Rachel Ward
Encyclopedia
Rachel Claire Ward, AM
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 (born 12 September 1957) is a British actress, columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....

, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.

Early life

Rachel Ward was born in Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...

, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England, the daughter of Claire Leonora (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Baring) and the Hon. Peter Alistair Ward. Her grandfathers were William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley
William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley
William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC , known as Viscount Ednam until 1932, was a British Conservative politician.-Biography:...

 and the cricketer Giles Baring
Giles Baring
Amyas Evelyn Giles Baring , known as Giles Baring, was a first-class English cricketer between the years 1930 and 1946.-Background:...

; Ward is also the great-granddaughter of William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley
William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, KP, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KStJ, PC, TD, DL , styled Viscount Ednam before 1885, was a British Conservative politician...

, Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

 1908–11, and sister of environmental campaigner and former actress Tracy Louise Ward
Tracy Louise Ward
Tracy Louise Ward, Marchioness of Worcester, frequently referred to as Tracy Worcester is a former actress, now an environmental campaigner.She is a daughter of the Hon...

, Marchioness of Worcester. She attended the Byam Shaw School of Art in London before leaving at 16 to become a top fashion model. She briefly dated David Kennedy
David Kennedy
David Anthony Kennedy was the fourth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.-Life:...

, son of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...

. In 1983 she was voted one of the 10 most beautiful women in the United States.

Career

She became well known when she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...

 as the lead role portraying Meggie Cleary
Meggie Cleary
'Meggie Cleary is the main character of The Thorn Birds, a 1977 best selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. The book was turned into a 1983 television mini-series starring Rachel Ward as Meggie....

 in the television mini-series The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)
The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons...

 (1983) for which she was nominated
41st Golden Globe Awards
The 41st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1983, were held on January 28, 1984.-Best Actor - Drama: Tom Courtenay - The Dresser Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies*Tom Conti - Reuben, Reuben...

 for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. In 2001 she was nominated
58th Golden Globe Awards
The 58th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 2000, were held on January 21, 2001.-Best Actor - Drama:Tom Hanks - Cast Away*Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls*Russell Crowe - Gladiator...

 for the same award for her role in On the Beach
On the Beach (2000 film)
On the Beach is an apocalyptic television movie released in 2000, airing originally on Showtime. It is a remake of the 1959 film, and is based on the 1957 novel by Nevil Shute. It starred Armand Assante, Bryan Brown, and Rachel Ward...

 (2000). She also received a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 nomination (New Star of the Year) for her role in the film Sharky's Machine
Sharky's Machine (film)
Sharky's Machine is a 1981 motion picture directed by Burt Reynolds, who stars in the title role. The movie is an adaptation of William Diehl's first novel Sharky's Machine , with a screenplay by Gerald Di Pego....

 (1981) with Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

. Other notable films from that period include Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Rachel Ward. It is both a parody of, and an homage to, film noir and the pulp detective movies of the 1940s....

 (1982) with Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

 and Against All Odds (1984) with Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....

.

Ward then disappeared from film for three years to study acting. She reappeared in 1987 playing opposite her husband, Bryan Brown
Bryan Brown
Bryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...

 (whom she met on the set of The Thorn Birds), in The Umbrella Woman. Married since 1983, they have three children: Rose (Rosie), born 1983, Matilda (who has followed her parents into the acting profession), born 1985, and Joseph (Joe).

In 2001, Ward won the Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

 Award for Best Short Fiction Film for The Big House
The Big House (2000 film)
The Big House is a 2000 award-winning short drama film written and directed by Rachel Ward. Set in a prison, it stars Tony Martin and Gary Sweet...

., and Best Australian Film at Flickerfest
Flickerfest
Flickerfest is an Australian, Academy Award-accredited short film festival. Founded in 1992 at Balmain High School which is now called Sydney Secondary College Balmain Campus, it is held every January in Sydney. The films then go on tour throughout Australia. The Festival Director is currently...

. The film also won the Film Critics Circle of Australia
Film Critics Circle of Australia
The Film Critics Circle of Australia is a group of cinema critics that judge Australian films.-External links:**...

 Award, as did her 2003 film Martha's New Coat. That film also won the 2003 ATOM Award
ATOM Award
The ATOM Awards are a group of awards offered to Australian and New Zealand "professionals, educators and students", honouring achievements in the making of film, television, multimedia, and from 2007 multi-modal productions....


