Early life
Born John Hadley Pain [1] in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, Thompson was five years old when his mother Marjorie died, leaving his father Harold, [a purser for Qantas seconded to the RAAF during the war] unable to care for him and his brother, David. [2] [3] [4] He was sent to "LakeHouse orphanage" in Narrabeen by his aunt and subsequently adopted by the poet and ABC broadcaster John Thompson [5] and his wife Pat, after which he changed his surname. [6] Jack is film reviewer Peter Thompson's adopted brother. [7]
Thompson was educated at Sydney Boys High School. [8] He left school at 14, became a jackaroo in the Northern Territory, and took labouring jobs in New South Wales. [8]
After working in an agricultural lab, Thompson at the age of 20, joined the army in 1960 so that he could earn a science degree.
Career
Television roles
Thompson decided to take acting seriously, giving himself a year to make it. [14]
His TV career began with the soap opera Motel (1968), and he had guest appearances on numerous serials, including Riptide , Woobinda, Animal Doctor , Skippy , The Rovers , Division 4 , Homicide and Matlock Police . He also appeared in the documentary short Personnel, or People? (1969), directed by Donald Crombie.
Thompson had a leading role in spy drama series Spyforce (1971–1973), playing the role of Erskine who did missions in World War II. [15]
He continued to guest-star on shows such as Over There , Matlock Police (again), Ryan , Boney and Elephant Boy .
He guest-starred on The Evil Touch and Homicide again; he also appeared in Marijuana: Possession and the Law (1974). [16] [17]
Films and stardom
Thompson made his film debut in That Lady from Peking in 1968, and his first lead role was in TV movie Silo 15 (filmed in 1969 and released in 1971).
He had a supporting role in Wake in Fright in 1971, and he received excellent reviews for his performance in one of the stories in Libido in 1973, with his segment written by David Williamson. He also starred in TV movie Linehau in 1973.
Thompson became an Australian film star playing the title role in Petersen (1974), written by Williamson and directed by Tim Burstall. The film was a success at the box office. [18] He did the TV movie Human Target (1974), then starred in the highly acclaimed Sunday Too Far Away (1975), playing a shearer.
Thompson played the title role in Scobie Malone (1975), based on the Jon Cleary novel Helga's Web . It was produced by American Casey Robinson, who said "Jack Thompson is a great part of my reason to become involved in this venture. I have no doubt whatsoever that when this film is seen overseas he'll be turned instantly into an international star. There aren't many male actors like him around any more. There's something there that reminds me very much of Bogart." [19] The film was a failure at the box office. [20]
He did an episode of Armchair Theatre , titled "Tully". [21]
Thompson had a supporting role in Caddie (1976), directed by Crombie, which was a big success. [22]
Thompson had become nationally famous playing "macho" type roles. "I think it reflects its time so accurately," he said later. "There was a preoccupation with the macho Australian male; it's a thing that had to be examined or purged in film." [14]
Character actor
Thompson then deliberately decided to take character parts, out of a fear of typecasting and "also an understanding that unless I could get out of that target area, then I wouldn't be allowed to be seen as an actor." [14]
He guest starred in an episode of Luke's Kingdom and played the second lead in Mad Dog Morgan (1976) with Dennis Hopper. He took some time off to work on a script with his brother then had a key support role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978). He supported imported stars Karen Black and Keir Dullea in a TV movie shot in Australia, Because He's My Friend (1978).
Thompson returned to acting after another break to play the lead role in a sex comedy, The Journalist (1979). "I haven't made any films since then because I haven't liked the parts I've been offered, and also I've been too busy promoting the Australian film industry overseas", said Thompson at the time. [23] The film became a notorious flop. He worked on a script with his brother called Welcome Stranger. [14]
He was offered a role in Breaker Morant (1980), directed by Bruce Beresford - the part of Private Hancock. Thompson turned it down, Beresford rewrote the script and offered him the part again, and Thompson accepted. Then filming was delayed. John Hargreaves who was to play the lawyer became unavailable; Thompson took that part and Bryan Brown played Hancock. [14] The film was a considerable success. Thompson won Best Supporting Actor at Cannes. [24]
Thompson supported US stars William Holden and Rick Schroeder in The Earthling (1980) then was top billed in The Club (1980), directed by Beresford from a play by Williamson. [25]
"You get awfully fed up with the public image that you must live up to," he said in an interview around this time. "I just want to continue becoming a part of the Australian film industry, not for materialistic reasons but because I enjoy it. I not only want to act, but produce and possibly direct". [14]
Thompson went to New Zealand to make Bad Blood (1982) playing killer Stanley Graham, then had a support role in The Man from Snowy River (1982), playing Clancy of the Overflow.
