Gary Sweet details his journey to acting, reveals why cricket legend Don Bradman gave him the cold shoulder after Bodyline
Australian acting great Gary Sweet has told how he was “brushed” by cricket legend Don Bradman — and all because of a beer.
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Celebrated Australian actor Gary Sweet has told how he was “brushed” by cricket legend Don Bradman over a beer.
Sweet played Bradman in the major Australian TV miniseries Bodyline, based on the infamous 1932-1933 ‘Bodyline’ Ashes series between England and Australia, which attracted wide acclaim and huge ratings when it was released in 1984.
It turned Sweet, who had been a surprise choice for the high profile role, into a genuine star.
Sweet met Bradman during filming, spending time with him at his home to learn more about the cricketing great’s Bodyline experience and his life.
The pair got on well, but after the miniseries aired, one particular scene bugged Bradman and he never spoke to Sweet again, despite the pair crossing paths several times.
“Bradman, he is a stickler for authenticity,” Sweet said.
“I went with George Ogilvie (director/writer on Bodyline) to meet him at his house.
“For me it was one of those seismic moments in your life. I had always been a big cricket fan. To meet him I was humbled and slightly nervous. He had a razor sharp memory.
“We were already two weeks into filming at that stage. I just wanted to get some affirmation on various things and he was very generous with his time.
“He was great, he was really, really interesting.
“He was pretty happy with it (Sweet’s technique). He said my late cut was a little bit early, or words to that effect.
“When the clock struck 12 he moved to the drinks cabinet and said ‘would anyone like a brandy and soda?’.
“He insisted on driving us to the airport. It was a pretty special day. His wife Lady Jessie was glorious, a beautiful, wonderful woman.”
But when Bradman, who did not drink during his playing career, and Sweet met again after the series had gone to air, ‘The Don’ gave him the cold shoulder.
“When the show came out he never spoke to me again because in one scene I had a beer in my hand the locker room after a win,” Sweet said.
“I saw them (Bradman and Lady Jessie) at the Adelaide Oval. Lady Jessie came up, but he (Sweet motioned turning his head away), he brushed me.
“She said ‘don’t worry about him Gary, don’t worry about him.’ I said ‘Lady Jessie, could you please explain that it is not a doco, we take some dramatic license in this scene’.”
There were several examples of dramatic licence in the miniseries such as Harold Larwood, played by Jim Holt, being shown bowling lumps of coal at a fence post.
“At that stage of his life he was in fact a chicken farmer,” Sweet said.
“He was a coal miner a bit later in life, but that worked better for the show.”
The role of Bradman was huge career turning point for Sweet. Bodyline also starred Hugo Weaving and Heather Mitchell.
“I never at the time realised what an effect it would have on my career,” Sweet said.
“I was just so delighted to be playing Bradman and was so involved in it I just did not realise the miniseries would resonate so broadly with the public.
“I had no concept of the enormity of the role until much, much later.”
Sweet, 67, has starred in TV successes including The Sullivans, Police Rescue, Cody, Blue Murder, Big Sky and Stingers.
He is judging the Peninsula Short Film Festival at Rosebud on January 18.
“The Peninsula Film Festival director, Steve Bastoni, is a great mate of mine, right back to the Police Rescue days,” Sweet said.
“I am very excited about doing it. Short films are great because they are quirky, they are interesting, you have to tell a story really quickly and they are a great pathway for emerging directors and cinematographers. I’ve recently done two short films and I want to support the festival and the film makers.”
Q&A with Gary Sweet
Bodyline, released in 1984, was a huge hit in Australia and England and at just 27 Sweet arrived as a leading man with charisma, talent, daring and a streak of mischief. Audiences loved him and they have not stopped watching him in the decades that followed.
His TV roles have included Police Rescue, Cody, Blue Murder, Big Sky, Stingers, Blue Heelers, The Circuit, Small Time Gangster and House Husbands, as well as films such as The Lighthorsemen, The Tracker, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Set to judge the Peninsula Short Film Festival at Rosebud on January 18, Sweet, 67, is a great storyteller both on and off screen.
I caught up for a coffee with him and he generously shared some of those stories.
Fiona Byrne: Acting was not your original career choice, Gary.
Gary Sweet: I wanted to be a footballer but I lacked the necessary skill, opportunity and endeavour. I played in the high school state side (in South Australia) in my last year of school and I played for Glenelg. I played reserves, under 19 and under 17s. In those days the reserves games were telecast before the afternoon game so me and my mates, we had a little bit of public visibility which of course we played on enormously to moderate success. I thought at the time if I could get on to national television I would take the biscuit, as it was. Acting seemed like the way to do that, so that is what I did.
