Biography:

Leila Hayes (12 February 1942 − January 2025)[1] was an Australian actress, actors agent, radio presenter, playwright, producer, singer and drama teacher. She primarily featured in guest roles in soap operas and miniseries, prior to her regular role in 1980s soap opera Sons and Daughters as matriarch Beryl Palmer (later Hamilton) appearing throughout its entire run, opposite Tom Richards as her husband David, in the series she was well known for her regular clashes with Rowena Wallace’s iconic character Patricia Hamilton.

Hayes was born in Dimboola, AustralIa in 1942 and began her career as a singer before starting her acting career in the early 1970s in guest roles in Crawford Productions drama series Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, Bluey, Cop Shop, and The Sullivans.[2]

Hayes also acted in television miniseries, including Power Without Glory (1976), and some TV movies. In 1981 she appeared in several episodes of Prisoner as brothel madam Jeannie Baxter and was in an early episode of A Country Practice. The same episode starred Peter Phelps who played her stepson John in Sons and Daughters only a few months later.

Hayes also acted on stage, taking the leading role of April Delaney in comedy Dimboola ran her and worked in talkback radio.

She retired from acting in 1992 (except for a short film in 2005) and lived a private life and rarely attended reunions or conventions. She ran her own actors school called The Leila Hayes Drama Studio.

Hayes died in January 2025 at Northern Beaches Hospital in Frenchs Forest, New South Wales, at the age of 82.[3]

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