Bob Ellis (1942-2016)

And So It Goes

Bob Ellis has passed away.

Bob had been battling liver cancer for the past year and finally succumbed today at his home at Palm Beach, in Sydney's north, at 4.15pm. 

At the end, Bob was surrounded by his loving family, wife Anne Brooksbank, sons Jack and Tom, and daughter Jenny. 

Bob Ellis was a true genius and an Australian icon, with a once in a generation facility for language. Often controversial, frequently confronting and always brilliant, Bob was simply unable to turn a dull phrase. He wrote movies and plays and books and articles and appeared on stage and gave speeches and was, in short, a brilliant, bubbling spring of creativity.

We've known it was on the cards since he was diagnosed with liver cancer. The diagnosis itself took him and then his readers alike by surprise. Since then, it's arguable that he had been on the clock.
Still, learning he has passed away is a terrible blow to the Australian film making community as well as the staunchly egalitarian Left. Never short of an opinion on things, his blog always had interesting musings, observations and sometimes political gossip.

His legacy is surprisingly wide and will be long. We likely won't see the likes of Bob Ellis again.
It's been a terrible year for these losses.