''Cathy's Child'' is a 1979

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, directed by

Donald Crombie Donald Charles Crombie (born 5 July 1942) is an Australian film and television director and screenwriter. Born in Brisbane, Crombie was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Cr ...

and starring

Michele Fawdon Michele Fawdon (1947–2011) was an English-born Australian actress and singer. She is known for her roles in TV serials ''Matlock Police'' (1971–1974), ''The Unisexers'' (1975) and ''A Country Practice'' (1980, 1985, 1992). In 1979 she won t ...

Alan Cassell Alan Louis Cassell (16 February 1932 – 30 August 2017) was an English Australian actor, on stage, film and television. Personal life Alan Cassell was born in Manchester, England but grew up in Birmingham. Cassell was of a young age when his m ...

and

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include ''Breaker Morant'' (1980), ' ...

Plot

Cathy Baikas (Fawdon) is a woman of Greek heritage who lives in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

with her three-year-old daughter. When her daughter's father kidnaps the child and takes her back to Greece, Cathy discovers the authorities can do little to help her. She turns to the media. A reporter on the Hotline column of The Sun, a major daily newspaper, (Cassell) proves sympathetic to Cathy's problem and begins giving her case press coverage, because the same situation had happened to him. The film is based on a true story.

Historical basis

On 14 January 1973 Greek born John Baikas left Australia for Athens, taking his daughter Maris with him on a forged passport. Her mother Cathy found out and tried to get her back. The government seemed to do little so she contacted Sun journalist Dick Wordley to run a campaign. The film used the real names for the characters of Cathy Baikas, Dick Wordley and Wordley's Hotline editor Paul Nicholson. However other names were fictionalised.Peter Beilby & Scott Murray, "Donald Crombie", ''Cinema Papers'', Oct-Nov 1978 p131-132

Production

Ken Quinnell read Dick Wordley's 1973 book on the case, ''A Piece of Paper''. He gave it to producer Errol Sullivan who thought it might make "a small but highly emotional film, one that could reach the middle audience in Australia - the audience that people like Hoyts say doesn't exist: namely, the North Shore, blue rinse set."Peter Beilby & Scott Murray, "Errol Sullivan", ''Cinema Papers'', Oct-Nov 1978 p128 It was thought the budget had to be kept below $400,000 so the action was set in the present day rather than 1973. Finance from the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...

, the

New South Wales Film Corporation ---> Screen NSW, formerly known as the New South Wales Film and Television Office, or FTO, and before that the New South Wales Film Corporation, is a brand name that is part of Create NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales that is ...

, Roadshow Distributors and $55,000 of private investment.

Gillian Armstrong Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an Australian feature film and documentary director, who specializes in period drama. Her films often feature female perspectives and protagonists. Many of her movies are historical dramas. Ea ...

was originally meant to be director and money was raised from the AFC on the basis of her name, but there was a potential clash with ''My Brilliant Career'' so Donald Crombie was offered the job instead; Crombie had a history of making films about women. Filming started in June 1978, with the majority of the film shot in Sydney over four weeks, with a week's filming in Greece. Money had been allocated in the budget for an overseas actor to play the Australian consul in Greece but the filmmakers were unable to find any one for an appropriate price and Willie Fennell took the role. The script included a scene where Cathy and Dick Wordley go to bed together. Wordley denied this ever happened but allowed it in the film after much discussion. The scene was shot but ended up being cut after a preview.

Reception

Awards

was awarded

Best Actress in a Leading Role The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...

at the 1979

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for her role as Cathy Baikis. The film also received nominations for Best Actor in a Lead Role, Best Direction and

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the same awards.

Box office

''Cathy's Child'' grossed $135,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $527,850 in 2009 dollars. In 1996 Donald Crombie said the film was his favourite of all the features he had made:

Mainly because I think we were extraordinarily successful in creating that character, Cathy Bikos. Michelle Fawdon is obviously not Maltese, but she pulled that off brilliantly, I thought. The accent, I'm told, is perfect. She lived with a family and that's how she achieved it. That was a very good project to work on."Interview with Donald Crombie", ''Signet'', 18 December 1998
Retrieved 16 November 2012

References

External links

*
''Cathy's Child''
at Oz Movies * *
Cathy's Child at the National Film and Sound Archive
{{Donald Crombie 1979 films Australian drama films Films directed by Donald Crombie Drama films based on actual events 1970s English-language films