Australian Story on ABC – Profiles 87 year old Valerie Taylor, the woman in the pink wetsuit burst onto our TV screens in the 1960s, stunning viewers with rare images of the ocean world.
Her work with sharks is legendary and her advocacy relentless. She’s swum with the most feared sharks in the world and on the rare occasion she’s been bitten, has dived right back in.
With her cinematographer husband Ron, she famously worked with director Steven Spielberg on the blockbuster film Jaws, capturing thrilling images of great white sharks in the wild.
“They brought the underwater world into the home. The two of them together were just an amazing unit. Both of them were like dolphins in the water”, says diving friend Mike McDowell.
“We’d never seen anything like it”, says friend and Australian Museum Director Kim McKay, recalling their early films.
But few people are aware of her early life above water as the actor who guest-starred in the hit TV series Skippy and trod the boards of Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre. Yet a life on stage wasn’t exciting enough for Valerie.
“I wanted to do other things”, she says. “I wanted something more adventurous.”
Early in her career, Valerie transformed from shark hunter to shark advocate, her special passion – the critically endangered grey nurse.
Now 87 years old, Valerie is unstoppable. She’s still campaigning to protect marine life and is inspiring a new generation of ocean lovers to join her.
This fascinating two-part program does a deep dive into the incredible life of a true pioneer with precious home movies from Valerie’s childhood and behind the scenes footage from her most influential documentaries.
“Valerie showed the world that sharks aren’t the monsters that people had mistaken them to be”, says Leo Guida from the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Producer: Jennifer Feller.
AUSTRALIAN STORY: Valerie Taylor – Monday, 13 March, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview
Media Release – ABC
TV Central ABC stoies HERE
