In 1988, Andrew McFarlane could be seen in the movie 'Barracuda'. He told reporter Leigh Reinhold, "The way I look and the way I behave tends to get me the reliable, straightforward parts. I'm not as predictable as the characters I play – certainly not as cut and dried and that's what gets frustrating sometimes. Television is very instant stuff and what you look like is 90% of what they want. If you can add something in it then it's a bonus for you and them. If you look okay then you tend to get the job most of the time which is pretty limiting."
In 1987, Susan Dey returned to TV in the series, 'L.A. Law'. Susan was 16 when she first appeared in 'The Partridge Family' (1970-74). She recounted, "I didn’t understand the process of acting at all. I had never spoken in front of a camera. I spent the next few years discovering exactly what being in a hit series meant. It was rough. It was a big change and it was a very big adjustment."
After the TV series 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' ended in 1984, Susan said, "I didn't work for 2 years. I didn’t want to. I don't work unless I feel passion. And this ('L.A. Law') comes along and I love this character. I love what's happening to her. I think there are a lot of people in the country who had absolutely no idea that there were female attorneys. I mean a lawyer to me was always this man. There was a desk and a leather chair and the leather-bound books in the background.
"It's the balance between profession, career and vulnerability which I think a lot of us are in search of now (in 1987). You know, how do we succeed in life and, at the same time, how can we still allow ourselves to be afraid and to care and to ask questions? I suppose I was a classic victim of the super-woman syndrome – but I learned that the world isn't perfect and that I couldn't be either."
Back in June 1987, Australian artist Debbie Byrne spoke to Garry Shelley, "As you grow up, you watch films like 'Hello Dolly' and see the girls come off stage, run into their dressing rooms, reapply the make-up and fix their hair a bit. They see a reflection in the mirror of a handsome man holding a bunch of flowers. Let me tell you, none of that is true – it's bull. You run to your dressing room and you think, 'Ugh – please don't let anyone in yet.' By the time you get your make-up off, your skin is so blotched because it's been traumatised for 2 hours and you need to apply another 30 layers of make-up to cover it up. So to me, the glamor of all this (show business) is the fun, the work, being with good people."
On New Year's Day in 1975, then 17 years old, Debbie Byrne, who was crowned Queen of Pop, made her solo artist debut before thousands of screaming rock fans at Melbourne's Festival Hall. She told Eric Scott at the time, "It was a frightening experience. The night before I had been working in Tasmania with Philip Gould, who I have been working with for a long time and then, bam!, the next afternoon I was out there on my own. And the worst thing about it was that the appearance was not a scheduled one. I was taking a short holiday and was resting up on the beach when I heard all about the (Darwin) disaster."
On Christmas Day in 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, the city that administered Australia's Northern Territory - understood to be twice the size of Texas - with winds of up to 90 miles per hour. Cyclone Tracy caused some 90% of damage to the city of Darwin that required about $850 million to rebuild. It was reported before Cyclone Tracy swept through Darwin, the population was 47,000. After Cyclone Tracy left Darwin, there were roughly 11,000 people remaining, of which only 23% were women over the age of 17.
That same month, not long before Cyclone Tracy made her presence felt in Darwin, Cyclone Joan reportedly "pulverized Port Hedland", located about 900 miles southwest of Darwin. Cyclone Joan reportedly caused damage to just about all the buildings in the town of about 12,000 people requiring some $24 million to rebuild. One policeman described the devastation of Port Hedland as "a bloody disaster."
That same month, not long before Cyclone Tracy made her presence felt in Darwin, Cyclone Joan reportedly "pulverized Port Hedland", located about 900 miles southwest of Darwin. Cyclone Joan reportedly caused damage to just about all the buildings in the town of about 12,000 people requiring some $24 million to rebuild. One policeman described the devastation of Port Hedland as "a bloody disaster."
Associated Press reported, "Port Hedland is more fortunate than Darwin because many of its people work for giant mining companies that process iron ore in the city from inland mines and load it onto bulk carriers for Japan. Some of these companies are paying special cyclone benefits to their employees who earn big salaries by Australian standards, as compensation for the city's isolation and the 100-degree temperatures that prevail for 6 months every year."
The first 300 homes built to resist winds of up to 120 miles per hour were completed by December 1975. It was made known, "Many citizens were not wealthy and $11 million contributed in a nationwide relief appeal was quickly spent." Elizabeth Bonner told the press, "Before the cylone, this was such a grey dingy, mining-type town, most of the houses were just unpainted fiberboard. Now (in December 1975), the people rebuilding are painting their homes different colors. It shows they have pride in their homes, that they’ll stay. Darwin will never be the way it was. We’re going to build a new town."
Debbie Byrne continued, "I really wanted to do something to help. Then I heard that there was to be a concert at Festival Hall and a telethon on channel Nine, so I came back to Melbourne and volunteered for both. I felt it was the least I could do. I have never been as far as Darwin, but I had seen what sort of damage the floods did in Brisbane. That seemed bad at the time, but it seems hardly anything in comparison. The whole town being wiped out. Anyway I offered to do the shows, without realizing that on New Year’s Eve I was scheduled to be in Tassie.
