The Thorn Birds
Genre: Miniseries
Started: 27th March 1983
Ended: 30th March 1983
Country: United States of America
Starring: Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Rance Howard, Jean Simmons, Barry Corbin, Earl Holliman, Piper Laurie, Brett Cullen, Barbara Stanwyck, Mare Winningham, Bryan Brown, Ken Howard, Richard Kiley, Christopher Plummer, Philip Anglim, John Friedrich, Sydney Penny
The Thorn Birds is a television mini-series broadcast on ABC between 27 and 30 March 1983. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Richard Kiley, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons. It was directed by Daryl Duke and based on a novel by Colleen McCullough.
Set primarily on Drogheda, a fictional sheep station in the Australian outback, the story focuses on three generations of the Cleary Family and spans the years 1920 to 1962.
In the novel, Meggie is totally ignorant of sexual matters until her wedding and has her own childish idea of how babies are made, which is revealed in her dialogue with Ralph. In the corresponding dialogue in the film, she is at least aware that animals copulate.
Ralph dies while sitting in a chair, recalling the legend of the thorn bird, not in Meggie's arms as in the novel, and not immediately after Dane's funeral.
The Mini-series was nominated in 16 categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1983, 7 of which were for acting. The winning actors were:
Also nominated for their roles:
Competing against these actors were Roger Rees and David Threlfall for their performances in the television
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