Wendy Hughes
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Biography
When the "New Australian Film" movement began in the late 1970s and early 80s, several actresses rose to prominence including Helen Morse and Judy Davis (who went on to earn international fame). Among the most talented was Wendy Hughes, an attractive, elegant-looking brunette who originally intended to pursue a career in dance. When she hit her teens, though, Hughes switched interests to acting and went on to train at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and hone her craft on stage with the Melbourne Theatre Company. She moved to features in 1974 with "Petersen," playing the wife of a college professor who takes an interest in a married student. Hughes first reached American audiences as a woman involved with an ambitious newsreel photographer in Philip Noyce's "Newsfront" (1978), a role that brought her the first of seven (to date) nominations for the Australian Film Institute award. The following year, she earned plaudits as the maternal figure to aspiring writer Sybylla Melvyn (Judy Davis) in "My Brilliant Career" and initiated a collaboration with director Paul Cox with "Kostas," in which she portrayed a genteel divorcee romantically pursued by a Greek journalist.
The 1980s saw Hughes rise as one of Australia's most prolific and versatile actresses. She was an aspiring croupier who leaves her con artist lover in "Hoodwink" (1981) and caused something of a stir as a doomed insurance investigator in "A Dangerous Summer" (1982), in that audiences didn't expect an actress of her position would be killed off so early in the film. Paul Cox cast her against type as the dowdy, sexually-repressed spinster who finds romance in "Lonely Hearts" in 1982. Despite that triumph, though, Hughes had one of her best screen roles ever as the wealthy Anglophile engaged in a custody battle for her nephew in "Careful, He Might Hear You" (1983), for which she earned the Best Actress prize from the Australian Film Institute. Cox again coaxed a terrific performance from the actress in "My First Wife" (1984), in which she essayed a cheating wife who is caught by her husband. Some felt her one misstep was accepting the part of an incompetent psychiatric nurse in "An Indecent Obsession" (1985). She bounced back with the soap opera-ish role of a woman who becomes disgusted with her philandering husband and finds romance with a folk dancer (John Lone) in "Echoes of Paradise" (1987) and a woman of loose morals in "Boundaries of the Heart" (1988), which also marked her debut as an associate producer. Hughes additionally added screenwriting to her resume with the comedy "Luigi's Ladies" (1989).
After acting in the apocalyptic ABC miniseries "Amerika" in 1987, Hughes and her family relocated to L.A. to try to pursue a career in Hollywood, but American producers seemed not to know how to use this performer's gifts. She co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the HBO movie "The Heist" (1989) and proved effective as the mother of the future first lady in "A Woman Called Jackie" (NBC, 1991), but roles with the depth and breadth of those to which she was accustomed in Australia remained elusive. Hollywood cast her as brothel madam in the execrable "Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue" (1992) and she had a one-season (1993-94) recurring role as a medical examiner on NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street."
Returning Down Under, Hughes anchored the TV series "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga" (1993-95) and reunited with Paul Cox for a gender-bending turn in "Lust and Revenge" (1996). She went on to play one of the female inmates in "Paradise Road" (1997) and won acclaim for her starring role in the 1997 Australian TV series "State Coroner." In 2001, Hughes reunited with former co-stars Judy Davis and Colin Friels for the romantic comedy "The Man Who Sued God" and returned to the stage playing Mrs. Robinson in the Australian premiere of the stage version of "The Graduate." Hughes continued to work primarily as a stage actress, working occasionally on Australian television and appearing in two films, the indie drama "Salvation" (2008) and the romantic comedy-drama "The View From Greenhaven" (2008). Wendy Hughes died of cancer on March 8, 2014. That night, fellow actor Bryan Brown announced Hughes' death from the stage of the Sydney Theatre Company prior to a performance of the play "Travelling North," eliciting a standing ovation from the audience in her memory.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1966
Turned focus towards acting and began appearing in school plays and community theater (date approximate)
1974
Feature debut, "Petersen"
1977
Initial film collaboration with Judy Davis, "High Rolling"
1978
Reunited with Judy Davis (playing her aunt) in "My Brilliant Career"
1978
Co-starred in the acclaimed Australian feature "Newsfront"
1979
Made first of four films (to date) with director Paul Cox, "Kostas"
1981
Third film with Judy Davis, "Hoodwink"
1981
Revisited themes similar to her debut feature in "Duet for Four"
1982
Cast as a doomed insurance investigator in the mystery "A Dangerous Summer"
1982
Reteamed with Cox for "Lonely Hearts"; cast against type as a dowdy, sexually repressed woman
1983
Delivered a stellar turn as the Anglophile aunt battling for custody of her nephew in the feature adaptation of "Careful, He Might Hear You", based on Sumner Locke Elliott's book
1984
Acted in the Australian miniseries, "Return to Eden"; aired in syndication in the USA
1984
Played an unfaithful spouse in Paul Cox's "My First Wife"
1985
Cast as the incompetent nurse heading a mental ward during WWII in "An Indecent Obsession"
1987
Starred opposite Colin Friels in the quirky romance "Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train", co-produced by husband Patric Juillet
1987
US miniseries debut, "Amerika"
1988
Debut as associate producer with "Boundaries of the Heart", produced by Juillet; also starred
1989
Co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in the HBO movie "The Heist"
1989
First feature screenplay and debut as executive producer, "Luigi's Ladies"; also had one of the leading roles
1989
Relocated with family to USA and settled in Los Angeles (date approximate)
1991
Cast in first US feature, "Wild Orchid 2: Two Shades of Blue"; portrayed a brothel madam
1991
Played the title character's mother in the NBC miniseries "A Woman Called Jackie", about former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
1993
Starred in the TV series "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga"
1994
Portrayed the lady of the house in which the title character is welcomed in the comedy "Princess Cariboo"
1996
Fourth film with Paul Cox, undertook gender-bending role in "Lust and Revenge"
1997
Cast as one of the female prisoners in "Paradise Road"
1997
Played the lead in the Australian TV series "State Coroner"
2001
Portrayed Mrs. Robinson in the Australian stage adaptation of "The Graduate"
2001
Reunited on screen with Judy Davis and Colin Friels in "The Man Who Sued God"
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