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Bill Hunter
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Bill Hunter

One of the legends of Australian cinema, Bill Hunter has been a commanding presence on screens large and small since 1957 when he made his début in Leslie Norman's The Shiralee. Other early appearances included On The Beach (1959) directed by Stanley Kramer and Tony Richardson's Ned Kelly (1970) starring Mick Jagger. Amongst his almost fifty feature credits are some of the most significant films of Australian cinema and they include PJ Hogan's box office smash Muriel's Wedding (1994), for which he was nominated for a Best Actor AFI and won the Film Critics Best Actor Award for his portrayal of Muriel's menacing father, and two of the other big commercial hits of the 90s - Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) directed by PJ Hogan and Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992). In the same year Hunter appeared in Gillian Armstrong's The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992). In the 80s he won the AFI award for Best Supporting Actor in Peter Weir's Gallipoli (1981) alongside Mel Gibson. He has worked three times for director Phillip Noyce: in the director's first feature Backroads (1976), in the iconic multi-award winner Newsfront (1978) for which Hunter won an AFI Best Actor award and in Heatwave (1982) alongside Judy Davis. In 2002 he will also appear in Crackerjack. He has given outstanding performances in a number of landmark television productions winning AFI Best Actor awards for his roles in each of Police State, The Dismissal and Scales of Justice. Other television credits include Blue Murder and The Leaving of Liverpool.

Note: This profile was written in or before 2003.

Bill Hunter Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayFebruary 27, 1940 (84)
SignPisces
BirthplaceBallarat, Australia

Selected Filmography

Not available.