Legendary Aussie actor Michael Caton happily admits that if it wasn’t for his “breakthrough” role playing larrikin Uncle Harry in The Sullivans, he may never have had the chance to star in cult classic film The Castle.
“It was a whole new ballgame,” Michael tells Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview to mark the golden anniversary of the wartime drama that captivated millions of Australian families in the 1970s and the early ’80s.
“The Sullivans was my launching pad. I was an unknown who had mainly worked on stage and made a few appearances on [1960s crime series] Homicide and Division 4. It was a real learning process.”
So what made this period drama such a massive hit that at one point almost half of Australia was tuning in four nights a week to find out what was happening with The Sullivans and their friends?
Michael, 83, believes it was a combination of great scripts, amazing cameramen, talented directors and a brilliant cast of theatre-trained actors who were all hungry for success that transformed The Sullivans into something the nation adored.
He also says the close-knit family at the centre of all the action resonated with people from all walks of life, revealing it was even immensely popular with the homeless and people who lacked a strong family connection of their own.
“I found out years later that it was very, very popular with the homeless,” he says.
“There was a whole demographic of homeless people or people doing it tough who would do anything to get to a television set to watch The Sullivans because it was the family they never had and wanted.”
Overnight success
When The Sullivans began on November 15, 1976, it fast became a cultural phenomenon, transforming Lorraine Bayly and Paul Cronin – who played Grace and Dave Sullivan – into TV’s favourite mum and dad over the next seven years.
“Everybody pretty much became household names,” shares much-loved star Andrew McFarlane, 75, who became a massive heartthrob playing their eldest son John, and credits Lorraine and Paul in their central roles for helping create the magic.
Set in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, the series followed Dave and Grace Sullivan and their four children John, Tom (Steven Tandy), Terry (Richard Morgan) and Kitty (Susan Hannaford) as they navigated life, love and loss.
Michael played the “ne’er-do-well” younger brother of family patriarch Dave, who Paul brought to life so beautifully. Paul was also the only cast member who was already an established TV star when the show first went to air.
“With the exception of Paul, none of us had done a lot of work on film. Lorraine had worked in front of a camera presenting Play School, but really, we were all just finding our way,” Michael says.
“We were learning the trade in front of millions of people.”
Paul had a huge fan base after starring for five years as motorcycle policeman Gary Hogan in Matlock Police before signing on to The Sullivans, which initially helped build an audience – and Lorraine was a favourite among parents given she had spent 10 years presenting Play School on the ABC.
Everyone’s family
The core cast were joined by Norman Yemm, who stepped in as Dave’s war buddy Norm Baker, Vivean Gray who played neighbourhood gossip Mrs Ida Jessup and Reg Gorman, whose character Jack Fletcher ran the local pub.
A young Noni Hazlehurst impressed as neighbour Lil Duggan, who was married to Bert (Peter Hehir), while Vikki Hammond won hearts playing lovable barmaid, Maggie Hayward, and Megan Williams became a massive drawcard playing Maggie’s long-lost daughter, Alice Sullivan.
The show also helped launch the careers of Hollywood stars Mel Gibson – who made his TV debut as naval lieutenant Ray Henderson – and Sam Neill, who played a married man, Ben Dawson, who fell in love with Kitty and convinced her to run away to Sydney!
Gary Sweet showed off his boyish charms as larrikin soldier Leslie “Magpie” Maddern to neighbourhood lass Winni, played by Kerry Armstrong, and Sigrid Thornton’s Elizabeth “Buffy” Turnbull opened her heart to the departing soldiers.
Even pop princess Kylie Minogue made an appearance, playing a Dutch orphan refugee who had fled war-torn Europe for Melbourne – when she was just eight years old! Younger sister Dannii later replaced her in the same role.
Michael, who went on to become a national treasure as Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle and Ted Taylor in Packed To The Rafters, insists there “weren’t bits of me” in Uncle Harry, but admits his family soon figured out who did inspire his portrayal.
