Actor Peter Hardy, known for his roles in Neighbours, McLeod’s Daughters and Chopper, has died aged 66.
According to reports, he drowned at South Beach in Fremantle while snorkelling last Thursday.
His brother Michael confirmed the actor’s death in a post on social media, writing that his sibling had “passed away suddenly”.
Hardy appeared in a broad cross-section of Australian television series across the past three decades, including A Country Practice, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, East West 101, Rush, Underbelly and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.
His longest-running role was as Phil Rakich in McLeod’s Daughters, a character he played for 44 episodes in the late 2000s.
Hardy’s list of more than 50 credits also included a range of films. Aside from playing Detective Cooney in Chopper, he appeared in Dingo and Dead End, as well as TV movies, such as The Feds: Terror, The Last of the Ryans, The Ripper, and Dangerous Remedy.
On stage, he was cast as Bill Austin in the 2001 production of Mamma Mia, a role that encompassed four years and more than 1,500 performances, and that he would go on to reprise in the show’s 10th-anniversary in 2011. Hardy’s other theatre work included appearances in musicals The Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman, Prodigal, and An Officer and a Gentleman.
In 2016, he relocated to London and was reportedly back in WA visiting family when the tragedy occurred.