Rachel Ward Movies
Former model, and daughter of the Earl of Dudley, actress Rachel Ward has appeared in several mainstream films and on television primarily during the 1980s. She attended Byram Art School in London before leaving at 16 to become a top fashion model who made many television commercials. In 1983 Ward, with her thick dark hair, husky voice, and large eyes, was voted one of the ten most beautiful women in the U.S. Although she had appeared in two slasher movies, she made her official feature film debut in Sharky's Machine in 1981. More films followed, but she didn't become really well-known until she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain in the popular television mini-series "The Thorn Birds." Ward disappeared from pictures for three years as she played wife to husband Bryan Brown, whom she met on the "Thorn Birds" set, and studied acting. She then reappeared in 1987, playing opposite her husband in The Good Wife. Though she has continued to work sporadically in films, she has yet to achieve true stardom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A remake of Jacques Tourneur's noir classic Out of the Past (1947), in this version a labyrinthine web of corruption touches on the world of pro football. When an injury-riddled body causes pro football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) to be cut by his team, Jake Wise (James Woods), a shady gambler friend, hires him to locate his spoiled, erratic girlfriend Jessie (Rachel Ward). Terry's attempt to glean Jessie's whereabouts from the girl's coldly aristocratic mother (Jane Greer) leads to a lucrative counteroffer to keep Jessie away from Jake if he finds her. After refusing, Terry heads for scenic Cozumel, where he eventually runs down the stunning young woman. A mutual attraction quickly develops and the pair are less than eager to return to California. Painfully, Terry tells Jessie about his involvement in a betting scandal which has put him under Jake's control. Meanwhile Jake, who is angered by the delay, senses that something is going on, and sends Terry's conditioning coach, Sully (Alex Karras), to find the couple. When he finally locates them, sweatily making love in a Mayan temple, tragedy ensues, spinning the ill-fated Terry into a world of boundless deceit and corruption. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, (more)
This mammoth TV miniseries, based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, proved to be a ratings bonanza; indeed, its viewership was surpassed only by the 1978 blockbuster Roots. Set in Australia, the story covers 42 years in the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. The women in de Bricassart's life include Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward, in her first American TV role) and Meggie's iron-willed grandmother Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck). Also in the cast are Jean Simmons and Richard Kiley as the Clearys, Sydney Penny as the young Meggie, Bryan Brown as Luke O'Neill, Mare Winningham as Justine (Meggie's daughter) and Christopher Plummer as the Archbishop. This 4-part, 10-hour presentation earned an Emmy award for Barbara Stanwyck, and Golden Globes for Stanwyck and Richard Chamberlain. Originally telecast March 27 through March 30, 1983, The Thorn Birds was followed 13 years later by The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years, again starring Richard Chamberlain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1983
Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds was set in Australia and covered the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. The miniseries concluded with part four, first telecast in a three-hour slot on March 30, 1983. Covering a time span of nearly 30 years (1935-1962), this final chapter focuses on the lives of Meggie's (Rachel Ward) children -- flamboyant aspiring actress Justine (Mare Winningham) and would-be priest Dane (Philip Anglim) -- neither of which have any inkling (at least, not at first) of the past relationship between their mother and Cardinal de Bricassart, aka Father Ralph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1983
Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds was set in Australia and covered the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. Part three, which aired March 29, 1983, finds a disillusioned Meggie (Rachel Ward) entering into an unhappy marriage and ending up a housemaid on a Queensland sugar-cane plantation. Her subsequent pregnancy is but one of the intriguing and surprising plot developments in this crucial episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1983
Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds was set in Australia and covered the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. In part two, which aired March 28, 1983 -- and which, like the subsequent third episode, runs two hours -- a cataclysmic brush fire destroys Mary Carson's (Barbara Stanwyck) ranch. Later, having already succumbed to their mutual passion, Father Ralph and Meggie (Rachel Ward)experience an uncomfortable reunion and later still the politically ambitious Ralph forms a strong and beneficial alliance with Archbishop Contini-Verchese (Christopher Plummer), one of Rome's most influential religious leaders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1983
Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds was set in Australia and covered the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. In the three-hour opening episode, originally telecast by ABC on March 27, 1983, young Father Ralph becomes the object of desire for powerful sheep rancher Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck, who also won an Emmy), while the priest himself expresses concern -- and sometimes more than concern -- for the well being of Mary's niece, Meggie Cleary (played as a youngster by Sydney Penny and as an adult by Rachel Ward in her first American TV role). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
In this post-modernist exercise, star/writer Steve Martin and director Carl Reiner spoof the film noir yarns of the '40s with Martin playing gumshoe Rigby Reardon, who interacts with a legion of Hollywood greats -- including Humphrey Bogart, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Edward Arnold, Barbara Stanwyck, Ingrid Bergman, Veronica Lake, Bette Davis, Lana Turner and Joan Crawford -- in a succession of intercut clips from seventeen vintage Hollywood films. Rigby is a low-rent detective (his fee is $10 per day) sitting in his office, waiting for something to happen. That something happens when the voluptuous Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) arrives in his office and faints dead away at the sight of a newspaper that reports on her father's death in a car accident. Juliet is convinced that her father was murdered and offers Rigby $200 to investigate. Upon searching Mr. Forrest's office, he comes upon a list of names under the headings "The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta." As the two delve deeper into the mystery and its requisite deceptions, they encounter an "exterminator," Juliet's surly Nazi butler, Field Marshal Von Kluck (Carl Reiner) and an overly helpful Mexican friend, Carlos Rodriguez (Reni Santoni). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, (more)
A William Diehl novel was the source of the noirish nailbiter Sharky's Machine. Sharky (Burt Reynolds) is an undercover cop who fouls up an assignment and is kicked downstairs to the vice squad -- a rough-shod bunch of hellraisers who make life miserable. Soon, however, Sharky's life does a 180 when he encounters Dominoe (Rachel Ward) a prostitute seemingly in danger from her interaction with a number of very seedy thugs. To protect her, Sharky lines the high-rise apartment across from her residence with security cameras and surveillance equipment -- which only makes matters sticky as Sharky begins to fall in love with her. The film opened to a very warm critical reception (Janet Maslin observed that "Burt Reynolds establishes himself as yet another movie star who is as valuable behind the camera as he is in front of it"). It also features one of the most dangerous stunts on film, wherein the late stuntman Dar Robinson free falls from 16 stories off the ground. The "machine" of the title refers to Sharky's fellow cops, played by heavyweights Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, and others. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Vittorio Gassman, (more)
- 1981
- R
In this gory horror movie, a group of young, nubile night-school students find themselves unable to hang on to their heads when a mad slasher takes up residence in their hallowed halls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Mann, Rachel Ward, (more)
This mediocre slasher film from director Andrew Davis is worth watching more for its cast than for its cliched story. The film is set in the usual isolated forest, where a ratty-looking killer (who seems to be covered with Spanish moss) makes survival difficult for some foul-tempered campers. Among the doomed are future luminaries Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, and Adrian Zmed. The leaders, played by Joe Pantoliano and Mark Metcalf, are some of the most irritating characters in any 1980s slasher film, bickering until they sound like tenderfoot versions of Barnes and Elias from Platoon. The characters' constant ill temper is designed to add to the tension, but serves only as a distraction. The murders are low-key and dull, save for Metcalf's well-handled death scene, and the obligatory "telling of the legend" is less spooky than obnoxious. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Friedrich, Adrian Zmed, (more)
- 1979
Originally made for television as a sequel to the classic Lilies of the Field, this film concerns an ex-soldier turned handyman (Billy Dee Williams) who returns to the Arizona chapel he built earlier. Encouraged by five nuns, he builds both an orphanage and a small school. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Dee Williams, Maria Schell, (more)
