Lesley Baker

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Lesley Baker (born 20 January 1944) is an Australian actress, singer, dancer and comedian. She is best known internationally for her small screen roles in cult series Prisoner and her recurring role in Neighbours.

Baker started her career, participating in a comedy revue in 1963, which in turn lead to a starring role in a production of the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She then appeared on Australian variety television show In Melbourne Tonight with Graham Kennedy, for a year, performing comedy sketches, hosting and singing.^[2]

She played several lead stage roles including Fanny Brice in a Sydney season of Funny Girl, and Madame Rose in the first ever Australian production of Gypsy. Further musical stage comedies, and television variety work followed.^[3]

In 1971 Baker secured her own television morning show, The Incredible Lesley Baker Show. However, this proved to be short-lived, as internal politics prevented the show from continuing, so she took a short hiatus from acting, to travel and work as a secretary in London. She returned to Australia in 1973 to resume her acting career.^[4]

Baker segued into drama roles, predominantly in Crawford Productions series. She is best known for her TV soap opera roles including that of hulking husband basher, Monica Ferguson, in early episodes of Prisoner in 1979. She left the show after eight months, to care for her young son,^[5] however, in 1982, she returned to the series, playing the character of 'Tinker' Bell Peters.

Baker has played the itinerant role of Angie Rebecchi since January 1995, the mother of long-running character, Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) in Neighbours, who was introduced the same year.

Baker received a call from casting director Jan Russ offering her the guest role of Angie for an initial three week period. Kevin Jr ‘Stonefish’ Rebecchi (Anthony Engelman) had been in the series since 2004 and they wanted to build a family unit around his character. The producers loved her appearance and she proved popular with viewers, so Angie was written back into Neighbours as a regular ongoing role, alongside her husband 'Big Kev' (Don Bridges), eldest son, Shane (Greg O'Mera), and youngest son, Jared ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney).^[6]

In 1996, Angie was written out of Neighbours, however, she has continued to appear on the series, including in the original "final episode" in 2022, and the first few episodes of the 2023 continuation.^[7]

Baker has guest-starred in numerous other Australian television dramas and television variety shows. Her feature film credits include Eliza Frazer (1976) and Spotswood (1991).

When Baker returned to Australia in 1973, she got married and then had her son Ben in 1977. Her husband left when Ben was 18 months old. Ben has a disability and required physiotherapy and various treatments – Baker continues to be his carer to present day.^[8]

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• Lesley Baker at IMDb
• Interview on Neighbours the Perfect Blend