Bill Hunter

1996: Awarded Honorary Membership of the Australian Cinematographer's Society.

1995: Received a Variety Club Award for Services to the Film Industry.

Filmed Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) at the same time, each requiring him to have different length hair, beard and to be in different parts of Australia.

Bill Hunter was one of Australia's acting legends, having worked with almost every notable Australian director and actor of the last thirty years - evidence of his genuine popularity among the public and acting fraternity alike. He started out in Australian television in the '60s (a hotbed of well written and directed drama), and rapidly became a favorite of directors during the boom in the Australian movie industry in the '70s. He has often played the strong, opinionated, stereotypically gruff Australian who ultimately betrays a softer heart. Some of his notable movie roles include the Australian officer Major Barton, who will only ask his troops to do as he would, in Gallipoli (1981), Peter Weir's groundbreaking movie starring the young Mel Gibson; the meddling Barry Fife in Strictly Ballroom (1992), Baz Luhrmann's first international hit; scheming politician and failure as a father and husband Bill Heslop in Muriel's Wedding (1994), P. J.

Ava Gardner encouraged the young swimmer to tout for work as an extra in On the Beach (1959) during a chance encounter. It was doing just this that Hunter became interested in acting, after watching Fred Astaire supposedly go through 32 takes to complete a simple scene.