Biography (2014)
Why were Australia’s bravest war heroes told not to march on Anzac Day? Who was the notorious triple-murderer who had to beg an Australian court to find him guilty? Could a glamorous, Oscar-winning movie star really be connected to the assassination of JFK?
If you’re a fan of John Misto’s, have seen his plays, heard his talks or watched his television scripts, you’ll know the answer to these questions. And if you’re not, you’re missing out.
For the past thirty years, John Misto has been shining a light into the dark corners of history. The stories he has discovered have been fascinating, amusing and sometimes controversial. Misto makes no apologies for this: “It’s every writer’s duty to ask the right questions at the wrong time.”
Misto’s most recent play, Dark Voyager, was a box-office hit at Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre. The play’s based-on-fact revelations about Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Rock Hudson and “Gay” Edgar Hoover had the audience laughing and gasping in amazement.
Misto’s best-known work, The Shoe-Horn Sonata, is one of the most frequently performed plays in Australia. It is the story of two old ladies who are forced to recount their war-time experiences for a television documentary. The play won the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and The Australia Remembers National Play Competition, ahead of 150 entries. Misto donated his $20,000 prize to a war memorial fund. The play has been widely studied in schools in NSW since 1999 and has been reprinted 14 times.
Misto’s television credits are extensive. His latest telemovie, Sisters of War, won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award. It’s the true story of a friendship between an Australian nun and an army nurse who were captured by the Japanese in 1942.
Misto wrote about Australian sport in his television series, The Cut, for ABC TV. One of the episodes, about a group of football players who bet on their own games, was written long before the actual scandal broke in New South Wales. Another episode, about an Australian cricketer caught in a terrorist attack, was also ahead of its time.
Misto also wrote Heroes’ Mountain about the rescue of Stuart Diver after the Thredbo Landslide. “Stuart is an extraordinary man, courageous, modest and inspiring,” says Misto. “There was one funny story we couldn’t use because no one would believe it. Some working girls, at a brothel in Melbourne, decided they wanted to cheer up the rescuers. So they rented a bus and drove to Thredbo. They ended up handing out soup for the Salvation Army.” Heroes’ Mountain won a Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Television Festival.
In January, 1977, a railway bridge collapsed on a Sydney passenger train killing 83 people and trapping dozens more. The untold and shocking story behind this disaster was the subject of John Misto’s mini-series, The Day of the Roses. “It was one of our darkest days. Bystanders looted the morgue and stole from the bodies of the dead. Yet the bravery of the rescuers was phenomenal. Many of them, facing certain death, refused to leave their posts.”
Misto won an AFI Award for his script for The Day of the Roses, and an Australian Writers’ Guild Award. The mini-series also won a Silver Logie
John Misto has even been banned from parliament! His television series, The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, about a naïve public servant trying to survive in the cut-throat, politically correct public service, was regarded as too offensive to politicians to be filmed in the Victorian Parliament.
“People couldn’t believe that the stories were true. But one public service office really did have a blind security guard. They were ordered to hire him after they failed to meet their EEO requirements. Fortunately they were able to place him in an office that nobody else wanted - because it had no windows.” Misto won an AFI Award for his script for The Damnation of Harvey McHugh.
Misto has written many shows for children. His telemovie Peter & Pompey, about an ancient Roman boat being discovered in a Queensland town, won a Penguin Award and was also published as a book. It is a perennial favourite with kids. Every year it is borrowed hundreds of times from Australian libraries.
Misto has also written about ageing hippies and murder, Natural Causes (AFI Award and Australian Writers’ Guild Award winner) and Palace of Dreams, about an Aussie pub in the Great Depression (Australian Writers’ Guild Award winner.)
His first novel, a thriller, The Devil’s Companions, was published in 2005 by Hachette. It is the story of a young detective who is convinced a group of nuns are guilty of child-abuse.
John Misto is an in-demand speaker. At his last talk, to a sold-out luncheon at Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre, the audience booed when the manager ordered his talk to end! They demanded more.
In his pre-writing life, John Misto was a lawyer.
