Jamie Dunn, the voice of the popular puppet Agro, has died at the age of 76.
The news comes from a credible radio industry source, though further details have yet to be released.
Dunn is survived by his wife Maree and his children – Poppy, Stella, Jackson, Jamie and Max.
The entertainer was a massive hit in the eighties and nineties thanks to his weekday morning show Agro’s Cartoon Connection, where he played the voice of the ‘rude’ but iconic character.
The series lasted for nine seasons with co-hosts Ann-Maree Biggar, Teresa Livingstone, Holly Brisley and Michael ‘Gibbo’ Gibson appearing alongside the acid-tongued puppet.
After Cartoon Connection, Biggar worked on The Great Outdoors, In Melbourne Tonight, Good Morning Australia and 9AM with David & Kim.
Jamie Dunn, the creator of the popular puppet Agro, has died at the age of 76
Dunn began voicing the iconic character in 1982 after the original artist had a falling out with Channel Seven, and continued with the Agro personality for more than 30 years.
Starting out as a drummer and singer, Dunn transitioned into television as Agro’s popularity skyrocketed, landing gigs on Seven’s Super Saturday and The Super Saturday Show.
In 2020, Dunn revealed how he once missed out on starring in a big-budget movie about Agro.
‘I just didn’t get there [with the script] and in the meantime things change. So my $17 million profit just disappeared,’ he told News.com.au at the time.
Dunn said he met with Village Roadshow owner John Kirby to discuss a movie idea, wrote a script and paid a writer $10,000 to turn it into the first draft of a screenplay.
However, when the writer had taken out copyright, Dunn decided to write a completely new script of his own to eliminate any legal issues.
He then met with Kirby to discuss a few scenes for the movie he had in mind, only to be told that it all sounded too expensive.
‘John Kirby said, “This isn’t going to cost any more than $19 million, is it?”‘ Dunn recalled.
The news comes from a credible radio industry source, though further details have yet to be released. Dunn is survived by his wife Maree and his children
‘I thought to myself, “I can make this for $2 million easily. I could pocket $17 million.”
However, he never quite got the project off the ground.
While he may have lost out on starring in a movie, Dunn went on to start an adults-only stage show tour, Agro Up Late with Jamie Dunn.
Dunn was also a radio host on Brisbane’s original B105 Morning Crew until 2005, alongside Donna Lynch and Ian Skippen.
He originally performed as Agro on the radio show, but eventually evolved into playing dual roles as himself and the puppet.
Dunn announced in September 2005 that he was leaving B105, going on to present on Zinc Morning Zoo with Ian Calder and Courtney Burns on Sunshine Coast FM radio station Zinc 96.
He left in October 2008, and the following year began broadcasting a talk-back show on 1116 4BC before once again exiting in October 2010.
Dunn returned to Brisbane radio nearly a decade later to host an hourly Saturday morning show on the Triple M network.
Entertainer Jamie Dunn, voice behind beloved puppet Agro, dies aged 75
