Historian Manning Clark introduced each instalment of this ABC anthology that resurrected 38 Australians between 1972 and 1975, beginning with Kate Fitzpatrick as diva Nellie Melba and closing with the larrikin poet C. J. Dennis. The rotating cast read like a who's who of local talent: Jack Thompson's laconic Charles Kingsford-Smith, Anne Haddy's determined Caroline Chisholm, John Frawley's battle-hardened Thomas Blamey, and Jack Charles in the twice-delayed portrait of Aboriginal cricketer Eddie Gilbert, finally screened in 1975 after political broadcasts bumped it twice.
Scripts came from writers who would become national treasures. Thomas Keneally penned the Douglas Mawson and William Bligh episodes, while Cliff Green wrote the season-one portrait of Henry Lawson that aired the week after Melba. Directors including Alan Burke and Frank Arnold shot on videotape in the ABC's Gore Hill studios, giving each biography the texture of a stage play hastily committed to tape before the next week's subject took its place.
The series began life as The History Makers before the network settled on the grander Behind the Legend, a title that promised revelation yet delivered sturdy, respectful recreations rather than revisionist takes. Barry Lovett, Ben Gabriel and Robyn Nevin were among the repertory players who returned in multiple roles, stitching together three seasons of disparate lives into a patchwork national portrait. When the final credits rolled on 8 April 1975, the tally stood at 38 legends, no repeats, and a time-capsule of Australian television acting at the height of the monochrome era.
Production Details
Australia / ABC / 38 Episodes / 1972- 8 April 1975
Created by: Thomas Keneally and Cliff Green
Producer(s): Alan Burke
Main Cast
Manning Clark as Host
Barry Lovett as George Coppin / Dobie (S1–3, 3 episodes)
Ben Gabriel as John Monash (S1&3, 2 episodes)
James Condon as Wentworth (S1–3, 3 episodes)
Joe James as Walter Burley Griffin (S2&3, 2 episodes)
John Hargreaves as Tom Roberts (S1&3, 2 episodes)
Ken Fraser as Charles Fitzroy (S1&2, 2 episodes)
Michael Long as Heir (S1&3, 2 episodes)
Paul Bertram as Percy Grainger (S1&3, 2 episodes)
Reg Evans as C. J. Dennis / John Shaw Neilson at 40 (S1&3, 2 episodes)
Terry Bader as Sidney Kidman (S1&3, 2 episodes)
Anna Volska as Helena Rubinstein
Anne Haddy as Caroline Chisholm
