Rachel Ward
Biography: Rachel Claire Ward AM (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian actress, film and television director, screenwriter, and former model who has primarily pursued her career in Australia. During her modelling career, she was featured on the covers of Vogue, Harper's & Queen, and Cosmopolitan magazines. After moving to the United States in 1977, she appeared in television advertisements such as the Lincoln Mercury "Cougar Girl" and Revlon's "Scoundrel Girl". In 1981, she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for "New Star of the Year" for her role in the film Sharky's Machine starring with Burt Reynolds. The following year, she starred in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin. Her big break came in 1983, when she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain as the lead role portraying Meggie Cleary in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. Also in 1983, U.S. audiences voted Ward one of the world's 10 most beautiful women. In 1984, she played Jess in the film noir remake Against All Odds, with Jeff Bridges. After filming Fortress in 1985, she then disappeared from film for a few years to study acting. In 2001, she was again nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for her role in On the Beach (2000). Also in 2001, she won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Fiction Film for The Big House, and Best Australian Film at Flickerfest. The film also won the Film Critics Circle of Australia award, as did her 2003 film Martha's New Coat — which also won the 2003 ATOM Award. In 2005, she 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". In 2009, she directed her first feature-length film titled Beautiful Kate, adapted by Ward from a 1982 Newton Thornburg novel, and premiered at the Sydney Film Festival. She has been married to the Australian actor Bryan Brown since 1983. They have three children: Rosie, Matilda, and Joe. Matilda Brown is an actress, writer and director.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: September 12, 1957
Deathday: N/A
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Known For
The Final Terror
1983-05-01
The Final Terror
Overview: A group of friends head out for what is expected to be a vacation of hiking, camping and a good time, but when a backwoods mama finds them on her turf, it becomes anything but a vacation.
Genres: Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1983-05-01
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Against All Odds
1984-03-02
Against All Odds
Overview: She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives.
Genres: Crime Drama Romance Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1984-03-02
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On the Beach
2000-05-28
On the Beach
Overview: The world has finally managed to blow itself up and only Australia has been spared from nuclear destruction and a gigantic wave of radiation is floating in on the breezes. One American sub located in the Pacific has survived and is met with disdain by the Australians. The calculations of Australia's most renowned scientist says the country is doomed. However, one of his rivals says that he is wrong. He believes that a 1000 people can be relocated to the northern hemisphere, where his assumptions indicate the radiation levels may be lower. The American Captain is asked to take a mission to the north to determine which scientist is right.
Genres: Drama Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-05-28
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After Dark, My Sweet
1990-08-24
After Dark, My Sweet
Overview: Three desperados try to kidnap a wealthy child in hope of turning their lives around.
Genres: Crime Drama Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-08-24
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Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
1982-05-21
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Overview: Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.
Genres: Comedy Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1982-05-21
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Wide Sargasso Sea
1993-04-16
Wide Sargasso Sea
Overview: In the wake of Jamaican emancipation, French colonist Annette Cosway falls into poverty and marries racist Englishman Paul Mason. But when Annette's young son dies in a fire started by former slaves, Mason flees to England, leaving his grief-stricken wife and her Creole daughter Antoinette behind. Soon Antoinette learns she must marry to claim her inheritance and sets her sights on Rochester, an Englishman eerily similar to Mason.
Genres: Thriller Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-04-16
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Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
1992-08-20
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
Overview: Genoan navigator Christopher Columbus has a dream to find an alternative route to sail to the Indies, by traveling west instead of east, across the unchartered Ocean sea. After failing to find backing from the Portugese, he goes to the Spanish court to ask Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand for help. After surviving a grilling from the Head of the Spanish Inquisition Tomas de Torquemada, he eventually gets the blessing from Queen Isabella and sets sail in three ships to travel into the unknown. Along the way he must deal with sabotage from Portugese spies and mutiny from a rebellious crew.
Genres: History Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-08-20
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Sharky's Machine
1981-12-18
Sharky's Machine
Overview: Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he has never met.
Genres: Crime Drama Action Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-12-18
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How to Get Ahead in Advertising
1989-05-05
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Overview: Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck.
Genres: Fantasy Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-05-05
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Hotel Colonial
1987-01-08
Hotel Colonial
Overview: Marco Veniera goes to Bogota, Columbia to find his brother, Luca who supposedly committed suicide. In his search, he meets fiery and exotic Irene Costa, who leads him into the depths of the Amazon jungle. But it's every man for himself. And brotherly love turns to hate.
Genres: Adventure Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1987-01-08
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Fortress
1985-11-24
Fortress
Overview: After being kidnapped by four masked men, a teacher and her students rebel by plotting against the criminals.
