Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 13 May 1959, page 9


[BIG STARS FOR

1 ' SUNDOWNERS '

By AINSLIE BAKEB

. By mid-September international movie cameras will again be turning in Australia and world stars will be acting an Austra-

lian story.

THE stars are Deborah

Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Peter Ustinov, who will play the three main characters in "The Sundowners," Jon

rv s story of an outback husband and wife and an English remittance man with whom they join forces.

Fred Zinnemann, winner of eight Academy Award Oscars, will direct Ithe film. Among his outstanding pic-

tures have been "High Noon," "From Here to Eternity," and "Oklahoma!"

His most recent film was "The

Nun's Storv." with Audrey Hep-

burn and Australian Peter Finch.

lt was Zinncmann, known as Mr. Zee, who guided Brando through his debut film, "The Men.''

Tho Sundowners' isn't going to 'v a Western," Zinnemann said. "It's a warm, glowing story of Australian people. That was the quality that

first drew me to the book."

It will be filmed in color, in typical sheep country-most likely

in New South Wales. A dozen or

so key supporting roles will go to

Australians.

The Sundowners" will be the ond film together for Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, who starred with excellent results in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison," in 1957, when Deborah earned an Academy Award nomin-ation as the shipwrecked Irish nun.

Outback wife

Of Deborah in her new role of Ida Carmody, the outback wife, Zin-nemann s"Md, "Deborah is always interested in a character that has truthfulness, as this one has. That is when she does her best work."

Deborah herself has said of Jon deary's story, "It's one of the most wonderful books I've read. So very humorous, human, and exciting.''

Deborah's divorce from Anthony Bartley is still being held up pend-ing property settlements. The pair parted last year after Bartley charged that screenwriter Peter Viertel had enticed Deborah away

from him.

Mitchum's role of Paddy- Car

mody was to have been played by Gary Cooper, but Gary, for per-sonal reasons, did not want to be away from America for the two or three months' filming in Australia.

Asked if he was happy about Mitchum as a replacement, Zinnemann said, "I am. Mitchum will be right.

He looks like a man who could work for his living, and that's what

I wanted."

Like Brando

Mitchum. who was being rude, moody, and difficult in Hollywood before anyone had ever heard the name Marlon Brando, is now 40 with a grown-up son, Jim, who appeared with him in his own film production "Thunder Road." Bob has recently invested some of his film earnings in a ranch in Mary-

land.

He is due to make a film, "A Terrible Beauty," in Ireland, be-fore coming to Australia.

Zinnemann says that he thinks author - playwright - actor - satirist Ustinov will be '"just wonderful as the English remittance man."

Coming to Australia with brilliant,

versatile Ustinov will be his FrenchCanadian wife, Suzanne, and their children, Pavla (4) and Igor (2).

"Everywhere I go, my family go with me," said the man who has been called "'a prodigious jack-of-all

arts." "I can't work without hav-ing my children there to crawl over me and Suzanne there to share my

life."

Despite his Russian name, Ustinov was born and grew up in England, where his White Russian journalist father fled after the Revolution.

His most recent film is Holly-wood's "Spartacus," in which he co-starred with Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Ustinov plays the part of a Roman gladiator.

When the Ustinov's arrived in California for the film, their lug-gage consisted of a tape recorder (which Ustinov constantly used to take down ideas), a gramophone, their clothes, and two crates con-taining the children's battered and well-loved toys.

TALENTED Peter

Ustinov, pictured with his wife, Su-zanne, and daughter Pavla, 4, has the role of an English remit-

tance man.

POPULAR and beauti-ful Deborah Kerr will play an Australian out-back wife in the film version of Jon Cleary,s book "The Sun

downers."

SCHEDULED to star in "The Sundowners," to he made in Austra-lia, Robert Mitchum is seen here with Curt

Jürgens and Dick

Powell.