''The Thorn Birds'' is an American television

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

broadcast on ABC from March 27 to 30, 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain,

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian

Barbara Stanwyck Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...

Piper Laurie Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs; January 22, 1932) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films ''The Hustler'' (1961), ''Carrie (1976 film), Carrie'' (1976), and ''Children of a Lesser God (film), Children of a Lesser God' ...

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include '' Breaker Morant'' (1980), ...

Mare Winningham A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

and

Philip Anglim Philip Charles Anglim (born February 11, 1952) is an American actor. He is best known for his performance as Joseph Merrick in the stage and television versions of '' The Elephant Man'', a role for which he received a Best Actor nomination in the ...

. It was directed by

Daryl Duke Daryl Duke (8 March 1929 – 21 October 2006) was a Canadian film and television director. Biography Duke was born at Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became one of CBC Television's earliest regional producers. His career continued with ...

and based on the 1977 novel of the same name by

Colleen McCullough Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being ''The Thorn Birds'' and '' The Ladies of Missalonghi''. Life ...

. The series was enormously successful and became the United States' second highest-rated miniseries of all time behind ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

''; both series were produced by television veteran David L. Wolper.

Plot

Cast

Development

The novel was originally developed as a feature film with Ed Lewis attached to produce. Ivan Moffat wrote an early draft of the script.

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

was the first director, and he saw

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film '' Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey ...

about playing the lead. Then

Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...

became attached to direct;

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Cec ...

was the favourite to play the lead. Eventually Weir dropped out and

Arthur Hiller Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian-American television and film director with over 33 films to his credit during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By t ...

was going to direct;

Ryan O'Neal Ryan O'Neal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor and former boxer. He trained as an amateur boxer before beginning his career in acting in 1960. In 1964, he landed the role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera '' Peyton Place ...

was mooted as a star. Eventually it was decided to turn it into a mini series. The role of Meggie Cleary became the most sought after role of the production, and was considered the role of a lifetime. Many actresses campaigned and auditioned for the role over a long period of pre-production. British actress Lynne Frederick was one of many actresses who heavily campaigned for the role. Frederick even dyed her hair red to showcase herself. Other actresses who auditioned for the part included

Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and popular sex symbols during the 1980s ...

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, and Kim Basinger.

Filming

* Although the mini-series is set in Australia, it was filmed in the United States. The outback scenes were filmed in

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

and the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

scenes were filmed on the

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

an island of

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest islan ...

. The ''Drogheda'' main house was a set built on the

Big Sky Ranch 'Big Sky Ranch' is a movie ranch in Simi Valley, California, that is used for the filming of Western television series and motion pictures, among other projects. The Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board designated several of these buildings Cou ...

Simi Valley Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. The ...

, California. The train station was depicted by the Santa Paula Depot in

Santa Paula Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...

. * The mountainous terrain of the southern California "outback" filming location does not resemble western

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, which is predominantly level to gently rolling. * The mini-series included "the most dangerous bus in Australia". Since filming took place in the US an American bus was used. In Australia, which drives on the left side of the road, its passengers would have to board and be set down in the middle of the road. * In the miniseries, ''Drogheda'', Mary Carson's sheep station, is said to have been named after the Irish town of

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, by a former resident of that town. However, it is mispronounced by all characters as "Druh-GHEE-duh". In fact, the Irish "gh" is pronounced like the "ch" in "Loch" and the stress is on the first syllable, meaning that the station would be pronounced as "DROCH-e-duh". *

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian

, who was born in 1957, plays the mother of a daughter played by 1959-born actress

, and a son played by 1952-born actor

. * Rachel Ward met her husband

on the set while filming the series. Brown plays Luke O'Neill, who marries Ward's character, Meggie Cleary. * Actor

was the only

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n-born cast member hired in a major role. This is not too unusual since although the series takes place in Australia, Luke O'Neill and Meggie's children were the only major characters who were Australian-born. Father Ralph, Mary Carson, and Paddy Cleary were all Irish-born. Fee and most of the Cleary children were born in New Zealand. * During casting, actress

was considered for the role of Meggie Cleary and the role of Mary Carson was originally offered to

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen ...

. * Father Terrance Sweeney, an Emmy Award-winning Jesuit priest, was a technical advisor on the mini-series. He left the priesthood in 1986 and married Pamela Susan Shoop, an actress and daughter of actress Julie Bishop, in 1987. They co-authored the book "What God Hath Joined" that discussed their relationship. * Charles Swaim of Drakesville, Iowa, who was the world champion sheep shearer at the time, was the consultant for the sheep shearing scenes in the series. * The serial has had great success in France. The French title is "Les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir" (The birds hide to die). The series is still regularly repeated on TV channels. * The series was also very successful in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, where it was broadcast by

SBT sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala and Java projects, similar to Apache's Maven and Gradle. Its main features are: *Native support for compiling Scala code and integrating with many Scala test frameworks *Continuous compilation, te ...

. During its first broadcast, in 1985, the miniseries beat Globo TV network in the ratings, which had always been the leader in ratings in Brazil. The series last aired in Brazil from January 5 through March 9, 2019, at 6:30 PM (local time).

Awards and nominations

Home media

''The Thorn Birds'' was released on VHS in 1991 in the US and Canada; it was re-released on DVD in the US and Canada on February 3, 2004. Both editions were given a "Not Rated" certification. It is rated PG in New Zealand for violence, sexual references, coarse language and nudity.

Sequel

A followup titled '' The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years'' was broadcast by CBS in 1996. It tells the story of the 19 years unaccounted for in the original miniseries.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Television
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorn Birds (miniseries), The 1983 American television series debuts 1983 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming 1980s American television miniseries Family saga television series Films scored by Henry Mancini Television shows based on Australian novels Television series set in the 1920s Television series set in the 1930s Television series set in the 1940s Television series set in the 1950s Television series set in the 1960s Television shows set in the Outback Best Miniseries or Television Movie Golden Globe winners Television series by The Wolper Organization Films directed by Daryl Duke Catholicism in fiction ko:가시나무새들 hr:Ptice umiru pjevajući sh:Ptice umiru pjevajući