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Home , Bill Hunter (actor), Bryan Brown, Bud Tingwell, Chris Haywood, David Field (actor), David Wenham

CHARACTER ACTORS IN RECENT AUSTRALIAN FILMS

One of the unfailing pleasures of going to the pictures in the studio hey- day—say, the 1930s to the 1960s—was the way the edges of the films would be populated by faces whose names weren’t always familiar but who brought a whiff of the real to the often-glossy goings-on.

BRIAN MCFARLANE HERE WERE ONE-NOTE DELIGHTS in Strangers on a Train (1951). In Britain, Dora like gum-chewing Iris Adrian (Two- Bryan, often relegated to one-minute turns as Gun Gertie in Roxie Hart, 1942) or the spiteful hussies or common floosies, could flesh Tperennial drunk, Jack Norton (Ale-and- out a character when the chance arrived, as in Quail Club member in The Palm Beach Story, The Cure for Love (1949) or A Taste of Honey 1942) in American films or bony-faced Sam (1961), as it also did for Thora Hird in A Kind of Kydd scuttling round both sides of the law in Loving (1962), after years of slatternly charladies British ones. There were also, though, the full- or perky maids, and for Raymond Huntley, so scale ‘character people’ who were given more often reduced to an amusing sneer, but allowed chance to establish themselves without being a to do real character work as the sniffy Davenport threat to the stars’ dominance. humanized by war in The Way Ahead (1944). The list is endless, and the examples given purely It’s an odd term, isn’t it? It almost seems to sug- arbitrary. gest that some actors have the job of creating characters or of conveying character whereas It was very often the nature of such players that others, stars presumably, are there for some they tended to represent types. It wasn’t, on the other reason. Does the term imply, about stars, whole, variety that one expected of them: most that their function is to be charismatic, to compel often, they offered the pleasures of recognizable our attention by their physical presences and personas caught in slightly different circum- all the signification that goes with these (strong, stances from film to film. Equally though, and stoical ; neurotically driven Judy perhaps almost contradictorily, their function Davis, etc), to carry the brunt of the action by was often to anchor the film in a kind of every- the sheer force of their perceived personalities? day reality that acted as some sort of warranty Even if this is the case, it’s hard to imagine a star for the actuality of the film’s main narrative. I’ve devoid of character interest at some level of our been writing here so far about the past, because awareness, and to categorize others as ‘charac- it was studios with stables of contract players ter actors’ seems to suggest stars aren’t acting that accounted for the steady appearances of ‘characters’. these players who so effortlessly stamped their roles with a sharp sense of self and of society. Be all that as it may, it is probably safe to say that the label ‘character actor’ usually refers New Australian cinema, from say 1970, never to players other than those in starring roles. To had a comparable studio system, and neither, in recall the studio years of the US and the UK is that period, did Hollywood or Britain. Neverthe- to conjure up such names and faces as those of less, I’d want to insist that one of the strengths William Demarest, so often the hero’s fast-talking of our cinema has been in the depth of charac- friend as in Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), or ter work it has exhibited. Every now and then, Lee Patrick as Sam Spade’s secretary—she’d as was the case overseas with the likes of an seen them come and go—in The Maltese Falcon Edward G. Robinson or an Alec Guinness, a (1941), or George Macready, malevolently and character star would emerge, the most notable ambiguously observing the seductive power Australian example being , who, of Gilda (1946), or Norma Varden, skittishness while eschewing conventional star roles, has giving way to terror as she is nearly strangled dominated films through the sheer force and

