- Mel Gibson, Mad Max, 1978. By working as an ER medico at 31, Dr George Miller managed to raise a (low) budget of $350,000 for his first movie. And booked the Irish-born stage and TV actor Healey for Max Rockatansky. Healey wasn’t happy with the sparse dialogue. And anyway, he had just won a a scholarship to RADA in London where, he said, he later won a James Bond test. Presumably the dialogue was too sparse again. The New York Times called Max “ugly and incoherent, and aimed, probably accurately, at the most uncritical of moviegoers. ” Two decades later it joined the NY Times list of best movies ever made! Max is named after the 19th Century pathologist Carl von Rokitansky, creator of the Rokitansky procedure for removing internal organs in autopsies. Well, told you George was a doctor. (So was the other down-under director called George Miller).
- Val Kilmer, The Saint, 1996. A two-year 1985 Universal contract took Healey to Hollywood, meaning roles in The Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Father Dowling Mysteries and Young Riders, etc. He was also Joan Collins’ fourth husband, Sean Rowan, during Dynasty, 1987-1988, and made several pilots which never made series. (Some never even made pilots). Producer Robert Evans saw him for Simon Templar in the first Saint film since the 50s – and optioned the actor’s Ill-Fated script for Jack Nicholson. (Ironically, Mel Gibson was also considered). After loosing Templar – and Nicholson – Healey returned to Melbourne, nursed his dying father, was nearly jailed for assault with a deadly weapon (200 hours of community service instead). He quit acting in 1996, joined the Australian Wrtiters Guil and in 2005 launched his own production outlet, Caesars Sword Productions, which boasted several optioned projects.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2