30 Facts About Bruce Beresford

1.

Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States.

2.

Bruce Beresford was born in Paddington, New South Wales, the son of Lona and Leslie Bruce Beresford, who sold electrical goods.

3.

Bruce Beresford grew up in the then outer-western suburb of Toongabbie, and went to The Meadows Public School and then The King's School, Parramatta.

4.

Bruce Beresford made several short films in his teens including The Hunter.

5.

Bruce Beresford completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in 1964.

6.

Bruce Beresford then moved to England in search of film work.

7.

Bruce Beresford then returned to England and worked for the British Film Institute as a producer of short films by first-time directors, including Magritte: The False Mirror and Paradigm.

8.

Bruce Beresford directed the documentary Lichtenstein in London about Roy Lichtenstein, and Extravaganza, Barbara Hepworth at the Tate, The Cinema of Raymond Fark, and Arts of Village India.

9.

Bruce Beresford returned to Australia to make his first feature film, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, which he wrote with Barry Humphries.

10.

The film, produced by Phillip Adams, was a box office success in England and Australia, but Bruce Beresford later said making the film was a "mistake" because reviews were so bad that he had trouble finding other work.

11.

Bruce Beresford went to England to direct and co-write a comedy, Side by Side starring Humphries and Terry-Thomas; it was little seen.

12.

Bruce Beresford says his career was at a low ebb when Phillip Adams "saved my life" by offering him the job of directing an acclaimed version of David Williamson's play Don's Party.

13.

Bruce Beresford directed an adaptation of The Getting of Wisdom, produced by Adams.

14.

Bruce Beresford signed a contract with the South Australian Film Corporation for whom he wrote and directed a thriller, Money Movers, which was a box office disappointment.

15.

Bruce Beresford did some uncredited directing on the SAFC's Blue Fin, then co-wrote and directed Breaker Morant.

16.

Bruce Beresford directed The Club, from another Williamson play, and Puberty Blues.

17.

Bruce Beresford received an offer from EMI Films to direct Horton Foote's Tender Mercies.

18.

Star Robert Duvall won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance and Bruce Beresford earned a Best Director nomination.

19.

Bruce Beresford followed it with King David starring Richard Gere which was a notable box office failure.

20.

Bruce Beresford returned to Australia to direct The Fringe Dwellers, co-written with his first wife, Rhoisin Bruce Beresford.

21.

Bruce Beresford directed Driving Miss Daisy with Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, from a play by Alfred Uhry.

22.

Bruce Beresford directed Mister Johnson in Nigeria, with Edward Woodward; Black Robe, an Australian-Canadian film based on the novel by Brian Moore; Rich in Love, co-written by Uhry; A Good Man in Africa with Sean Connery from a novel by William Boyd, which in 2015 Beresford called his worst film; Silent Fall, which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival; and Last Dance with Sharon Stone.

23.

Bruce Beresford wrote but did not direct Curse of the Starving Class.

24.

Bruce Beresford returned to Australia to direct Paradise Road, which was a commercial disappointment.

25.

Bruce Beresford directed a documentary, Sydney: A Story of a City, then had a hit with the thriller Double Jeopardy.

26.

Bruce Beresford made Bride of the Wind ; Evelyn with Pierce Brosnan; and And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself with Antonio Banderas.

27.

Bruce Beresford spent several years looking for financing for various projects before making The Contract with Freeman and Cusack.

28.

Bruce Beresford followed it with a TV film Orpheus and returned to Australia to make Mao's Last Dancer which was filmed in Houston, Texas.

29.

Bruce Beresford has five adult children and now works both in Australia and the United States.

30.

Bruce Beresford attended the University of Sydney with critic and documentary maker Clive James, art critic and aficionado Robert Hughes, activist and author Germaine Greer, journalist Bob Ellis, poet Les Murray, and writer Mungo McCallum.