Australian producer Mark Ruse dies

Mark Ruse, one of Australia’s most prominent drama and comedy producers, died unexpectedly in Melbourne on Saturday, aged 64.

Mark Ruse

Ruse partnered with Stephen Luby in Ruby Entertainment, which was about to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year.

The prodco’s credits include The Secret River, the miniseries adapted from the Kate Grenville novel for pubcaster the ABC; drama Bed of Roses, which ran for three seasons on the ABC; ABC comedy Kath & Kim; and movies The Extra and Crackerjack.

Earlier in his career he produced 70 episodes of the comedy Fast Forward plus Full Frontal and Tonight Live for Artist Services and the sitcom The Adventures of Lano & Woodley for the UK’s Working Title, the BBC and ABC.

Last year Ruby Entertainment and Robot Army produced the second season of Rostered On, the Ryan Chamley-created comedy starring Christiaan Van Vuuren, Bob Franklin and Nick Boshier, for Seven Network’s 7Mate.

Ruby also made Internment, an online web series created by and starring Pippa Mills and Helena Ruse, Mark’s daughter, a twisted exploration of the world of internships.

Ruse’s final project with Luby was The Hunt: In Search of Australia’s Big Cats, an hour-long doc which follows people who search for Australia’s wild big cats and premiered last week in Australia on Discovery.

Luby told C21: “Mark was a man of incredible integrity, kindness, creativity, intelligence, dedication, work ethic, humor and goodness. His express philosophy was to ‘enable other people’s talents to shine.’ He loved to support and nurture people’s creative journeys (including mine).

“He was equally at home providing incisive script feedback, negotiating a contract, or doing a producer offset final return. His spirit and legacy will continue to permeate and inspire all of our lives.”