( ABC)ĭucker decided Wran was the man to beat the Liberals - assuming, as he correctly did, that Labor leader Pat Hills failed against premier Robert Askin in 1973.īut getting the factionally unaligned Wran the leadership involved enormous manoeuvering.ĭucker went first to his factional enemy, the Left. Neville Wran (right) developed strong trade union contacts while working as a solicitor. It was a rapid rise, but in the wrong chamber. Wran's aggressive eloquence soon made a mark and he became Labor's deputy leader in the council within a year and then leader in 1972. In 1970 Wran won a seat in the Legislative Council, the NSW Upper House, then more a comfortable club for loyal party servants than a launching pad for ambitious young politicians. However he was steadily developing firm links with major union figures.Ī case involving a union turf war brought him to the attention of NSW Labor boss John Ducker. Wran joined the Labor Party in 1954, but for more than a decade was relatively inactive. There he developed a reputation in industrial and negligence cases, regularly winning big damages from juries. He worked as a solicitor for 10 years, doing many workers' compensation cases, which gave him contacts with important trade union officials, before going to the bar. However his thespian talents served him well before juries and in politics.Īged 20 and still at university, Wran married Marcia Oliver, a former Tivoli showgirl with a son from a previous marriage whom Wran adopted. He considered an acting career but decided the legal profession would pay better. but if you prick us with a pin, we bleed like anyone else.įrom there he won a Commonwealth scholarship to Sydney University to study arts and law, where he made his mark as a debater and - his first love - actor. He died on Sunday, aged 87, after suffering from dementia and being cared for in a nursing home for the past two years.Īlthough his memories of Balmain were warm - "Balmain boys don't cry," he famously said when under pressure many years later - he was not much good at fighting or football, the most highly prized skills there.īut he was smart, winning a scholarship to Fort Street High, the school that has helped launch the glittering careers of generations of working-class kids.īalmain boys don't cry. Neville Kenneth Wran, was born in Balmain on October 11, 1926, the last and eighth child of Joe and Lillian Wran. His success was built on ruthlessness, authority in party and parliament, an unerring instinct for what the voters wanted and pioneering exploitation of television's political clout. The worldly lawyer from working-class Balmain, for whom winning was everything, never lost an election and was a political rarity in deciding when to retire undefeated.
Nifty Nev, as he was known, was NSW premier from May 1976 to July 1986 and ALP national president for six years. It would be good to see Ang Lee complete the Globe-Oscar double with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.Neville Wran dominated New South Wales politics for a decade and gave Labor new heart in one of its blackest periods.
But Steven Soderbergh must be in with a chance, for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich. It may be two times lucky for Judi Dench for Chocolat, though a Julie Walters win is possible too.īets are off: many pundits tip Ridley Scott for Gladiator - his homage to Hollywood's toga epics. If she wins, Hudson and Oscar-winning mum Goldie Hawn could be the first mother-daughter winners. Eating his dust are five-times nominated Albert Finney, the world-worn attorney in Erin Brockovich Joaquin Phoenix, the deliciously reptilian Commodus in Gladiator and Willem Dafoe - uncanny in Shadow of the Vampire.įavourite is celebrity du jour Kate Hudson, for her Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Penny Lane in Almost Famous - the epitome of groupie chic. Joan Allen, the character-assassinated vice-president nominee in The Contender, and Juliette Binoche, Chocolat's mysterious chocolatier, are worth a bet too.īenicio Del Toro is out in front with his portrayal of Traffic's Javier Rodriguez - the Tijuana cop caught up in the drug trade. It garnered Hollywood's highest-paid actress her second Oscar nomination.
Tipsters reckon Golden Globe-winner Julia Roberts has this stitched-up for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich.
But going by this year's Golden Globes, gushing Academy veteran Tom Hanks could take home his third Oscar for playing Chuck Noland - the Cast Away Fed-Ex brownshirt with yo-yoing waistline and fearsome beard. With another double nomination, Steven Soderbergh et al may be miffed if neither Erin Brockovich nor Traffic wins best film or direction but tipsters put Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ahead of both.Īntipodean demigod Russell Crowe is favourite for his portrayal of Colosseum butcher Maximus Meridius. It won a Golden Globe and is now bookies' favourite. Using nifty computer-generated images, Gladiator recreated the blood, intrigue, sandals and pageantry of ancient Rome.