby. He appeared in Room to Move and in two episodes of Winners. He played Pat in Phoenix and Colin in an episode of Blue Heelers.

Feature film roles included The Coca-Cola Kid, Wrong World (both 1985) and Young Einstein (1988).

Storm’s last acting role was in the medical drama series All Saints.

Death
Storm died, aged 60, on 28 March 2011.

Film (as actor)

 * Doors (1969, short)
 * In His Prime (1972, short)
 * Stephanie (1972, short)
 * A Motion Picture (1972, short)
 * Hanging About: A Short Film by Carol Jerrems (1976, short)
 * Going Down (1982) as Michael
 * Birthin' Hips (1983)
 * The Coca-Cola Kid (1985) as Country Hotel Manager
 * Wrong World (1985) as Lawrence
 * Pandemonium (1987) as E.B. De Woolf / Husband
 * Les Patterson Saves the World (1987) as Russian Scientist
 * Young Einstein (1988)
 * Terrormisu: A Night Of Just Desserts (1993)
 * Rusty & The Bathtub Banana (1993)

Film (as crew)

 * 27A (1974) as writer & director
 * In Search of Anna (1978) as writer, director & producer
 * With Prejudice (1982) as director
 * Stanley (1984) as director
 * Deadly (1991) as writer & director
 * Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers (1998) as creator, scriptwriter & dialogue director
 * Subterano (2003) as writer & director

Unmade films

 * Angel Gear (mid-1970s)
 * Bondi Blue (early 1980s) – Reg Grundy withdrew financing just before filming was to start
 * Dirty Barry (1980s)
 * Doctor Flatus (1994)

Television (as actor)

 * With Prejudice (1983, documentary)
 * Room to Move as Tom
 * Winners (1985) as Leo George (episode: The Other Facts of Life)
 * More Winners (1985) as Waiter (episode: The Big Wish)
 * Alice to Nowhere (1986, miniseries) as Frog
 * Round the Twist (1989–2001) as Mr Snapper
 * Phoenix as Pat
 * Blue Heelers as Colin Roper
 * All Saints

Television (as crew)

 * Touch the Sun: Devil’s Hill (1988) as director
 * Winners (1985) as director (episode: The Other Facts of Life)
 * Round the Twist (1989) as director/script consultant, (1991; 2000-01) as writer/screenplay
 * Crash Zone (1991-2001)
 * Sky Trackers (1995) as script consultant
 * The Genie from Down Under (1996-98) as scriptwriter & director
 * Blue Heelers as director (episode: Breaking the Cycle)
 * Kick (2007) as director

Awards

 * 1979: Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Screenplay (In Search of Anna)