FB: You were studying to become a teacher at that time too.
GS: After I finished my teaching degree I came to Melbourne, stayed with my Aunty Constance, went into Crawford (Australian drama production business) and said ‘Hi, Gary Sweet, from Adelaide, I’d like to be an actor.’ I had no experience, no agent and didn’t know anyone in the business. It was around mid-Dec and they said, ‘Look, we don’t produce anything until January or February next year, why don’t you come back then?’ and I said, ‘No, I will wait’.
FB: I love the self-belief! How long did you sit in reception?
GS: They left me there for about an hour and a half and finally somebody came out and saw me. They were kind of intrigued by what the hell I thought I was doing. They gave me an audition and it was truly the worse audition I think that has ever been put down on tape. They said they would call if something came up. I went back to Adelaide. All my mates said ‘how did you go?’ and I said ‘they are going to call me’ – and they did.
FB: But by then you had a job.
GS: I broke my ankle playing basketball, then I got a call from someone who was a life member at the Glenelg footy club and a headmaster. He said if I was still looking for a teaching job to turn up (to the school) tomorrow. This is on the Monday. I turned up and then on the Wednesday I got a call from one of the casting agents from Crawfords who was casting a film independently.
FB: So what did you do?
GS: On the Wednesday afternoon I went to the school medical centre, got the cast cut off my ankle five weeks early, took a sickie the next day — this was in my first week in the job — went to Melbourne, did the audition, got the role, came back and came clean on the Friday to the headmaster. I explained it was five week shoot and said ‘I’ll be back after that, is that all right?’. He said ‘No’. I had to resign.
FB: The film was not a success, but not long after in 1980 you landed the role of Leslie ‘Magpie’ Maddern in The Sullivans.
GS: When I got The Sullivans it was originally a three week job that turned into two and half years. The only advantage that I had in those days was that I knew I could not act. I was a pest, a real pain in the arse. I asked all the older actors (on the show) questions all the time and they were so generous with me especially Vikki Hammond and Norman Yemm. I kind of learnt it like a trade.
FB: You were a surprise choice to play Don Bradman in Bodyline. How did you land the role?
GS: It was a generic audition. I was the only Melbourne actor invited to Sydney for the auditions. There were two eight hour days of auditions in the Kennedy Miller (production company) office in an old theatre. The first day we did all this stuff that people imaging drama students do and then we had a cricket audition. Upstairs in the theatre they had set up cricket nets. Just about every actor is a bullshit artist when it comes to what they can and can’t do. We all just crap on. I was hoping because I did play cricket maybe I could get a part in either team. I figured there had to be roles for at least 24 players including the 12th man. They made it clear they did not want you to smash the balls around during the audition. A couple of the guys who wanted to be the fast bowlers start bowling to me. I am thinking they don’t want me to smash it, but they are bowling bouncers so I thought ‘f**k you’ – whack. If they are bowling bouncers what am I meant to do? I can’t keep ducking them, I have to hit them.
FB: Did playing Bradman change your life?
GS: I had no concept of the enormity of the role until much, much later. I was just so delighted to be playing Bradman and was so involved in it, I just did not realise the miniseries would resonate so broadly with the public. I never at the time realised what an effect it would have on my career. It was an incredible cast; Hugo (Weaving), Jim Holt, Heather Mitchell, it was done on film, the directors were great, Dean Semler shot it.
FB: What did Bradman make of your performance?
GS: Bradman, he is a sticker for authenticity. I went with George Ogilvie (director/writer on Bodyline) to meet him at his house. He was great. It was one of those seismic moments in your life. I had always been a big cricket fan. To meet him I was humbled and slightly nervous. He had a razor sharp memory. He was very generous with his time. He was really, really interesting. He was pretty happy with it (Sweet’s technique). He also said my late cut was a little bit early, or words to that effect. When the clock struck 12 he moved to the drinks cabinet and said ‘would anyone like a brandy and soda’. He insisted on driving us to the airport. It was a pretty special day. His wife, Lady Jessie, was glorious, a beautiful, wonderful woman.
FB: Then came a twist.
GS: When the show came out he never spoke to me again because in one scene I had a beer in my hand in the locker room after a series win.
FB: Cricket has served you well.
