Who would have thought rugby league had inadvertently relaunched the career of an actor and influenced others?
William Hartnell portrayed an ageing league talent scout, affectionately known as ‘Dad’, in the film This Sporting Life in 1963.
Such was Hartnell’s performance, he was offered an acting job in a new science-fiction television series by the BBC. Hartnell was handed the leading role of Dr Who.
This Sporting Life also launced the career of another famous actor, Richard Harris. Harris played angry young league player Frank Machin.
Machin was unsure of his role in society and was unable to cope with rejection stemming from his violent upbringing. He soon crosses paths with the town’s rugby league team and jealously observes the accolades placed upon the players. This sets him on a ruthless destructive path to have what they have.
This Sporting Life is a rugby league film but it is also a film of domestic voilence, infidelity, sexual tension and drugs set in a traditional Yorkshire setting. The rugby league scenes are truly memorable and include Wakefield Trinity’s Challenge Cup tie against Wigan before a then-record crowd of 28,254 at Belle Vue.
Richard Harris went on to star in such films as A Man Called Horse, as King Arthur in Camelot, and more recent roles as Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator, and Dumbledore in Harry Potter.
While critically acclaimed in Europe and the USA, This Sporting Life was a commercial flop. It became considered a classic of its genre years later though.
Rugby league also became the catalyst for the launching of another career, this time across the Atlantic in America. Author David Story (This Sporting Life) achieved greater success for his rugby league play The Changing Room.
The play was a hit on Broadway in 1983, running for 192 performances. It was hailed by New York Times Broadway theatre critic Walter Kerr as “mysterious and ultimately mesmerising”, and helped launch the career of novice actor John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun), who won a Tony Award for the lead role.
Lithgow is an immense actor who covers comedic and psychotic roles with genius ease.
The Changing Room prompted the first and only feature of rugby league on the front cover of Sports Illustrated.
Rugby league is often described as great theatre on and off the field. In a roundabout way league had infused itself into the careers of Harris, Hartnell and Lithgow.
So when some rugby league supporters feel Leichhardt Oval is like a colosseum, or describe a Benji Marshall flick pass as pure magic, they may just be subliminally harking back to some of these actors whose films, TV series and plays have forever become entwined with ‘the greatest game of all.’
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