In 2003, a portrait of Rachel Ward by artist Jan Williamson
Jan Williamson
Jan Williamson is an Australian artist. She is a mother of nine children. She is known for winning the Archibald Prize Packing Room Prize twice in a row: in 2002 with a portrait of Jenny Morris —which also won the People's Choice Award— and again in 2003 with a portrait of actor Rachel...

 won the Packing Room Prize at the Archibald Prize
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...

 competition. In 2005, Ward was made a Member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 "for service to raising awareness of social justice through lobbying, mentoring and advocacy for the rights of disadvantaged and at-risk young people, and support for the Australian film and television industry."

In 2007, Ward returned to television, headlining the new ABC
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....

 drama Rain Shadow
Rain Shadow (TV series)
Rain Shadow is an Australian television drama series which premiered on 7 October 2007 on ABC TV. It aired on Sundays at . The six-part series was produced by Southern Star...

. She played a country veterinarian named Kate McDonald, a free spirit who confronts personal and professional obstacles in a rural, drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

-affected town. In June 2009 her first feature-length film Beautiful Kate
Beautiful Kate
Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Sophie Lowe and Ben Mendelsohn. Rachel Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way...

, adapted by Ward from a 1982 Newton Thornburg
Newton Thornburg
-Early life:Born in Harvey, Illinois, Thornburg graduated from the University of Iowa with a Fine Arts degree. He worked in a variety of jobs before devoting himself to writing full-time in 1973.-Writing:...

 novel, premiered at the Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...

.

Actress

  • Christmas Lilies of the Field
    Christmas Lilies of the Field
    Christmas Lilies of the Field is a 1979 made-for-TV sequel to the classic film Lilies of the Field. In this sequel, directed by Ralph Nelson, Homer Smith returns to the Arizona desert where he had built the chapel for the nuns. This time Smith is played by Billy Dee Williams instead of Sidney Poitier...

     (1979) TV Movie
  • Dynasty
    Dynasty (TV series)
    Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...

    , in episode "The Dinner Party" (1981)
  • Night School
    Night School (film)
    Night School is a slasher film released in 1981 directed by Ken Hughes and starring English actress Rachel Ward in her feature film debut. The plot revolves around a series of gruesome decapitation murders happening among college coeds in Boston, Massachusetts. The film was originally to be...

     (1981)
  • Sharky's Machine
    Sharky's Machine (film)
    Sharky's Machine is a 1981 motion picture directed by Burt Reynolds, who stars in the title role. The movie is an adaptation of William Diehl's first novel Sharky's Machine , with a screenplay by Gerald Di Pego....

     (1981)
  • Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
    Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
    Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Rachel Ward. It is both a parody of, and an homage to, film noir and the pulp detective movies of the 1940s....

     (1982)
  • The Thorn Birds
    The Thorn Birds (TV miniseries)
    The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons...

     (1983) TV miniseries
  • The Final Terror
    The Final Terror
    The Final Terror is a 1983 slasher film directed by Andrew Davis. The film ranks as one of the stronger "second tier" slashers from the halcyon heyday of 1980s slasher films. The film was shot in 1981 in the Red Wood forests of the California wilderness...

     (1983)
  • Against All Odds (1984)
  • Fortress
    Fortress (1986 film)
    Fortress is a 1986 film directed by Arch Nicholson and written by Everett De Roche. It is based on Gabrielle Lord's novel of the same name, which was loosely based on the 1972 Faraday School Kidnapping....

     (1986)
  • Hotel Colonial (1987)
  • The Umbrella Woman (1987) (also known as The Good Wife
    The Good Wife (film)
    The Good Wife is a 1987 film starring Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward. It was also released as The Umbrella Woman. It also features Steven Vidler and Sam Neill.- Plot :...

    )
  • How to Get Ahead in Advertising
    How to Get Ahead in Advertising
    How to Get Ahead in Advertising is a 1989 British film written and directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward. The title is a pun and can be literally taken as "How to Get a Head in Advertising".-Plot:...

     (1989)
  • Shadow of the Cobra (1989) TV Movie
  • After Dark, My Sweet
    After Dark, My Sweet
    After Dark, My Sweet is a neo-noir film directed by James Foley starring Jason Patric, Bruce Dern, and Rachel Ward. It is based on the 1955 Jim Thompson novel of the same name.-Plot:...

     (1990)
  • And the Sea Will Tell
    And the Sea Will Tell
    And the Sea Will Tell is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce B. Henderson. The nonfiction book, a New York Times #1 hardcover bestseller and still in print as a trade paperback, recounts a double murder on Palmyra Atoll and the subsequent arrest, trial and conviction of Duane Walker,...

     (1991) TV Movie
  • Black Magic (1992) TV Movie
  • Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
    Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
    Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, a 1992 film directed by James Bond alumnus John Glen, was the last project developed by the father and son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It follows the events leading up to and including the voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1492...

