Anne Phelan

{{Infobox person | name = Anne Phelan | honorific-suffix = | image = | birth_name = Anne Mary Phelan | birth_date = 2 August | birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = (aged 71) | death_place = Bendigo, Victoria, Australia | years_active = 1968–2019 | credits = {{hlist|Bellbird|Prisoner|Neighbours|Something in the Air}} | spouse = | children = | website = | restingplacecoordinates = }} Anne Mary Phelan (2 August 1948 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian actress of stage and screen who appeared in many theatre, television and film productions as well as radio and voice-over. Her television soap opera roles included Bellbird as Kate Ashwood, Prisoner (1980–1985) as Myra Desmond, Something in the Air (2000–2002) as Monica Taylor, for which she won the 2000 AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama, having previously won the 1988 AFI Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries for Poor Man's Orange. She received the Equity Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. She was also an activist for humanitarian causes. Early life Phelan was raised in Fitzroy, Victoria. She was reported as saying that she had no formal study or qualifications for acting or singing, but instead had trained through 15 years work in amateur theatre. At age 16, she became pregnant and gave her daughter up for adoption, seeing her again for the first time 50 years later.