Vale PETER BROWNLEE (1929 - 2018)
For 17 years, from 1978 to 1995, the general manager of Britain’s Royal Ballet was an Australian – Peter Brownlee. After he died, aged 88, in Sydney on January 11, 2018, condolences came from around the world, mourning a man who earned the respect and affection of dancers and administrators alike.
Amongst many emails, a handwritten note arrived from Dame Beryl Grey, former ballerina and artistic director of London’s Festival Ballet. Apologising for her handwriting (she is now 90 and suffering from macular degeneration), she remembered Peter from the 1950s:
“Peter B. meant so much to me – he had partnered me in Swan Lake as Benno, the Prince’s friend (in the earlier version). He later became my right hand at Festival Ballet as must be gleaned from my book. I learned so much from him regarding programming and lighting and generally running our large company. Forthright and always outspoken. He meant so much to me and to so many.”
Messages came from the USA. New York company manager Michael Zande, recalled working with Peter on a Royal Ballet tour in 1981: “Under that faux gruff exterior I discovered a man as delightful and enchanting as I could ever hope to meet – gracious and considerate, with abundant charm, great eloquence and an absolute razor wit.”
And from Japan, in the form of a magnificent funeral wreath from the Japan Performing Arts Association, reflecting their admiration for his leadership of Royal Ballet tours to Japan: “We enjoyed working with the amazing ‘Mr Bus’”.
Plus many messages from dance people in London, including Dame Monica Mason, former artistic director of the Royal Ballet; Deborah MacMillan, widow of Sir Kenneth; Sir Peter Wright, former artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet; Barbara Booroff, Peter Brownlee’s former secretary; Julie Lincoln, a former Royal Ballet dancer now restaging MacMillan ballets around the world; and one of her former RB colleagues, Ros Eyre, who wrote: “His sharp wit and sometimes wicked descriptions of people were hilarious and usually spot on. He was kind, thoughtful and liked everything to be just so.”
Born Peter James Brown in West Maitland, NSW, he was the son of businessman and AIF member Monty Brown, who took part in two world wars, and Ada, a nurse. He took on the surname Brownlee (which also became his affectionate nickname) to distinguish himself from a colleague with the same name at one of his first jobs, working in retail design at a big Sydney department store.
He was a late starter in dance, though he was noted for athleticism at his secondary school, St Stanislaus’ College in Bathurst. His dance teachers were Sydney’s legendary Halliday sisters, Joan and Monica. He also took drama classes from Alice Crowther.
He performed regularly with the Sydney Ballet Group, choreographing a dramatic work set in the slums and titled Cul-de-Sac, as well as dancing in ballets such as Les Sylphides. He also took part in the debut of the Phillip Street Revues, which were to become famous.
Setting off for England in 1953, Peter had the good fortune to arrive when dance, and the performing arts generally, were blossoming into a golden age in London. He was accepted into the Royal (then Sadler’s Wells) Ballet School, and found himself in the same class as Kenneth MacMillan and John Cranko, who became the leading ballet choreographers of the mid-20th century, and Peter Wright and Peter Darrell, who also made their mark as choreographers and directors of British ballet companies. They became colleagues and friends for life.
Peter danced with London’s Festival Ballet, now the English National Ballet. It was then a private company run on a shoestring, with a touring schedule of popular ballet classics and contemporary pieces that found audiences in Latin America and the USA as well as Europe, regional Britain and London. His colleagues included Australians John Auld, Wendy Barry and Mary Duchesne.
At 30, Peter decided he wasn’t going to advance to the great ballet roles. He was contemplating moving into TV direction when Festival’s Julian Braunsweg and Anton Dolin convinced him to join the company’s management. A few years later, the British ballerina Beryl Grey was appointed as Festival’s artistic director, and her recently published autobiography includes some photographs and complimentary references to him.
In 1973, Peter moved to Covent Garden as coordinator for Sadler’s Wells Ballet and the Royal Ballet, then press officer for the Royal Ballet and, in 1978, general manager of the Royal Ballet, the post from which he retired in 1995.
Throughout his career, he worked with dance luminaries, including the Royal Ballet’s founding director Ninette de Valois, and ballerinas Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova, along with a new generation of outstanding younger dancers and choreographers. As well, his working life involved many other important 20th century performing arts contributors in theatre, opera, design and media.
Among Peter’s treasures was a heart-warming book of farewell messages from members of the company when he retired. He also had a couple of personal letters from high places. One was from the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, responding to his compliments to the British embassy in Moscow after a complex tour of the Soviet Union.
Another was also a long, handwritten letter from the Royal Ballet patron Princess Margaret (who also addressed the envelope: Peter Brownlee, Esq), wishing him well on his retirement and including the following: “I feel you will be greatly missed and I send my best wishes for a very happy retirement with my warmest thanks for all you have done for the Royal Ballet.”
One from Dame Ninette de Valois on his retirement:”… my love and congratulations for a quarter of a century’s work with the Royal Ballet. Everyone is going to miss you, including the writer of this letter.” She signed it with the name by which everybody knew her, Madam.
And there was a hilarious letter from Anthony Dowell, then a principal dancer but later artistic director of the RB, written on a Shanghai hotel’s notepaper: “Dear Peter, I am now sharing my room with a rat!! (Looks too big to me to be sweetly called a mouse!) It has been through two of my bags and hauled out my glucose tablet supply. Please could you get my room changed. I don’t trust their pest control methods!!!”
Sadly, it was hard to get Peter talking about his life and career, and he refused to do an oral history interview for the Australian National Library. He was never one to put himself forward, and the dancers loved him for it.
Peter had two siblings: Sally Anne, a nurse, and David Brown, who became the first publicity manager of the Sydney Opera House, appointed three years before it opened in 1973.
- JILL SYKES
Freelance writer and dance critic for The Sydney Morning Herald