International career
Thompson went overseas to support Ingrid Bergman in A Woman Called Golda (1982). He was Lee Remick's husband in a remake of The Letter (1982), and played a British POW in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) with David Bowie and Tom Conti.
Back in Australia Thompson starred in a mini series about wharfies in the Depression, Waterfront (1983). He went to Europe to star in a swashbuckler for Paul Verhoeven, Flesh + Blood (1985), then returned to Australia to star in Burke and Wills (1985). This film was a box office disappointment.
Thompson supported Linda Evans and Jason Robards in a TV mini series, The Last Frontier (1986), which was a huge ratings success. In the US he had a role in Kojak: The Price of Justice (1987) then returned home to play an ASIO officer in Ground Zero (1987).
Thompson was a love interest for Stefanie Powers in Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) on US TV, and had the lead in an Australian TV movie, The Riddle of the Stinson (1989), playing Bernard O'Reilly.
He co-starred with Raquel Welch in Trouble in Paradise (1989) for US TV, then did a mini series in New Zealand, The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy (1989).
He did a US TV movie After the Shock (1990) and had a support part in Turtle Beach (1992) and Wind (1992).
He had a supporting part as Cliegg Lars in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).
Character actor
Thompson began to increasingly work as a character actor in the US with roles in Ruby Cairo (1993), directed by Graeme Clifford, and A Far Off Place (1994).
He returned to Australia to play Russell Crowe's father in The Sum of Us (1994), then did A Woman of Independent Means (1995) in the US and Flight of the Albatross (1995) in New Zealand.
He had a support role in Broken Arrow (1996), did The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years (1996) back home and Last Dance (1996) for Beresford in the US.
Thompson starred in the Australian TV movie McLeod's Daughters (1996). He was Alicia Silverstone's father in Excess Baggage (1997), then did Under the Lighthouse Dancing (1997) in Australia. He appeared in the Clint Eastwood-directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) as Sonny Seiler, the attorney of Kevin Spacey's character, Jim Williams. (Seiler himself appeared in the movie as the judge in Williams' trial.) "I was amazed at how he adapted to Geechee to fit the role of playing me," Seiler said. "It was a pleasure working with him." [26]
Back in Australia Thompson provided a voice for The Magic Pudding (2000) and appeared in Yolngu Boy (2001). He had a support part in the new version of South Pacific (2001), the mini series based on My Brother Jack (2001), Original Sin (2001), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004), and Oyster Farmer (2005).
Thompson had a key role in two films directed by Brett Leonard: the Marvel Comics based Man-Thing (2005) and Feed (2006), the latter written by and starring his son.
Thompson had support roles in The Good German (2006), Bastard Boys (2007), December Boys (2007), Leatherheads (2008), Ten Empty (2008), Australia (2008), Mao's Last Dancer (2009) for Beresford, The Karenskys (2009), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), Rake (2010), Blinder (2013), The Great Gatsby (2013), Mystery Road (2013), Around the Block (2013), Bonnie & Clyde (2013) for Beresford, Devil's Playground (2014), Ruben Guthrie (2015), The Light Between Oceans (2016), Don't Tell (2017), Blue World Order (2017) and Swinging Safari (2018).
He has also acted in television miniseries and appeared as the host of the Channel 7 factual series Find My Family .
Personal life
Thompson married Beverley Hackett in 1963, and the five-year marriage produced his son Patrick Thompson. He met Leona King and her sister Bunkie in 1969, and they entered into a 15-year polyamorous relationship. Leona was 20 and Bunkie was 15 when the relationship began. [31] [32] Bunkie left the relationship in 1985, and is estranged from her sister. [33] Leona remained with Thompson, and gave birth to his second son, Billy. [34]
Thompson featured in the first episode of the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are? , which was televised on 13 January 2008 on SBS, with Thompson discovering that his great-grandfather was Captain Thomas Pain, and his great-great uncle was Alfred Lee, a prominent figure in Sydney society, who donated the journal of Joseph Banks, from Captain Cook's navigation to Australia in the 1770s, to the Mitchell Library in Sydney. [35]
Thompson used to own Hotel Gearin in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. He sold the hotel in June 2011. [36]