"When I arrived back I had to race straight to the hall from the airport. Before then I hardly had time to think about it, but while I was waiting to go on I got really scared. My stomach was churning right over. It was the realization that all those people out there were rock fans and had really come to see the bands. They expected me to be the same as I am on 'Young Talent Time', middle of the roadish. Anyway I went on and sang 6 or 7 songs – all up-tempo. It seemed to go all right and in the end I really enjoyed myself. When the nerves had gone the feeling was marvelous. I am really looking forward to going out on my own now."
In 1985, Debbie played Grizabella in the musical 'Cats'. In 1987, she played a factory worker named Fantine who was forced into prostitution to pay for her daughter Cosette's medicine, in the Australian production of Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables', about post-revolutionary Paris. 'Les Misérables' reportedly took over $4 million in pre-bookings. Debbie was said stopped the show with her emotional rendition of 'I Dreamed A Dream.'
Between 1985 and 1987, English actress Stephanie Beacham could be seen playing Charlton Heston's on-screen wife in the TV series, 'The Colbys'. Esther Shapiro explained, "We get thousands of fan letters asking 'Why can't 'Dynasty' be on 2 or 3 times a week.'" Hence to satisfy fans' demand, Esther decided if on 'Dynasty', Blake Carrington's gross assets were valued at $350 million, than on 'The Colbys', Jason Colby would have "gross assets (of) slightly over $42 billion."
In November 1985, the network spent some $2 million launching 'The Colbys', filmed mostly outside Conrad Hilton's Bel Air estate. Cyndi Stivers reported, "'The Colbys' characters were born on a cold day in February 1985 when Esther and Richard Shapiro and Robert and Eileen Pollock, sat around eating peanut butter from a spoon and brainstorming." Esther insisted, "We deal with power, sex, love, greed. We don’t do any car crashes. Car crashes are a lot more expensive than clothes or furniture."
Stephanie told Jenny Cullen in 1987, "Back then (in 1972) I was a happy hippie. I lived in a sophisticated commune then and posed for artists (including the Queen's cousin Lord Lichfield) and was used to being natural without my clothes on." It was reported, "The role of Sable Colby is so central to 'The Colbys' that Esther Shapiro approached the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Faye Dunaway." 'Soap Opera Digest' hailed "the casting of Stephanie Beacham as Sable Colby a resounding success. She is easily the most fascinating character 'The Colbys' has to offer, and to that end, praise must be given to her portrayer. Beacham knows just how to play her role to maximum effect. When Sable Colby is around, everyone watches – and listens."
John James played Jeff Colby told Mark Morrison in 1983, "If Fallon is our Scarlett O’Hara, Jeff’s a cross between Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler. Jeff was raised on silk sheets and silver spoons, but now he wants to be his own person. What makes the character work, is that like everybody else, he wants things in life he can't have. He's got money coming out of his wazoo, but he's never had the most natural asset – a family. Just once, I'd like to see Fallon come back to Jeff and say she's wrong."
In November 1970, English actress Briony Behets came to Australia "with about $20 so I thought I'd better settle in one place for a while and earn some money." Briony told Kathy Newman she soon found work playing farm worker Tuesday in the joint BBC-channel Seven production of 'Birds In The Bush'. Briony recalled, "My part is only a small one but at least people can see me at work." When Briony next made a visit to Australia, she said in 1971, "This time I'll come back with more than $20 and really travel around. It's so easy to travel from England. Everywhere's so close."
In 1987, Briony Behets, then 36 years old, returned to Australian television playing a glamorous scheming socialite Amanda Harris in the TV series, 'Neighbours'. Briony made the observation, "Perhaps if I'd been offered this role (in Ramsay Street) before now (1987) I wouldn’t have coped. The media sell surrounding me has always been sex symbol, but the character I was actually playing was more neurotic housewife. Sometimes the media can totally destroy or create an image and then the typecasting that inevitably follows is so difficult to break.
"In the end I was being offered roles that should have been played by women 10 years younger than me. I had no control over the direction of my career and I didn’t seem to be going anywhere as a person or an actress." Briony was said to have graduated from the Australian Film and Television School with a 4-year course in continuity. Back in 1971, Briony mentioned, "Although I'd trained in drama I had done no acting work professionally at all and the part (in 'Birds In The Bush') only came about after the girl who was to have played it dropped out."
The first 300 homes built to resist winds of up to 120 miles per hour were completed by December 1975. It was made known, "Many citizens were not wealthy and $11 million contributed in a nationwide relief appeal was quickly spent." Elizabeth Bonner told the press, "Before the cylone, this was such a grey dingy, mining-type town, most of the houses were just unpainted fiberboard. Now (in December 1975), the people rebuilding are painting their homes different colors. It shows they have pride in their homes, that they’ll stay. Darwin will never be the way it was. We’re going to build a new town."
