Rachel Ward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rachel Claire Ward, AM, (born at Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, September 12, 1957), granddaughter of the 3rd Earl of Dudley and of the cricketer Giles Baring, is an English actress (and more recently, a director) who has primarily pursued her career in Australia. She attended the Byam Shaw School of Art in London before leaving at 16 to become a top fashion model. In 1983 she was voted one of the ten most beautiful women in the United States.
She became well known when she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain as the lead role portraying Meggie Cleary in the television mini-series The Thorn Birds. She disappeared from pictures for three years and studied acting. Ward then reappeared in 1987, playing opposite her husband, Bryan Brown (whom she met on the set of The Thorn Birds), in The Good Wife. Married since 1983, they have three children: Rose (Rosie), Matilda (who has followed her parents into the acting profession), and Joe.
She briefly dated David Kennedy, son of Robert F Kennedy. In 2003, a portrait of Rachel Ward by artist Jan Williamson won the Packing Room award at the Archibald Prize competition.
In 2007, Ward returned to television, headlining the new ABC Drama Rain Shadow. She is playing a country veterinarian named Kate McDonald, a free spirit who confronts personal and professional obstacles in a rural, drought-affected town.
In 2005, Ward was made a Member of the Order of Australia "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."[1]
Contents |
- Christmas Lilies of the Field (1979) TV Movie
- Dynasty, in episode "The Dinner Party" (1981)
- Night School (1981)
- Sharky's Machine (1981)
- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
- The Thorn Birds (1983) TV miniseries
- The Final Terror (1983)
- Against All Odds (1984)
- Fortress (1986) TV Movie
- Hotel Colonial (1987)
- The Good Wife (1987)
- How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
- Shadow of the Cobra (1989) TV Movie
- After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
- And the Sea Will Tell (1991) TV Movie
- Black Magic (1992) TV Movie
- Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)
- Double Jeopardy (1992) TV Movie
- Wide Sargasso Sea (1993)
- Double Obsession (1994)
- The Ascent (1994)
- Twisted Tales, in episode "Third Party" (1996)
- My Stepson, My Lover (1997) TV Movie
- Seasons of Love (1999) TV Movie
- On the Beach (2000) TV Movie
- And Never Let Her Go (2001) TV Movie
- Bobbie's Girl (2002) TV Movie
- Johnson County War (2002) TV Movie
- Blackbeard (2006) TV miniseries
- Monarch Cove (2006) TV Movie
- Rain Shadow (2007) TV series
- The Big House (2000)
- Blindman's Bluff (2000)
- Martha's New Coat (2003)
- Two Twisted, in episode "Heart Attack" (2006)
- The Big House (2000)
- Blindman's Bluff (2000)
- The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982) TV
- The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (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" (????)
- Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, 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)
- ^ It's an Honour website. Australian Government. Retrieved on 2007-11-04.