The Thorn Birds (1983)

STARS: Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Jean Simmons, Ken Howard, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Barry Corbin, Earl Holliman, Mare Winningham.

DIRECTOR: Daryl Duke. DURATION: 486mins.

SYNOPSIS: A charasmatic priest finds his destiny fatally entwined with a family living on an Australian Outback sheep station - thanks to his love for the only daughter.

RC PLAYS: Ralph de Bricassart.

Richard Kiley on Richard Chamberlain in Dr. Kildare: "He was a very tentative young guy who really wasn't terribly good. He was a bit wooden and very green."

By the time they were reunited 20 years later in The Thorn Birds, things had changed - Chamberlain was still the star, but he was also an accomplished, veteran actor. And with this project, he was about to blow the rest of his work out of the water.

The novel, written by Colleen McCollough, had been a smash hit around the world, and it was only a matter of time before it was turned into a major production - even Chamberlain himself sensed it. "I knew when it first came out Thorn Birds would be a great television show," he remarked. "I was disappointed when I heard it was being planned as a theatrical film."

However, all attempts to cut the novel down to film length failed, leaving the producers with no option but to go for a mini-series format. As executive producer David Wolper explained at the time: "There is a certain kind of book that shouldn't be a theatrical film. Michener's Hawaii is one of those. The Thorn Birds is another - too long, too rich."

This decision prompted original choice for Ralph, Robert Redford, to drop out. But even then the way wasn't clear for Chamberlain - both Christopher Reeve and Peter Strauss were earmarked for the role.

But Richard knew he was the right man to play the errant priest: "(After reading the book) something turned in my gut," he explained. "Only later did I realise the amazing parallels. Ralph's big problem is his image. Like me, trying to live up to an image. It's a crucial problem for us both. Ralph strives for his image of perfection and he keeps failing and it drives him crazy. Finally, he gets chopped down and he realises he is a flawed human being - and then he is free."

As with Shogun, just two weeks before shooting began, Chamberlain discovered he'd landed the coveted role and immediately threw a celebratory party for all his friends in Los Angeles.

In the end, Richard had only a week of rehearsals with the rest of the all-star cast before filming started on the five-and-a-half month, £21million shoot on location in California (not Australia, where the novel is set) - something which seemed an omen of future problems, which included a lack of kangaroos to use during filming to give an air of authenticity and complaints from the cast regarding the script.

Even Chamberlain threw an uncharacteristic temper tantrum. The actor (rightly) believed that Ralph's decision to embark on an affair with Meggie was a soul-searching event fot the priest, rather than a casual fling as depicted in the screenplay. But having has his concerns brushed aside once too often, he slammed his fist into a chair in a fit of anger - and broke his hand.

"I haven't done anything this stupid in 10 years," claimed Richard, talking about the incident. "What happened on set is that I carried my anger too far. It certainly wasn't healthy - I hurt myself! What I really wanted to do was yell at somebody else."

In the end, Chamberlain's perseverance led writer Carmen Culver and director Daryl Duke to arrange a conference regarding the actor's worries about how the relationship between Meggie and Ralph was being represented. "They saw it as something very casual," says Richard. "We argued for four hours. I made my points, they made theirs. We compromised, and the lull in my acting just disappeared."

The person who suffered on-set the most was Rachel Ward. At the time she was still a little inexperienced and was slightly overawed at the stellar cast around her - just as Chamberlain had been early on in his career. Richard himself said Ward was, "scared to death the first couple of weeks," but settled down after falling in love with co-star Bryan Brown, who she later married. Later, Richard said of her, "she seemed to get happier and happier, and her work got better and better."

However, the actor was still less than happy about his efforts at playing the errant priest. "He's the most complicated and paradoxical person I've had to play," recalled Richard. "Ralph wasn't fully developed in either the book or the screenplay, which presented difficulties. You never really saw Ralph at work and I missed that. It would have given me a chance to show more clearly why Ralph was more committed to the church than to Meggie."

All the actor's doubts proved totally unfounded. The Thorn Birds has turned out to be his most popular project - even though female fans were slightly disappointed by Chamberlain's description of the love scenes as "uncomfortable," thanks to the fact that he had "microphones taped to the armpit."

Ralph de Bricassart is also Richard's most rounded performance and sees him at his sexiest - which isn't bad for a man who was pushing 50 at the time. Unsurprisingly, he received his third Emmy nomination in eight years - but lost again. The man himself though prefers his performance in Wallenberg, made two years later.

The series was a resounding success with critics and viewers alike giving it an all-round thumbs up. In fact, the only person who really disliked it was author Colleen McCullough - but the 110million people who were hooked on the story (making it the second most-watched mini-series of all time behind Roots) couldn't all have been wrong.

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