The Daily Telegraph 2006 -1


Russell is a fountain of strength for Danielle

20 April 2006

AN unseasonally hot Sydney day took its toll yesterday on Russell Crowe's pregnant wife Danielle Spencer.

The Oscar-winner had to come to his wife's rescue with a bottle of water as she struggled to cope with the heat outside Cook+Phillip Park Pool in the city, where she

had just been for her regular swim.

The temperature hit 33C in Sydney yesterday, 10C above average.

Spencer sat on the path outside the pool for 15 minutes as Crowe tended to her while their son Charlie, 2, looked on.

"It did look like the heat had gotten to her badly," a passer-by said.

"She had to sit down on the hot concrete and have some water."

Once she had regained her strength, Crowe led the family to their car for the short trip back to their Woolloomooloo pad.

Earlier, Crowe had left Spencer to take to the pool while he played in Hyde Park with Charlie, kicking a soccer ball and then sitting in the shade.

Spencer has just entered the third trimester of pregnancy, with their second baby due in July.

She has become a regular at her local pool during this pregnancy and when expecting Charlie.

Crowe revealed last month the new arrival would be another boy.

Thanks to Poly:

The Daily Telegraph THU 16 FEB 2006
James' race to farewell his father - By MICHAEL BODEY

JAMES Packer tells of his rush to farewell his billionaire father Kerry in a documentary on the billionaire's life, which screens tonight.

Big Fella -- The Extraordinary Life of Kerry Packer is narrated by Russell Crowe includes a number of new anecdotes and insights.

But James's revelations, and performance, steal the show.

Ros Packer has seen the documentary and "was genuinely moved by it, as will be everyone who watches it,'' a Nine insider said.

With Kerry Packer's state funeral service due to take place tomorrow, his personal yacht Arctic P was moored in the Harbour yesterday.

James was holidaying aboard the yacht in the Maldives on Christmas Day when he decided to rush home when his father was unable to speak.

"Then I spoke to my Mum and Dad's doctor and it became apparent that he was in real trouble,'' he said.

James was worried he wouldn't return in time.

"I think as every child does with a parent, you want to have an opportunity to say goodbye,'' he said.

"I think we had that opportunity and we got to say a few words to each other, but one of the joys of my life is that my father and I ended in the best place we'd ever been ... that was what we had been saying to each other for the weeks and months prior to that.''
James also conceded his view of the afterlife, previously dismissed by Kerry, changed on Boxing Day.

"It was eerie because after he died to be there with him, to be there with a body that was so different to his character, which was so alive, made me think that there must be something and so I'm taking the positive and hoping and wishing that he's up there looking down on us.''
The documentary is on Channel Nine at 8.30pm tonight.

James on ...
His father's stoicism:

'He really wasn't OK but he wasn't going to let me know that.'

On the final farewell
'You want to have an opportunity to say goodbye. I think we had that opportunity and we got to say a few words to each other.'

On the afterlife
'I'm taking the positive and hoping and wishing that he's up there looking down on us.'

Thanks to Maria (Bolding added):

From Newstext: The Daily Telegraph

Starry ascent: Russ and Heath are on a role - By MICHAEL BODEY

Russell Crowe isn't the most obvious role model but if Heath Ledger's looking for one, he could do worse. In fact, their career parallels are uncanny and if they both pick up Oscar nominations on January 31, it would be only the second time two local actors have competed against each other at the Academy Awards after Gladiator's Crowe beat Quills' Geoffrey Rush in 2001.

Crowe's performance in Cinderella Man deserves a nomination. He's at the peak of his craft. Heath Ledger, once dubbed the heir to Mel Gibson, was recently plummeting to the nadir of his. While Crowe hardly needs further recognition as the most accomplished actor of his generation, Ledger's kudos for his heartbreaking performance comes at the right moment.

Through circumstance and his choices, Ledger had become a pretty face looking for credibility.
Both Ledger and Crowe had small roles on iconic soaps in their formative years, Ledger on Home and Away, Crowe on Neighbours. After particularly noteworthy Australian performances (Two Hands and Romper Stomper) generated much Hollywood interest, it appeared both were on their way.
Ledger was cast in the US teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You before he returned to Sydney to film Two Hands. But it would be some time before both Ledger and Crowe consolidated their talents overseas.

Crowe's high-profile The Quick and The Dead and Virtuosity didn't fire and two smaller films, Rough Magic and No Way Back weren't even released in Australia. But almost everything he's touched since has fired after his stunning performance in LA Confidential. Meanwhile, Ledger was marked as a leading man before his time. A litany of under-achieving films, including A Knight's Tale, The Four Feathers, The Sin Eater, Lords of Dogtown and even Ned Kelly, had Ledger marked as eye-candy with dubious talent. Few noticed his brief but assured performance in Monster's Ball opposite the showy Halle Berry.

Now Brokeback Mountain, and to a lesser extent Casanova, have changed that, says Tim Gray, editor of the Hollywood newspaper, Variety.

"He's kind of the new kid on the block but he's been around,'' he says. ``Now he's the pretty boy who can really act. In those teen dating movies he was fine but this one is so much more, a part where he's so bottled up he can't show his emotions yet he affects you.''Ledger, like Crowe, is now making solid career choices, opting for interesting, quality directors instead of obvious leading roles. It's a path Nicole Kidman has used to her favour in recent years, too. Ledger's and Crowe's struggles for screen credibility have intermittently been derailed by some erratic, off-screen behaviour.

They're both inquiring minds not quite able to reconcile their undoubted talents with the demands of Hollywood fame.

On and off screen, both search for something more than the obvious, which can make them captivating interview subjects when they're on song. Charming, intelligent yet intermittently volatile, neither can be considered uncomplicated.

And if they weren't, the world's top movie directors wouldn't work with them.
Caption: Solid ... Crowe's hit Romper Stomper; Ledger's Two Hands
Early exposure overseas ... Crowe with Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead and Ledger with Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You


Column: Inside Edition
Section: FEATURES


Back to News