“My sisters summed it up, saying you’ve made a living out of playing your uncles and there were a pile of them – seven uncles on my father’s side. There was a good selection if you wanted a character!”
Michael was 33 years old when The Sullivans premiered in the mid-’70s.
“Because I was much too young for Uncle Harry, I just put bags under the eyes and grey in the temple and carved the face out a bit. People 10 years later would say, ‘You haven’t aged a bit,’” he laughs.
Secrets, feuds & romances!
Michael, who went on to star in films and many other TV shows, including hosting Hot Property for more than a decade, says Crawford Productions boss Hector Crawford almost killed off Uncle Harry in the early days because of his shady antics.
“Hector said, ‘We can’t have this bad uncle in this lovely family, we should get rid of the character,’” he reveals, adding that the show’s producer Henry Crawford intervened to save Uncle Harry because fans loved him.
Friction with Hector grew after Michael went to management to thwart his attempts to poach the stars of The Sullivans for his other drama series – and Michael suspects that may be why he was “banned” from their productions thereafter.
Michael says another key ingredient in the success of the much-loved show was the creative collaboration between the actors and script editor Graham Foreman, who would change the script if the actors felt it wasn’t working.
Not everyone, however, was impressed with the last-minute script changes, with Michael revealing it caused a bit of a feud with legendary actor Charles “Bud” Tingwell, who played several characters, and directed some episodes.
“He was stickler for the script, and he always reckoned I was responsible for getting him fired off The Sullivans,” he says.
“In later years I really got to know Bud, and he was a wonderful man. What an incredible life he’d had! And such a sweet man with it. Later, when I was a bit older and wiser and not so bloody arrogant, I really appreciated Bud.”
Michael also reveals that Susan Hannaford, who played his niece Kitty, “was anything but sweet little Kitty in real life”, leaving her co-stars agog at times with her extravagant spending and party lifestyle off the set.
“She had breath that could take the wallpaper off a wall,” he grins.
“She’s an interesting woman. That’s one way of putting it!”
Susan, who had a child with wealthy El Caballo Blanco millionaire Emmanuel Margolin after The Sullivans wrapped in 1983 before moving to Los Angeles and becoming a property mogul, remembers her time on the show fondly.
“I’ve always loved Kitty,” she tells Woman’s Day, acknowledging that there were “odd moments” of strain between some of the actors because of the long hours spent on set with each other.
“I thought she was a beautiful character. It was an extraordinary role. I just loved it. There are always dramatic things that happen on the set, but in general they had cast everyone very well, and everyone pretty much got on very well.”
Susan, now 73, says her one big regret was letting a then relatively unknown Mel Gibson get away, after he was cast in the role of a naval lieutenant, who falls in love with Kitty Sullivan in 1978.
She wanted Kitty to marry him, but Mel was booked to film Mad Max in what would become his Hollywood breakthrough role and had to leave The Sullivans. Susan will not comment on rumours their on-set chemistry spilled over into real life.
Michael laughingly admits he didn’t stay in touch with “wild” Susan, but remained close friends with most of the cast, including his TV nephews Andrew McFarlane and Steven Tandy, 74.
TV family
But Susan, just like Michael, Andrew and Steven, was devastated when Lorraine died aged 89 earlier this year, telling Woman’s Day that she considered her TV mum like a second mum in real life.
“Having worked that intensely with someone, those bonds never disappear. We had a lot of intense acting scenes together. That kind of bond lasts forever. It was like a mother-daughter relationship,” she says.
They are the last four surviving core cast of The Sullivans with Paul (Dave) dying in 2019 aged 81, following the loss of Richard (Terry), aged 48, from motor neurone disease in 2006 and Megan (Alice), aged 43, who died of breast cancer in 2000.
Steven says he felt like he’d been hit with a sucker punch when Lorraine died.
“Everyone knew and loved Grace Sullivan. We were like a family. Lorraine Bayly and Paul Cronin were like second parents to many of us. I had the best times of my life working on The Sullivans.”
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