Debbie Byrne continued, "I really wanted to do something to help. Then I heard that there was to be a concert at Festival Hall and a telethon on channel Nine, so I came back to Melbourne and volunteered for both. I felt it was the least I could do. I have never been as far as Darwin, but I had seen what sort of damage the floods did in Brisbane. That seemed bad at the time, but it seems hardly anything in comparison. The whole town being wiped out. Anyway I offered to do the shows, without realizing that on New Year’s Eve I was scheduled to be in Tassie.
"When I arrived back I had to race straight to the hall from the airport. Before then I hardly had time to think about it, but while I was waiting to go on I got really scared. My stomach was churning right over. It was the realization that all those people out there were rock fans and had really come to see the bands. They expected me to be the same as I am on 'Young Talent Time', middle of the roadish. Anyway I went on and sang 6 or 7 songs – all up-tempo. It seemed to go all right and in the end I really enjoyed myself. When the nerves had gone the feeling was marvelous. I am really looking forward to going out on my own now."
In 1985, Debbie played Grizabella in the musical 'Cats'. In 1987, she played a factory worker named Fantine who was forced into prostitution to pay for her daughter Cosette's medicine, in the Australian production of Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables', about post-revolutionary Paris. 'Les Misérables' reportedly took over $4 million in pre-bookings. Debbie was said stopped the show with her emotional rendition of 'I Dreamed A Dream.'
Between 1985 and 1987, English actress Stephanie Beacham could be seen playing Charlton Heston's on-screen wife in the TV series, 'The Colbys'. Esther Shapiro explained, "We get thousands of fan letters asking 'Why can't 'Dynasty' be on 2 or 3 times a week.'" Hence to satisfy fans' demand, Esther decided if on 'Dynasty', Blake Carrington's gross assets were valued at $350 million, than on 'The Colbys', Jason Colby would have "gross assets (of) slightly over $42 billion."
In November 1985, the network spent some $2 million launching 'The Colbys', filmed mostly outside Conrad Hilton's Bel Air estate. Cyndi Stivers reported, "'The Colbys' characters were born on a cold day in February 1985 when Esther and Richard Shapiro and Robert and Eileen Pollock, sat around eating peanut butter from a spoon and brainstorming." Esther insisted, "We deal with power, sex, love, greed. We don’t do any car crashes. Car crashes are a lot more expensive than clothes or furniture."
Stephanie told Jenny Cullen in 1987, "Back then (in 1972) I was a happy hippie. I lived in a sophisticated commune then and posed for artists (including the Queen's cousin Lord Lichfield) and was used to being natural without my clothes on." It was reported, "The role of Sable Colby is so central to 'The Colbys' that Esther Shapiro approached the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Faye Dunaway." 'Soap Opera Digest' hailed "the casting of Stephanie Beacham as Sable Colby a resounding success. She is easily the most fascinating character 'The Colbys' has to offer, and to that end, praise must be given to her portrayer. Beacham knows just how to play her role to maximum effect. When Sable Colby is around, everyone watches – and listens."
John James played Jeff Colby told Mark Morrison in 1983, "If Fallon is our Scarlett O’Hara, Jeff’s a cross between Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler. Jeff was raised on silk sheets and silver spoons, but now he wants to be his own person. What makes the character work, is that like everybody else, he wants things in life he can't have. He's got money coming out of his wazoo, but he's never had the most natural asset – a family. Just once, I'd like to see Fallon come back to Jeff and say she's wrong."
In November 1970, English actress Briony Behets came to Australia "with about $20 so I thought I'd better settle in one place for a while and earn some money." Briony told Kathy Newman she soon found work playing farm worker Tuesday in the joint BBC-channel Seven production of 'Birds In The Bush'. Briony recalled, "My part is only a small one but at least people can see me at work." When Briony next made a visit to Australia, she said in 1971, "This time I'll come back with more than $20 and really travel around. It's so easy to travel from England. Everywhere's so close."
In 1987, Briony Behets, then 36 years old, returned to Australian television playing a glamorous scheming socialite Amanda Harris in the TV series, 'Neighbours'. Briony made the observation, "Perhaps if I'd been offered this role (in Ramsay Street) before now (1987) I wouldn’t have coped. The media sell surrounding me has always been sex symbol, but the character I was actually playing was more neurotic housewife. Sometimes the media can totally destroy or create an image and then the typecasting that inevitably follows is so difficult to break.
"In the end I was being offered roles that should have been played by women 10 years younger than me. I had no control over the direction of my career and I didn’t seem to be going anywhere as a person or an actress." Briony was said to have graduated from the Australian Film and Television School with a 4-year course in continuity. Back in 1971, Briony mentioned, "Although I'd trained in drama I had done no acting work professionally at all and the part (in 'Birds In The Bush') only came about after the girl who was to have played it dropped out."
