Norman Kaye

Norman James Kaye 17 January 1927 28 May 2007 was an Australian actor and composer He was best known for his roles in the films of director Paul Cox As an actor he was strongly associated with the films of Paul Cox appearing in 16 of them He had small roles in Coxs Illuminations 1976 and Kostas 1979 and shared the lead with Wendy Hughes in Coxs 1982 film Lonely Hearts and the lead in Man of Flowers 1983 for which he won an AFI Award Norman Kaye was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease prior to 1997 His inability to memorise scripts for the film Innocence led to the end of his collaboration with Paul Cox as well as the end of his career in 2004 Kaye was in the advanced stage of the disease at the time of his death in Sydney on 28 May 2007 He had enjoyed a 35year relationship with the opera director Elke Neidhardt and she was at his side at his death