     (1992)
  • Double Jeopardy (1992) TV Movie
  • Wide Sargasso Sea
    Wide Sargasso Sea (1993 film)
    Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1993 film adaption of Jean Rhys's 1966 novel of the same name, directed by John Duigan.-Plot summary:For a full length summary see: plot summary of Wide Sargasso Sea.-Release:...

     (1993)
  • Double Obsession (1994)
  • The Ascent (1994)
  • Twisted Tales
    Twisted Tales (TV series)
    Twisted Tales is an Australian television Anthology and Mystery drama which screened on the Nine Network in 1996. Each episode was narrated by Bryan Brown, who also produced the follow-up series, Two Twisted, in 2006. Each episode of the series contains a twist ending.-External links:*...

    , in episode "Third Party" (1996)
  • My Stepson, My Lover (1997) TV Movie (also known as Love, Murder and Deceit)
  • Seasons of Love
    Seasons of Love
    "Seasons of Love" is a song from the Broadway musical Rent, written and composed by Jonathan Larson. The song starts with an ostinato piano motif, which provides the harmonic framework for the cast to sing "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes"...

     (1999) TV Movie
  • On the Beach
    On the Beach (2000 film)
    On the Beach is an apocalyptic television movie released in 2000, airing originally on Showtime. It is a remake of the 1959 film, and is based on the 1957 novel by Nevil Shute. It starred Armand Assante, Bryan Brown, and Rachel Ward...

     (2000) TV Movie
  • And Never Let Her Go (2001) TV Movie
  • Bobbie's Girl
    Bobbie's Girl
    Bobbie's Girl is a 2002 comedy-drama television movie about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises...

     (2002) TV Movie
  • Johnson County War
    Johnson County War
    The Johnson County War, also known as the War on Powder River, was a range war which took place in April 1892 in Johnson County, Natrona County and Converse County in the U.S. state of Wyoming...

     (2002) TV Movie
  • Blackbeard (2006) TV miniseries
  • Monarch Cove
    Monarch Cove
    Monarch Cove is a prime time telenovela that premiered on Lifetime Television on November 4, 2006. It ran for 14 episodes, ending on December 16, 2006.-Premise:...

     (2006) TV Movie
  • Rain Shadow
    Rain Shadow (TV series)
    Rain Shadow is an Australian television drama series which premiered on 7 October 2007 on ABC TV. It aired on Sundays at . The six-part series was produced by Southern Star...

     (2007) TV series

Director

  • The Big House
    The Big House (2000 film)
    The Big House is a 2000 award-winning short drama film written and directed by Rachel Ward. Set in a prison, it stars Tony Martin and Gary Sweet...

     (2000)
  • Blindman's Bluff (2000)
  • Martha's New Coat (2003)
  • Two Twisted
    Two Twisted
    Two Twisted is an Australian TV mystery anthology drama which premiered on the Nine Network on 14 August 2006. Narrated by Bryan Brown, who also produced the series' predecessor, Twisted Tales, each episode of the series contains two short half-hour stories, that have a twist ending...

    , in episode "Heart Attack" (2006)
  • Beautiful Kate
    Beautiful Kate
    Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Sophie Lowe and Ben Mendelsohn. Rachel Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way...

     (2009)
  • Rake
    Rake (TV series)
    Rake is an Australian television series, produced by Essential Media and Entertainment, that first aired on ABC1 in 2010. It stars Richard Roxburgh as Cleaver Greene, a brilliant but self-destructive barrister, a rake...

     (2010), ABC1
    ABC1
    ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...

    , series 1, episodes 3 and 4

Self

  • 54th Academy Awards
    54th Academy Awards
    The 54th Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1982 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Johnny Carson....

     (1982) TV
  • 62nd Academy Awards
    62nd Academy Awards
    The 62nd Academy Awards were presented March 26, 1990 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The venue, half the size of the one used the previous year, prompted Gil Cates and Karl Malden to put a memo to "our friends in the industry" in the March 13th edition of the Daily...

     (1990) TV
  • In the Name of Love (1994) TV Series
  • The Big Schmooze, in episode "Episode #1.4" (2000)
  • What's Going On?, in episode "Indigenous Children in Australia" (2003)
  • Enough Rope with Andrew Denton
    Enough Rope
    Enough Rope with Andrew Denton is a television interview show originally broadcast on ABC Television in Australia...

    , in episode "Episode #1.26" (2003)
  • Uccelli di rovo: vecchi amici, nuove storie (The Thorn Birds: Old Friends New Stories) (2003) VHS
  • Retrosexual: The 80's (2004) TV miniseries (Archive Footage)
  • La tele de tu vida, in episode "Episode #1.6" (2007) (Archive Footage)

External links

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