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Tilly Devine - Underbelly: Razor

Time In

Chelsie Preston Crayford plays Tilly Devine in the new series of Underbelly

First published on 11 Aug 2011. Updated on 29 Aug 2011.

“Tilly was a girl of the London slums,” says Chelsie Preston Crayford, the razor- tongued belle who plays her in Underbelly: Razor. “Her major motivation in life was class – she started on the bottom rung in abject poverty and didn’t rest until she was at the very top and sitting pretty.”

For Tilly Devine that meant selling the only thing worth a damn – herself – until she had the funds to exploit a loophole in the Police Offences Act of 1908 that ordained it illegal for men (but not women) to proﬁteer from ‘immoral earnings’.

“That alone makes her extraordinary. Tilly’s cunning sidestepping of that little law established her as Sydney’s richest and most prolific madam.” Those same street smarts also saw Tilly pour gasoline over a bent cop in a public toilet and set him ablaze. “It’s true she did terrible things,” acknowledges Preston Crayford. “But my job as actress isn’t to judge, it’s to empathise with her so I can bring Tilly to life as vividly as possible.”

That Preston Crayford does. She and Danielle Cormack (Kate Leigh) are old pals from New Zealand and the two ac- tresses actually auditioned for Underbelly: Razor together. “It was a complete dream that we both get the leads,” she laughs. “But it’s made every scene together a treat, particularly the ﬁ ght scenes – my ankle still gives me grief and Danielle says I’ve put her neck out for life!”

Devine ruled as Queen Bee in Sydney’s humming hive of vice for nigh on 50 years, winking out her last red light in 1968. Yet only recently, with a namesake bar (Love Tilly Devine in Darlinghurst), a play (this year’s Mum’s In: Stories from Razorhurst) and now Underbelly: Razor in her honour, is Tilly becoming the star she always wanted to be. “She’s harsh and complex... a true villain but her tenacity to achieve power and wealth was incred- ible,” Preston Crayford says in awe. “The writers knew it too – if Tilly didn’t really exist you couldn’t dream her up.”

TILLY DEVINE: PROFILE

NAME: Matilda Mary Devine (nee Twiss)
ALIASES: ‘Pretty Tilly’, ‘Queen Bee’
APPEARANCE: “Deep husky, fascinating voice”, “complexion of milk and roses”, foul mouth, penchant for furs and jewellery
ORIGINS: Born 8/9/00; bricklayer father, housewife mother; prostitute at 16; arrived in Sydney at 17; madam at 26; owner of 30+ brothels all over ‘Razorhurst’ 1927–68
WHEREABOUTS: 191 Palmer St, Darlinghurst (headquarters); Torrington Rd, Maroubra (home)
SPOUSE: ‘Big’ Jim Devine, ex-ANZAC sapper turned pimp
FORM: Arrested 204 times for soliciting, razor slashing, drug trafficking, biting off fingers of enemy, setting fire to a cop, manslaughter
SUMMATION: “Vicious, grasping, high-priestess of savagery, obscenity and whoredom... the most frighten- ing creature spewed up by the razor gangs, a wretched woman”