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This
story is printed by kind permission of Pol Publications, Vive Magazine.
This article is for one usage only and cannot be reproduced without
author's written permission.
Sigrid Thornton
by
Lisa
Dethridge
Sigrid
Thornton's screen image is an Australian icon - a kind of bridge
between
ourselves and our aspirations. Over a twenty year acting career,
she's starred in
successful Australian dramas such as The Man from Snowy River 1
& 2; All The rivers
run; 1915; Boy in the Bush; The Far Country; Slate, Wyn and Me;
Great Expectations
and The Untold Story. Thornton lives in our minds as the essential
Australian battler;
from pioneering bush woman to her latest incarnation as a magistrate/career-mother
in the runaway ABC hit series Sea Change.
Just as Jack Thompson, Bryan
Brown or Russell Crowe represent the all-weather
Aussie male, Sigrid Thornton is his well-seasoned counterpart -
tough but sexy;
fuss-free but cultivated; the archetypal Australian heroine. In
a screen culture
conditioned to chew-up and spit-out young beauties, her track-record
suggests she has
that most valuable of show-biz assets; staying power. We had lunch
recently to
celebrate her current success and discuss what it takes to maintain
position in the
shifting sands of show-business.
I first met Thornton in Hollywood
1990, when we were both embraced by the small,
supportive clique of Australian writers, directors and thespians
taking a crack at the
big-time. In those days, she had the lead role in U.S. network TV
series Paradise, a
western saga which she helped steer to high-rating popularity. These
were heady days. While the rest of us were consumed by the Hollywood
shuffle - schmoozing; hustling; pitching and planning every career
move as a strategic campaign, Thornton looked like a natural. Not
only was she navigating the intricacies of the network system, she
was also raising a small son and managing households in two countries.
Despite all the pressure, Thornton
never succumbed to the kind of affectations and
"attitude" that often touched those who achieved success
in Lotus Land. Everyone else
may've been in power shoulders and nine inch heels but at the height
of her Hollywood
glamour-phase, Thornton would show up to parties in sandals and
a jersey-print dress,
looking fresh as a schoolgirl. She'd rather swap notes about our
children than swap
studio gossip. She seemed to stand outside the fray.
Thornton may have looked cool
under pressure but it's no surprise when she reveals
that Hollywood represented a very steep learning curve. While shooting
the Paradise
series, she settled temporarily into a comfortable Hollywood Hills
home with her
husband, Tom Burstall and their son. The Thornton-Burstall house
was a well known
party location for buddies including Phil Noyce; Gillian Armstrong;
Fred Schepisi;
Deborah Lee Furness; Deborah Conway; Paul Kelly and other wandering
artists. She
remembers these days as "a great, wild adventure. Hundreds
of people went through
our parties. We had a crazy treehouse staircase in the back garden
that climbed up a
hill to the jacuzzi so we put up a sign "climb at your own
risk" to protect ourselves from litigious guests who might
fall over drunk and sue us."
With a second child on the way,
Thornton returned to the relative sanity of Australia,
which she sees as the ideal place to raise kids. She and Burstall
renovated two
Victorian terraces in North Melbourne, combining home and office
space around an
internal brick courtyard and a jungle garden. In this bustling family
home, kids
definitely take priority. Furnishings are well worn and comfortable;
with lots of
woodwork; hand-carved chairs; woolly rugs; open fires and a big
pot of curry on the
stove. The Melbourne compound may be just as beautiful as her Hollywood
spread but
was it hard to leave the glamour of the high life behind? "Los
Angeles was a terrific
episode. Now we're in another phase. I don't miss it. I feel relieved
to be raising my
kids here in Melbourne."
Thornton's main accomplice in
all this is her husband, Tom Burstall. The two of them
were childhood sweethearts and have virtually grown up together.
Tom is a big
handsome bear of a man, hallmarked by a wide, satirical smile. He
works works with
film and TV producers as a completion guarantor, to monitor production
and protect
investor finance. He loves to play the kind of irreverent larrikin
immortalised on film by
his father, director Tim Burstall (Alvin Purple, Stork, Petersen.)
Continued
on Page 2 - Click Here For Page 2
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