36 • Metro Magazine No. 143 Metro Magazine No. 143 • 37 and incidence of the supporting players, The character players have, as they always indefatigably in recent years, giving one who, since the early days of the revived do, the work of filling out the film’s diegetic of his best performances as the humane industry here, have given verisimilitude—a world. In Australian films, they are apt to barrister in The Castle (1997) and weight- sense of what Henry James called ‘felt be rural types, either salt-of-the-earth or ing the supernatural romance, The Inside life’—to enterprises that often scarcely thick rubes, dim suburbanites, profession- Story (2003), with a sturdy sense of reality. deserved them. als, workers, cops and crooks, corrupt politicians and local dignitaries. Noth- These are only four of the most prolifically An image that has stayed with me for over ing specially different about the range, appearing names. One could have added twenty-five years is that of Ray Marshall but they are an important element in the , a character star in as a deserted father trudging home to look way that our films project the nation. For and Muriel’s Wedding (1994), but imbu- after his children in The FJ Holden (1977). instance, as the industry has matured (I ing everything he did with the effortless In every lineament of face and body at don’t mean that it has become secure, just authority that made supporting roles in that moment, and in the ensuing domestic that, in some ways, it has become more films like (1992) and The scenes, is etched a lifetime’s weariness and sophisticated, and that more can be taken Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the dogged decency that keeps this wry for granted), the stress in films of the last (1994) so memorably vile. Or battler on the job. Marshall, also unpatroniz- few years has been away from the stories (not that John Howard), who settled after ingly funny as the country-town mayor in of rural hardihood and youthful coming-of- a brief fling as a leading man into being Newsfront (1978), was symptomatic of the age which seemed peculiarly common and one of the most enjoyable character play- way so many character actors of the first apt in the earlier days of the 1970s revival. ers—the bonhomie ever likely to topple decade of the Australian revival helped to Now, Australian character actors are found into deviousness—in demand on TV (his give those films such a lived-in look. Think, representing urban types more often than temporizing Bob Jelley in SeaChange was for example, of Carole Skinner’s short-order rural strugglers. It’s almost a surprise to a small miracle of comic timing) and the big cook in Monkey Grip (1982), with only a find oneself as far off the beaten track as screen (cf. , 2003). Or fellow few minutes at her disposal, encapsulat- Jeannie Drynan’s outback café in Paper- SeaChange alumnus, Shaun Micallef, who ing laconically a life of unrewarding routine. back Hero (1999); and it is certainly not just has tempered his stand-up comic talents to Oh, there are dozens of these, sometimes surprising but jarring to find country town the requirements of the sleek, wittily writ- given space to suggest background and dwellers depicted in such a retro manner ten politicians he plays in The Honourable complexity, sometimes there to vivify a as they are in Strange Bedfellows (2004). Wally Norman and Bad Eggs (2003). Or fleeting moment: they deserve a full history. , who was so lethally—almost Here, I shall be able only to concentrate on The gender balance among character sueably—right as Bob Hawke in The Night those who, in the last five years or so, have players seems to have evened out some- We Called It a Day and as a corrupt police- made good films stronger and made feeble what over the last couple of decades. man in Gettin’ Square (2003), in which Aus- ones look better than they are. Stars have The male-dominated ensembles of such tralian actors co-starred with Timothy Spall, risen, glittered and gone to richer pastures; films as (1975), a major British character star, reminding us, of course, it is the likes of , Mel The Devil’s Playground (1978), The Last when the lines get blurred, of what a useful Gibson, and of the Knucklemen (1979), term this is. Or , action star of who have made Australian movies known in (1979), Stir (1980), and the Mad Max mov- TV’s long-running series, , the world, but they can not then be counted ies (1979, 1981, 1985) have become less adjusting to the character demands of the on, except intermittently, to be working here prevalent, though it is probably still true to harrowing Alexandra’s Project (2003), in in the way that the character actors can. say that there are more choice character which his macho image is brutally cri- parts going for men than for women. And tiqued, or of the poolside venality of the In recent times, it has not always been pos- how tenaciously some of these men have laidback crime boss in Gettin’ Square. sible to write kindly about Australian films, hung on. The craggy features of Tony but even when the over-all product has Barry, recently on view in Mullet (2001) The list of character chaps doing salvage seemed defective there has been—persist- and The Night We Called It a Day (2003), work in Australian films is impressively long. ently—the gratification of watching a fleet of were part of the rugged outback scenery The line between star and character actor character actors at work. Sometimes, as in as long ago as The Mango Tree (1977) goes wobbly when one considers such dis- Strange Bedfellows (I’m shocked to hear of and The Irishman (1978). , parate players as , , its making money), it has been almost the cheery East Ender down under in News- and . Neill had only reward on hand. In a much better film, front (1978) and variously corrupt, decent leading roles in such seventies and eighties Cate Shortland’s Somersault (2004), Lynette or suffering in several dozen others, is still films as My Brilliant Career (1979) as the Curran’s hard-pressed, sympathetic motel- a presence to be welcomed, as in Molokai heroine’s squatter admirer, Robbery Under owner is just one of the many positives; but, (2002). Alan Cassell, oozing political cor- Arms (1985) as dashing bushranger Captain as has been more often the case, watching ruption in The Honourable Wally Norman Starlight, and as Nicole Kidman’s husband the likes of Bill Hunter, Stephen Currie, Lois (2003), has been doing character duty in the thriller Dead Calm (1989), but he Ramsay, , Andrew Gilbert since the 1970s when he went in to bat has always seemed more comfortable in and others making bricks from the screen- for Cathy’s Child (1979). , of character roles, sliding into these via uncon- play’s straw has been the raison d’être for course, has been around forever, predat- ventional leads in Death in Brunswick (1991) staying to the end. ing the seventies revival, and working and (1993). Watching him as the