Genres: Drama Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-11-24
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Rachel's Farm
2023-08-03
Rachel's Farm
Overview: Award-winning film director and actress Rachel Ward is the last person you’d expect to join a farming revolution. Following the birth of her first grandchild, Rachel is confronted head-on by the impact of our climate crisis as Australia’s Black Summer fires descend on her farm. Besieged by drought and ecological despair, Rachel finds hope in the soil beneath her feet and embarks on a journey of discovery to regenerate the land on her farm, and herself.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2023-08-03
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Johnson County War
2002-08-24
Johnson County War
Overview: The three Hammett brothers, Cain, Harry and Dale are caught in a conflict that escalates rapidly and the old farmers facing against new farmers who have settled in the green grasslands.
Genres: Western TV Movie Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2002-08-24
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Night School
1981-01-07
Night School
Overview: A Boston police detective investigates a series of gruesome decapitations of various college coeds, committed by a helmeted, black-leather clad serial killer.
Genres: Horror Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-01-07
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Double Jeopardy
1992-11-21
Double Jeopardy
Overview: Jack Hart lives with his lawyer wife and yound daughter and enjoys a wonderful life. Jack's old girlfriend, Lisa, comes into town and they have an affair. Lisa kills her current boyfriend in self-defense and Jack witnesses the whole thing. Lisa goes on trial for murder with Jack's wife as her lawyer. As the movie progresses Lisa's devious side becomes known and make for an interesting conclusion
Genres: Thriller TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-11-21
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The Good Wife
1987-05-14
The Good Wife
Overview: In pre-WWII Australia, a love triangle develops between a man, his wife and the man's brother.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1987-05-14
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My Stepson, My Lover
1997-06-25
My Stepson, My Lover
Overview: A kind nurse finds herself embroiled in a tense and potentially deadly family affair when she falls for the son of her ruthless new husband.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-06-25
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And Never Let Her Go
2001-04-01
And Never Let Her Go
Overview: The true story of a woman's suspicious disappearance after ending an affair with a powerful, married attorney.
Genres: Drama Thriller Crime Mystery TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-04-01
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Bobbie's Girl
2002-06-09
Bobbie's Girl
Overview: Two middle-aged lesbians find their lives complicated when one of them takes in her ten-year-old nephew.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2002-06-09
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Black Magic
1992-09-21
Black Magic
Overview: A young man is tormented by visions of his dead cousin who attempts to warn him of a Witch capable of casting deadly spells!
Genres: TV Movie Comedy Fantasy Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-09-21
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And the Sea Will Tell
1991-02-24
And the Sea Will Tell
Overview: A wealthy couple (James Brolin and Deidre Hall) are killed on their yacht off the coast of a secluded South American island called Palmyra. The suspects are a hippyish pair (Hart Bochner and Rachel Ward) whom the rich folks had befriended. It’s fairly clear that the hippies were involved in the crime: The question is, did the man do it while the girl looked on helplessly, or was she a willing accomplice?
Genres: Drama Crime TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-02-24
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Peter Rabbit
2018-02-07
Peter Rabbit
Overview: Peter Rabbit's feud with Mr. McGregor escalates to greater heights than ever before as they rival for the affections of the warm-hearted animal lover who lives next door.
Genres: Animation Adventure Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2018-02-07
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Christmas Lilies of the Field
1979-12-16
Christmas Lilies of the Field
Overview: In this belated sequel to 'Lilies of the Field' (1963), jack-of-all-trades Homer Smith revisits the chapel in the Arizona desert that he helped build for five German nuns under the supervision of Mother Maria, and he reluctantly helps them out of a pinch once more.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-12-16
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Twisted
1997-01-01
Twisted
Overview: Four unsuspecting victims find themselves beyond "The Twilight Zone" in a twisted and altered reality: an airline passenger thinks he's lost his identity... a bored housewife thinks she's found romance... a conman thinks he's made his mark... and a hired killer thinks she's ready to retire. Unfortunately for all of them, they soon discover that there's nothing like reality to get in the way of an otherwise perfectly twisted perspective. Things are never quite that simple.
Genres: Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-01-01
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The Ascent
1994-09-15
The Ascent
Overview: The real-life adventure of a dashing Italian soldier who escapes a British prisoner-of-war camp because he dreams of climbing 17,000-foot Mt. Kenya and planting the Italian flag at the summit. The obsessive British camp commander pursues him, and the two men are locked in a battle of wills, fuelled by honor and their love for the same woman.
Genres: War Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-09-15
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The Death and Life of Otto Bloom
2017-03-16
The Death and Life of Otto Bloom
Overview: The chronicle of the life and great love of Otto Bloom, an extraordinary man who experiences time in reverse - passing backwards through the years only remembering the future.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2017-03-16
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Double Obsession
1992-01-01
Double Obsession
Overview: A disturbed lesbian librarian kidnaps a beautiful young woman she's obsessed with, breaks her foot to keep her incapacitated, then starts to kill off people she believes are intruding in their "relationship".
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-01-01
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Shadow of the Cobra
1989-07-18
Shadow of the Cobra
Overview: Dramatisation of the story of notorious Indian serial killer Charles Sobhraj (b. 1944), who preyed on Western tourists throughout South East Asia during the 1970s.
Genres: Mystery Thriller Crime TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-07-18
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