<Tr> <Td> Antoinette Bower </Td> <Td> Sarah MacQueen </Td> </Tr> <P> The novel was originally developed as a feature film with Ed Lewis attached to produce . Ivan Moffat wrote an early draft of the script . Herbert Ross was the first director, and he saw Christopher Reeve about playing the lead . Then Peter Weir became attached to direct; Robert Redford was the favourite to play the lead . Eventually Weir dropped out Arthur Hiller was going to direct; Ryan O'Neal was mooted as a star . Eventually it was decided to turn it into a mini series . </P> <Ul> <Li> Although the mini-series is set in Australia it was filmed in the United States . The outback scenes were filmed in southern California and the Queensland scenes were filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai . The Drogheda main house was a set built on the Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California . </Li> <Li> The mountainous terrain of the southern California "outback" filming location does not resemble western New South Wales, which is predominantly level to gently rolling . </Li> <Li> The mini-series included "the most dangerous bus in Australia". Since filming took place in the US an American bus was used . In Australia, where there is right - hand drive, it would set down its passengers in the middle of the road . </Li> <Li> In the miniseries, Drogheda, Mary Carson's sheep station, is said to have been named after the Irish town of Drogheda, by a former resident of that town . However, its name is mispronounced by all characters as "Drog - ee - da". In fact, the g should be silent and the e short . A former resident would pronounce it as Draw - hed - ah or Dro - hed - ah (with a soft o as in "drop"), or draw - da . </Li> <Li> A followup was produced in 1996 by CBS, entitled The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years, which tells the story of the 19 years unaccounted for in the original miniseries . </Li> <Li> New York Jets offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson was named after the character Ralph de Bricassart . </Li> <Li> Rachel Ward, who was born in 1957, plays the mother of a daughter played by 1959 - born actress Mare Winningham, and a son played by 1953 - born actor Philip Anglim . </Li> <Li> Rachel Ward met her husband Bryan Brown on the set while filming the series . Brown plays Luke O'Neill, who marries Ward's character, Meggie Cleary . </Li> <Li> Actor Bryan Brown, was the only Australian - born cast member hired in a major role . This is not too unusual since although the series takes place in Australia, Luke O'Neill and Meggie's children were the only major characters who were Australian - born . Father Ralph, Mary Carson, and Paddy Cleary were all Irish - born . Fee and most of the Cleary children were born in New Zealand . </Li> <Li> During casting, actress Jane Seymour was considered for the role of Meggie Cleary and the role of Mary Carson was originally offered to Audrey Hepburn . </Li> <Li> Father Terrance Sweeney, an Emmy Award - winning Jesuit priest, was a technical advisor on the mini-series . He left the priesthood in 1986 and married Pamela Susan Shoop, an actress and daughter of actress Julie Bishop in 1987 . They co-authored the book "What God Hath Joined" that discussed their relationship . </Li> <Li> The serial has had great success in France . The French title is "Les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir" (The birds hide to die). The series is still regularly repeated on TV channels . </Li> <Li> The series was also very successful in Brazil, where it was broadcast by SBT . During its first broadcast, in 1985, the miniseries beat Globo TV network in the ratings, which had always been the leader in ratings in Brazil . The series last aired in Brazil from October 2 through October 13, 2006, at 9: 40 PM (local time). </Li> </Ul> <Li> Although the mini-series is set in Australia it was filmed in the United States . The outback scenes were filmed in southern California and the Queensland scenes were filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai . The Drogheda main house was a set built on the Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California . </Li>

Who played the mother in the thorn birds