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The Thorn Birds

Year:

1983

Duration:

Israel:460 min | USA:477 min (DVD) | USA:487 min (TV version)

Genres:

Drama

IMDB rate:

Awards:

Won 4 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 17 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1983-03-27

Filming Locations: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library - 2520 Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California, USA

Cast

Actor

Character

Sydney Penny

The Thorn Birds

Barbara Stanwyck

The Thorn Birds

Allyn Ann McLerie

Richard Chamberlain

Ralph de Bricassart

Rachel Ward

Meggie Cleary

Christopher Plummer

Archbishop Vittorio Contini-Verchese

Bryan Brown

Luke O'Neill

Brett Cullen

Bob Cleary

Stephanie Faracy

Judy

Barry Corbin

Pete

John de Lancie

Alastair MacQueen

Jean Simmons

Fiona 'Fee' Cleary

Piper Laurie

Anne Mueller (3 episodes, 1983)

Earl Holliman

Luddie Mueller (3 episodes, 1983)

Philip Anglim

Dane O'Neill

John Friedrich

Frank Cleary

Stephen W. Burns

Jack Cleary

Bill Morey

Angus MacQueen

Holly Palance

Miss Carmichael (3 episodes, 1983)

Ken Howard

Rainer Hartheim

Richard Kiley

Paddy Cleary

Mare Winningham

Justine O'Neil / ... (2 episodes, 1983)

Richard Venture

Harry Gough

Dwier Brown

Stuart Cleary

Antoinette Bower

Sarah MacQueen (2 episodes, 1983)

Chard Hayward

Arne Swenson (2 episodes, 1983)

Did you know?

Trivia

The role of Mary Carson was offered to Audrey Hepburn.

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Bryan Brown, who played Luke O'Neill, was the only Australian on set.

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Kim Basinger was interested in and considered for the role of Meggie.

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Goofs

The name of the farm is mispronounced. It is named after the Irish town Drogheda. The American cast did not know that 'gh' in Irish is pronounced like an 'h' in English. The cast said Drow-Geeda whereas the proper pronunciation is Dro-huh-duh, where Dro is pronounced like in "drop".

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When the shearers leave Drogheda, and Luke stays, he walks back to the wool-shed. As the camera rises following him, a part of the crane is visible in the lower right corner of the image.

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Through out the miniseries you see cars driving on the right-hand side of the road. This story takes place in Australia where they have always driven on the left side of the road. Additionally, the cars in the film are left-hand drive instead of RHD.

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Quotes

Ralph de Bricassart: Poor little Meggie. It must be hard being the only girl.

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Ralph de Bricassart: Fee, she's your daughter. It's as if you never remember that.

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Archbishop Vittorio Contini-Verchese: When your rose fell to the ground, I understood at last, the sadness you always wear like a holy mantle.

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