
Graham Kennedy's opening scene in the Australian mini-series Silent Reach, playing laconic, alcoholic bush pilot Chasser Fitzpatrick, waiting to greet American ex-secret service security agent Steven Sinclair (Robert Vaughn) upon his arrival at the airport.
Initially known prior to release as The Alcheringa Stone, the five-hour action-adventure series of sabotage and murder set in a Queensland industrial mining operation, also starred Helen Morse, Leonard Teale, John Howard and Tommy Lewis. Demonstrating his interest in research and detail, Kennedy flew to Queensland the week before shooting to meet several bush pilots to better understand his character.
Though keen to pursue dramatic acting roles, Graham's desire to see more of the country was as much of a lure in accepting the role. He admitted to The Australian Women's Weekly in 1982: 'I'd never been into the outback and I thought "here's a chance to do something I've always wanted to do - and get paid for it"'. The series was broadcast across two nights on the Nine Network in March 1983.
Notes by Simon Smith
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.