38 • Metro Magazine No. 143 cardiganed boffin type in (2000) or men are notable enough—Tony Barry, cameo as a judge in The Castle, 1997) or the urbanely corrupt company CEO in the Bill Hunter, Terry Norris and so on—but it Beverley Dunn (warmly sympathetic as telemovie, The Brush-Off (2004), one feels is the women one remembers here. The Beryl Alcott in Shine, 1996): the Austral- he must be assured of a long career in such named quartet is in fact the film’s joint ian cinema hasn’t, generally, given such rewarding character work. And the same ‘star’, but this sort of opportunity is still actresses comparable roles in film. How- may be true for Bryan Brown, a major star fairly rare. Look how much less Maughan ever, one is grateful for the way that they of the seventies revival, and again like Neill, and Ramsay have to get their teeth into in and others like them flesh out often thinly with overseas starring roles to his credit: he Crackerjack; too often they are left bereft of written roles and make their films seem, at too has made an appreciable transition to anything revealing to say, merely remind- least intermittently, as if they are offering us character star, in recent films such as Two ing one of how good they were on stage unmediated views of human behaviour. Hands (1999) and Dirty Deeds (1993) as two as the stars of Inheritance. But then, the kinds of hard men. stage has always been kinder to mature Much of the foregoing probably suggests actresses than the remorseless close-ups that the lines separating star, character Wenham won a substantial following of film and television. star and character actor are very blurred, among impressionable women for his TV and for much of the time it may not be role of ‘Diver Dan’ in SeaChange, but he However, making the most of what has worth the trouble of trying to fix working has apparently chosen not to follow the come their way, there are still rewards for definitions to them. I’ve tried to differenti- path of conventional leading man. When such actresses and for us. In Strange Bed- ate them here chiefly in the interests of he has played leads, he has tended to fellows, despite its anachronistic depiction suggesting some of the kinds of reward establish himself as a character star: his of a twenty-first century Victorian town, the supporting casts have offered in alarming thug in The Boys (1998), leper- there are elements of truthful observation Australian films lately. The names I’ve priest in Molokai, the in- in the supporting character work of Monica mentioned are little more than the tip of competent thongs-and-floral-shirts ex-con Maughan as one of the local organizing the iceberg. Anyone reading this may well in Gettin’ Square; and scruffy, deceptively women, and, indeed, from Alan Cassell feel like saying: ‘What about Frank Wilson, dim Murray Whelan in the TV films, Stiff and Stewart Faichney. They help to keep Kevin Harrington, Garry MacDonald, Ray (2004) and The Brush-Off may give him one’s mind off the film’s appalling narrative Barrett, Penne Hackforth-Jones or … [fill claims to be the best actor in Australian centre. Another of the bowlers in the over- in the gap according to preference].’ The films at the moment, but they don’t stamp turned car on the ‘road to Nhill’, Lynette actors referred to here are simply some him as a down under. There’s Curran, has made striking development who have given special pleasure in more too much relish in the idiosyncrasy of the as a character actress since her days as or less recent Australian cinema; they are roles for the idea of the brand-name star blondely pretty Rhoda Wilson in TV’s Bell- not meant to constitute an exhaustive list. to dominate one’s awareness of him. bird and the spin-off film, Country Town (1971). She did brave work as the mother It doesn’t seem as if one could merely Molloy is perhaps the latest character star of The Boys (1998), raddled and plump accept a definition someone once gave of Australian films. His slovenly persona and poignantly believable, and made a me: ‘Character actors are the ones who signals an avoidance of the usual star brief, vivid mark as ’s mum aren’t good-looking enough to be leads’, image, but he is indubitably the star of the in Japanese Story (2003), but it is her role though there is probably something in it. bowling comedy Crackerjack (2002) and as the motel-owner who recognizes a lost There may also be something in the idea the corruption-in-high-and-low places soul in Somersault that clinches her status that stars not only have to carry the film comedy-thriller, Bad Eggs (2003), adroitly as a major purveyor of ‘ordinary’ Australia, but also have to find ways of re-present- partnered in each by TV comic dealing stoically with life’s knocks. ing themselves so as to gratify our twin (perhaps Australia’s answer to, say, Eve wishes for familiarity and freshness. They Arden and all those other acid-tongued Women who have had the chance to play are so much more exposed than character secretaries and journalists of bygone days). character leads are even rarer than men. actors. The latter may recreate themselves The external scruffiness allied to a sort of One thinks of in Innocence each time in new roles that offer them vestigial integrity makes the Molloy charac- (2000), with husband Terry Norris and Bud broad outlines within which they can flesh ters funny and engaging, but he is nowhere Tingwell, as the mature starring trio in a out the detail. Some develop recogniz- better than as the endlessly profane and moving account of love’s late gratifica- able personas, and sometimes perhaps devious politician in TV’s The Brush-Off. tion; of Linda Cropper, outstanding as the they tend to settle into types. But types mother with breast cancer and a trouble- or individuals, they have in recent Austral- It is still true that women are less well some son in Blackrock (1997) and co-star- ian cinema been a more reliable source of served than men, both as stars and as ring with as Teesh and Trude pleasure than the putative stars. character players, but even so the pickings (2002); of , very moving in in Australian film have been rich. A film like the ensemble cast of Lantana (2001); of … Brian McFarlane’s Encyclopedia of British the Road to Nhill (1997) provides an en- not too many others. More often, women Film (2003) has been reprinted. He is now semble cast of some of our best actress- of character, as distinct from obvious stars, preparing the 2nd edition for 2005 publica- es—Monica Maughan, Patricia Kennedy, are relegated to secondary roles, some of tion and co-authoring a book on the British and Lois Ramsay—with a these by choice admittedly. Think of theatre ‘B’ movie of the 1930-1970 period. • rare opportunity to hold the screen. The stars like (in a subtle comic

Metro Magazine No. 143 • 39