Leila Hayes

Leila Marion Hayes (12 January 1940 – 19 January 2025) was an Australian actress, talent agent, radio presenter, singer, drama teacher, playwright, theatre producer and author. She primarily featured in guest roles in television soap operas and miniseries, prior to her regular role in which she became internationally renowned in the 1980s soap opera Sons and Daughters as matriarch Beryl Palmer (later Hamilton) appearing throughout its entire run, in 950 episodes.

Hayes was born in Dimboola, Victoria, Australia on 12 January 1940.

She began her career as a singer in rural Victoria and often appeared on variety shows and national telethons

Her acting career started in the early 1970s where she became a staple in Crawford Productions drama series in guest roles including Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, Bluey, Cop Shop, and The Sullivans.

Hayes also acted in television miniseries, including Power Without Glory (1976), and some TV movies.

In 1981 she appeared in several episodes of cult series Prisoner as brothel madam Jeannie Baxter and was in an early episode of A Country Practice. The same episode coincidently starred Peter Phelps who played her stepson John in Sons and Daughters only a few months later.

The role in Sons and Daughters, made her internationally renowned, as the series was popular in several countries including the United Kingdom, and she toured Belgium with her daughter in 1988, she appeared in 950 episodes as Beryl Palmer, primarily alongside Tom Richards who played her husband David, Peter Phelps and Stephen Comey, who played her son Kevin, her character was noted for her numerous clashes with Rowna Wallace icon Patricia "Pat the Rat' Hamilton and in later episodes she marries her former husband Gordon Hamilton (Brian Blain).

Hayes also acted on stage, taking the leading role of April Delaney in comedy Dimboola and worked in talkback radio.

She retired from acting in 1992 (except for a short film in 2005) and lived a private life and rarely attended reunions or conventions. She ran her own actors school called Leila Hayes Drama Studio.

Although she left acting, she enjoyed life out of the limelight, but continued to write and published a children's book

Hayes died after a long period of ill health in Frenchs Forest, New South Wales, on 19 January 2025, at the age of 85.