GS: I did a tour with the Ginger Meggs 11 to Vanuatu with Tommo (Jeff Thomson), Merv Hughes, all those guys. James Kemsley was the cartoonist at the time and he selected me. I made a golden duck. I played in the Bradman 11 v The Rest of the World game at the Sydney Cricket Ground (in 1994). I played for the rest of the world. Our captain was Sunil Gavaskar. I took this catch off Michael Holding’s bowling after Simon O’Donnell slogged it to where I was fielding at deep long on. Then they gave me a bowl and I bowed Tommo first ball. That was the game when Zoe Goss famously bowled Brian Lara.
FB: Tell me about meeting the actor Bill Hunter.
GS: We were both cast in (the film) An Indecent Obsession. Hunter was at the bar, his back to me, and I said ‘excuse me Mr Hunter, my name is Gary Sweet, I will be playing Michael.’ He turns to me and says, ‘I like a man with guts, but I hate a mug that is over confident. Now I am fast and I am scientific, I’m too f**king good for learners’. Then he said ‘I’d dance around you like a cigarette paper in a whirlwind. When I come down I’ll be right behind you. I’ve had five fights in six days, I’ve lost the lot, I’m due for a win so watch yourself please’, and turned back to the bar. Then he said ‘are you having a beer or what?’ That was the start of a beautiful friendship where depending on Hunter’s mood when I would meet him when I was out he would either headbutt me or kiss me and usually put the bite on me, but he would always pay you back. He was such fun. We worked together many times.
FB: You won a Logie and two AFI Awards playing Mickey McClintock in Police Rescue.
GS: I jumped off everything in Sydney, head first mostly, on Police Rescue. I abseiled down the Channel 9 building to do something for Ray Martin on Midday on the day it was launching on the ABC. Kerry Packer happened to be in his office that day and the executive producer got a call from Kerry going ‘what the f**k do you think you are doing?’
FB: Luke Harris on Stingers was another great role for you.
GS: I was originally offered the role two years earlier, but couldn’t do it at the time. Anyway, it came up again and I went to the audition and explained how I wanted to play the character. They went with it and then for the first couple of episodes they did not write to it. I remember a reviewer writing ‘Gary needs a Berocca, he is flat’. Then we introduced Luke’s bipolar and off he went. Luke Harris was a great character, he allowed me to do some really interesting stuff. Police Rescue is one of my favourite shows, but Luke Harris is one of my favourite characters.
FB: The huge US miniseries The Pacific saw you working with Tom Hanks and Rami Malek.
GS: Rami and I are still mates. I was a gunnery sergeant and there were all these young kids (playing marines). I just took a big shine to Rami. It was exciting to be part of something that big. I was two and a half hours in make up every day getting covered in mud and cold sores and cuts and then at the end they would spray you with this salt water that when it dried would just crack on you.
FB: Did you enjoy The Chronicles of Narnia where you played Lord Drinian?
GS: Narnia was great and I found Michael Apted (director) fascinating. I talked to him about all those movies I liked when I was growing up and the 7 Up series (which Apted directed). I wish I had more to do on that, but it was great to be on something of that scale.
FB: I never thought I would see you do Dancing With The Stars.
GS: I did Dancing (in 2006) because I let it slip to my boys that I had been asked and they wanted me to do it. I have never been so terrified in my life. I was the favourite to win before the first dance and then after my first dance I was the favourite to go out the next week.
FB: Tell me about the infamous TV soap Starting Out.
GS: It was shocking. I played twins on split screen. I was Steve Turner the dish washer and his twin brother Dr Rod Turner the gynaecologist. I remember this episode on the split screen with me talking to myself. I did not want to do the show but I had no cash at all and I remember thinking I had better do it. Peter O’Brien was in it, he was living at my place at the time. It was cancelled after a month (in 1983).
FB: What was it like working alongside David Gulpilil in The Tracker?
GS: The Tracker was shot at Arkaroola which is about 10 hours north of Adelaide. I used to ride my horse to set because it was quicker than going in the car. It was brutal weather, it was a tough shoot. David could do anything, he could dance, he could sing, he could ride a horse, he could box; he was a very talented man. Rolf de Heer (director) and I, we became great friends. I have done three films with him.
FB: What interested you in judging the Peninsula’s Short Film Festival?
GS: The Peninsula Film Festival director, Steve Bastoni, is a great mate of mine, right back to the Police Rescue days. I am very excited about doing it. Short films are great because they are quirky, they are interesting, you have to tell a story really quickly and they are a great pathway for emerging directors and cinematographers. I’ve recently done two short films and I want to support the festival and the film makers.
The Peninsula Film Festival, including the Short Film Festival, runs from January 17 to 19 at Rosebud. www.peninsulafilmfestival.com.au
Originally published as Gary Sweet details his journey to acting, reveals why cricket legend Don Bradman gave him the cold shoulder after Bodyline
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