After years away he is eager to finally return for his performance of Dead Men Talking this week, a stage show about Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson.

"I think because it was Wellington," he said when trying to sum up the town's appeal, adding that he also likes words with two Ls - possibly because his full name is Maxwell Phillip Cullen, born in Maxwell Street, Wellington.

Like him, quite a few people are named after Maxwell Street, the street of the old hospital (now Hermitage Hill), including painter Max Miller.

In fact, Mr Cullen enthused, quite a few famous people have lived in Wellington for brief periods of time and it was when he was interviewing Colleen McCullough for the Sunday program on Channel 9  in 1993 that he realised this.

He has since been writing about Lennie Lower and hopes to bring this performance back to Wellington too.

For now, as he tours Australia with Dead Men Talking, he is busily learning the lines of Gloucester for the production of King Lear alongside Geoffrey Rush.

As a painter, sculptor, reporter and actor he has had a versatile career. He even worked at the Bulletin (because it had two Ls) and at 70 he still feels he hasn't quite found his niche - "but there's still plenty of time," he said.

Mr Cullen grew up with a love of Australian literature and folklore and when he realised a lot of people under 50 didn't know who Henry Lawson was, he decided to redress this issue, sharing his wealth of knowledge on stage alongside cultural historian, writer and performer Warren Fahey with a comic depiction of the rival poets.

"I never saw myself playing Lawson, but someone asked me to play him and I thought Warren would make the perfect Banjo," he said.

The pair gave their first performance without a rehearsal and continue to surprise each other with new material.

"We keep each other on our toes," he said.

Dead Men Talking is on Thursday night at the Soldiers Memorial Club.