Biography

Roots: The star of the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds (which also featured hubby Bryan Brown) has reams of royals reigning over her family tree. But her 2nd cousin 9 times removed, Bonnie Prince Charlie (whose actual name was Charles Edward Stuart), was a thorn in the British side. The grandson of James II, deposed King of England, Charlie (also known as the Young Pretender) amassed an army in Scotland in 1745 in an attempt to install his father, James Stuart (a.k.a. the Old Pretender), on the English throne. After he was defeated, Charles fled to the Scottish island of Benbecula, where a Local woman, Flora Macdonald, helped him escape to France disguised as her maid "Betty Burke." For her troubles, Flora was briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London. Bonnie Prince Charlie, meanwhile, became an alcoholic drifter, eventually settling in Rome, where he named himself a count and married (and later divorced) a princess. He died in 1788. (Source: Biography; Nov2002, Vol. 6 Issue 11, p26, 1/3p, 3c)

Rachel Ward was nominated in 1982 for the New Star of the Year Golden Globe award for portraying Dominoe in the Burt Reynolds cop film, Sharkey's Machine. She has gone on to work steadily on both the small and big screens. She had leading roles in Against All Odds (1984), The Good Wife (1987), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), and Wide Sargasso Sea (1993). She appeared on television as Meggie Cleary in The Thorn Birds (1983), where she met her husband actor Bryan Brown.

Recently, Rachel has made her mark as a director of short films. Her first "Overdose" became a finalist at Sydney’s Tropfest film festival and her second "Blindman’s Bluff", recently made its Australian premiere at this year’s St Kilda Film Festival in Melbourne. She hopes to direct her first feature film some time in the near future.

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