Bruce Beresford

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Bruce Beresford
Born	16 August 1940 Paddington, Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1972 - present

Bruce Beresford (born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director, writer, and producer of such films as Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies and Driving Miss Daisy.

Contents 1 Career 2 Contemporaries / friends 3 Filmography 4 Notes and references 5 External links

[edit] Career

Born in Sydney to Leslie and Lona Beresford, he grew up in the (then) outer western suburb of Toongabbie. He attended The King's School, Sydney.

In a 2007 interview on Radio National in Australia (on Late Night Live), he said that he moved to England at the end of 1962 but could not get a job in the unionised film industry there, so he answered an advertisement for a film editing job in Nigeria, where he worked for two years. He now works both in Australia and the United States. He was previously wed to Rhoisin Patricia Harrison and married Virginia Duigan in 1985. Their daughter Trilby Beresford acts, whilst his daughter with his first wife Cordelia Beresford is a cinematographer.

Bruce Beresford found wide critical success as a director for his 1980 film Breaker Morant. As a director, Beresford storyboards and meticulously plans each individual scene.^[1]

Following the success of Breaker Morant, Beresford was offered dozens of Hollywood scripts including Tender Mercies, which had already been rejected by many American directors. Beresford very much enjoyed and agreed to direct it. Several people involved with the American film had reservations about an Australian directing a movie about a country western star; Beresford himself also found the decision strange, but did not voice his thoughts because he so wanted to direct the movie. Beresford and actor Robert Duvall, who played the lead character of Mac Sledge, did not get along well during the production and often clashed during filming, including one day in which Beresford walked off the set in frustration. Tender Mercies, which was released in 1983, earned Beresford his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director.^[1]

In August 2007 he published a memoir, Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants To Do This... True Stories From A Life In The Screen Trade.^[2]

In addition to films, Bruce Beresford has also directed opera and theatre productions, including,in 2009, a Melbourne Theatre Company performance of Moonlight and Magnolias^[3].

Furthermore, Bruce Beresford was elected President of the International Jury of the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards

[edit] Contemporaries / friends

• Attended University of Sydney with Clive James, Robert Hughes, Germaine Greer, Bob Ellis, Ken Horler, and Mungo McCallum (writer).
• Contemporary and friend of John Bell, with whom he shared a house and he also did some film acting.
• Close friends with Australian comedian, satirist and character actor Barry Humphries and his family, best known for his on-stage/television alter ego Dame Edna Everage.

[edit] Filmography

• The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972)
• Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974)
• Side by Side (1975)
• Don's Party (1976)
• The Getting of Wisdom (1978)
• Money Movers (1978)
• Breaker Morant (1980)
• The Club (1980) (Writer: David Williamson) (a. k. a. David Williamson's The Club and Players)
• Puberty Blues (1981)
• Tender Mercies (1983)
• King David (1985)
• The Fringe Dwellers (1986)
• Crimes of the Heart (1986)
• Aria (1988)
• Her Alibi (1989)
• Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
• Mister Johnson (1990)
• Black Robe (1991)
• Rich in Love (1993)
• A Good Man in Africa (1994)
• Silent Fall (1994)
• Last Dance (1996)
• Paradise Road (1997)
• Sydney: A Story of a City (1999)
• Double Jeopardy (1999) (a. k. a. Doppelmord and Double condamnation)
• Bride of the Wind (2001) (a. k. a. Windsbraut, Die)
• Evelyn (2002)
• And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) (TV)
• The Contract (2006)
• A Dream of Red Mansions (2007) (in production)
• Rhapsody (2008)
• Mao's Last Dancer (2009) (in production)
• A Woman of No Importance (2008) (pre-production)
• Long Tan (2008)

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Bruce Beresford at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Website
• ABC interview transcript (Talking Heads, 2007)
• Bruce Beresford - portrait photo by Mark-Steffen Göwecke
• Bruce Beresford at the National Film and Sound Archive
• [2] - Youtube interview

Persondata
NAME	Beresford, Bruce
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Film director
DATE OF BIRTH	16 August 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paddington, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

v • d • e Films directed by Bruce Beresford The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) · Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) · Side by Side (1975) · Don's Party (1976) · The Getting of Wisdom (1978) · Money Movers (1978) · Breaker Morant (1980) · The Club (1980) · Puberty Blues (1981) · Tender Mercies (1983) · King David (1985) · The Fringe Dwellers (1986) · Crimes of the Heart (1986) · Her Alibi (1989) · Driving Miss Daisy (1989) · Mister Johnson (1990) · Black Robe (1991) · Rich in Love (1993) · A Good Man in Africa (1994) · Silent Fall (1994) · Last Dance (1996) · Paradise Road (1997) · Sydney: A Story of a City (1999) · Double Jeopardy (1999) · Bride of the Wind (2001) · Evelyn (2002) · The Contract (2006)