Early life

Spears was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1951 and, after his parents separated when he was very young, grew up with relatives in the suburb of Mile End.He studied Law at the University of Adelaide, but through writing and performing student revues, was distracted into a career in the theatre.

Sydney

Spears moved to Sydney in the 1970s. In his own words, he was a "born-again Sydney-sider".

Later life

Spears died in Aldinga, South Australia from lung cancer in 2007, aged only 56.

Spears' theatrical works include:

• Africa: A Savage Musical (1974)
• People Keep Giving Me Things (1975)
• Roaring Boy (1975)
• There Were Giants In Those Days (1975)
• Young Mo (full title "The Resuscitation of the Little Prince Who Couldn't Laugh as Performed by Young Mo at the Height of the Great Depression of 1929") (1975), about the Australian comedian Roy "Mo" Rene
• The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin (1976), closely identified with the career of the actor Gordon Chater.
• When They Send Me Three and Fourpence (1976)
• The Death of George Reeves (1978)
• King Richard (1978)
• The Time of the Bodgie (1980)
• Froggie (1983)
• Glory (1988)
• Namatjira Park (1992)
• A Little Theatre (1995)

His final theatre work was The Dance Angelic (1995).

Television

Spears appeared in A Country Practice (1981), Hey Dad! (1988), G. P. (1989), Heartbreak High (2004).

Film

Amongst other roles, Spears played "The Mechanic", a wheelchair-using paraplegic in Mad Max 2

Voice work

Spears also supplied the voice of Lion in the popular children's TV series Magic Mountain for ABC TV, Southern Star Entertainment and China Central Television.

Stage

Spears played "Eddie" and "Doctor Scott" in a 1981 Sydney production of Jim Sharman's The Rocky Horror Show.

Over his career, Spears wrote prolifically for television..Spears wrote an "anti-memoir" "In Search of the Bodgie", published in 1989.In 2004, Spears' detective novel "Murder at the Fortnight" was published. It was planned as the first of a thirteen part series, "The Pentangeli Papers", but only the second, "Innocent Murders" (2006) was published before his death.