Rachel Ward
| Rachel Ward | |
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Ward in 2012
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| Born |
Rachel Claire Ward 12 September 1957 Cornwell, Oxfordshire, England |
| Occupation | Actress, film director, television director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse(s) | Bryan Brown (1983–present) |
| Website | Rachel Ward – New Town Films |
 1970s photo of Ward with Peter Cook by Michael White, The Daily Telegraph
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Portrait of Rachel Ward by Jan Williamson
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Rachel Claire Ward, AM (born 12 September 1957) is an English-born Australian actress, columnist, film director, television director, and screenwriter.
Ward was born in Cornwell near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, the daughter of Claire Leonora (née Baring) and the Hon. Peter Alistair Ward. Her grandfathers were William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley and the cricketer Giles Baring. Ward is also the great-granddaughter of William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, Governor-General of Australia 1908–11, and sister of environmental campaigner and former actress Tracy Louise Ward, Marchioness of Worcester. She attended Hatherop Castle School, Hatherop, Gloucestershire, then the Byam Shaw School of Art in London before leaving at 16 to become a fashion model. She briefly dated David Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy.
During her modelling career, she was featured on the covers of Vogue, Harper's & Queen and Cosmopolitan magazines. After moving to the United States in 1977, she appeared in television adverts such as the Lincoln Mercury "Cougar Girl" and Revlon's "Scoundrel Girl." In 1981 she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for "New Star of the Year" for her role in the film Sharky's Machine starring with Burt Reynolds. The following year she starred in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin. Her big break came in 1983 when she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain as the lead role portraying Meggie Cleary in the television mini-series The Thorn Birds, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. Ward assigns much of the credit for this breakthrough performance to acting coach Sandra Seacat, first for simply helping her get the job (after her disastrous first reading) and then for the quality of the finished performance, assembled over the course of a grueling five-month shooting schedule, while undergoing a simultaneous and no less grueling makeover program at the hands of Seacat. Also in 1983, U.S. audiences voted Ward one of the world's 10 most beautiful women. In 1984, she played Jess in the film-noir remake Against All Odds, with Jeff Bridges. After filming Fortress in 1985, Ward then disappeared from film for several years to study acting.
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