Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 14 October 1959, page 5


A team of Sundowners

In toughening up for their roles in "The Sundowners," Australian and British born actors have been studying boxing, riding, and shearing as well as their lines.

A TALLY of the cast

shows that names of the locals selected are

already well known on screen, stage, radio, and

TV.

All city types, they're going

on location in the N.S.W. and South Australian countryside. Seven who arc heading even farther afield-to London for final scenes of the film-are: GERRY DUGGAN, who'll take the part of Turk Tuthill, shearer and ex-pugilist, in the film, and who headed for a property on the Windy Plains near Quirindi (N.S.W.) to see shearing in action.

"Shearing's an art," says Duggan, "and you've got to be at it for years to learn it. But

the men showed me how to take sheep out of the pen, put them in a machine, how to do the skirting and tailing after the fleece has been thrown on the table.

"Finally they gave me a go;

I wasn't so hot. But no doubt we'll make it look realistic in the film."

Duggan has also been tak-ing boxing lessons and in-struction in motor-bike riding for his film part.

Aged 48, Irish-born, and an engineer by profession, Gerry Duggan won a major role in

Harry Watts' film "The Siege," in which he appears

as the curator of Fort Deni-son, Sydney Harbor.

This role also took him to Britain, where he made a TV series, "The Flying Doctor," before returning to Australia early this year.

JOHN MEILLON, due to be seen on screen as Bluey Brown, the shearer. He's been acting since childhood; made a hit at the age of 14 at Sydney's old Minerva Theatre in the title role of

"The Winslow Boy."

Now in his twenties, Meil-lon had his first film part in Kramer's "On The Beach," appearing as a submarine

crewman.

With his flair for comedy as well as drama, he acted with Roger. Livesey and Ursula Jeans in "The Reluctant Debutante," starred in a revue at Sydney's Philip Street Theatre, where he met his actress wife, June Salter.

PETER CARVER (gam-bling shearer Clint of the film), who spent four years overseas making several films and TV plays before returning to Australia last January by motor-bike - with wife. Betty

as passenger.

The Carvers made a docu

mentary film of their travels through Europe, Turkey, Pers sia, Afghanistan, and India.

An Arts graduate and for-mer high-school teacher, Peter Carver has acted in two Aus-tralian plays, Sumner Locke Elliott's "Rusty Bugles" and

Lawler's "Doll."

LEONARD TEALE, who is cast as a shearer. He's known for his roles in the "Smiley" films, also for his performance in "Three In One," an Aus-

tralian film classic.

Former Coastal Command

pilot Teale helped raise Aus-tralian bush ballads to popu-larity, has made long-play re-cordings of Lawson's and Pat-erson's verse. He says he's an "outdoor type" who enjoys riding, swimming, ski-ing, and tennis. His wife is witty ac-

tress Pat Martin.

LOLA BROOKS, brunette Sydney actress. She has a plum role in "The Sundown-ers," playing the part of shear-er's wife Liz, whose baby is

born at an outback homestead.

(Star Deborah Kerr, as drover's wife Ida, helps de-liver the baby when the doc-tor fails to arrive.)

Lola had the distinction of being the only Australian ac-tress with a feature role in "On the Beach," in which .she appeared as Hoseood, secre-tary to an admiral.

Versatile Lola first stepped on stage at schoolgirl age, met her actor husband, Richard Meikle, during the perform-ance of "Worm's Eye View," amused packed audiences at The Elizabethan by being the skittish flapper in "The Boy Friend."

WYLIE WATSON, who will win a shearing contest against star Robert Mitchum in "The Sundowners," has won film awards in his own right.

In 1948 he gained an award for his performance in "Lon-don Belongs to Me." Seen in "Whisky Galore" as the post-master, also in "Jamaica Inn," he comes from a theatrical family, was a B.B.C. star be-fore leaving Britain to live in

Melbourne.

"CHIPS" RAFFERTY, lanky 6ft. 7in. Australian, who is internationally known as film star and director.

He'll play a contractor drover in "The Sundowners." Film-making has taken him all over Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific islands.

The nine cast (members who

will do filming in Australia are Jon Cleary, who wrote "The Sundowners," Jacqueline Kott, John Tate, Gwen Plumb, John Fegan, Frank Taylor, Ken Broadbent, Max Osbiston, and Alec Kellaway.