Playing a real person is a daunting prospect for any actor. But when that person is the matriarch of one of New Zealand’s most famous families and their children are still alive, it’s even more overwhelming, says Amy Usherwood.
Amy plays Sir Edmund Hillary’s first wife Lady Louise in Hillary, TV One’s mini-series about the Kiwi icon. Although not as famous as her husband – who is played by Andrew Munro – Louise was still very well-known, and bringing her to life on screen is quite a responsibility, Amy (31) admits.
“I realised, ‘Oh, I’m playing a real person that some people still remember, and whose kids are still alive.’ It was the first time I have ever done that and it was quite daunting, but in the end you think, ‘I just have to do the best I can.’ We wanted to try to be as honest as possible.
“I am a little bit nervous about what the Hillary family will think, but I just hope they feel our portrayals are honest and respectful.”
Louise Rose married Everest conqueror Ed in 1953 and was the mother of his children, Peter, Sarah and Belinda. Tragically, she and youngest daughter Belinda were killed in a plane crash in Nepal in 1975. Ed, who died in 2008 aged 88, later married June Mulgrew, widow of his friend Peter Mulgrew, who was killed in the Erebus plane crash.
Amy, Andrew and fellow actress Alison Bruce, who plays Louise’s mum Phyllis Rose, were very grateful to have met with Peter and Sarah Hillary, who shared their insights into their parents and grandmother.
“It was an amazing opportunity,” recalls Alison (53). “We got to see home movies, which was so helpful for us. You could see they were such down-to-earth people. That’s when it really came through to me that these were real people we were playing, who still live on in people’s memories.”
“It was so generous of Peter and Sarah to share their memories with us and let us watch the movies,” continues Amy. “There were some wonderful shots of Louise and the kids on the beach. It was quite eerie, seeing her like that, so full of life.”
Lady Louise, Sir Ed and their brood (from left) Belinda, Peter and Sarah.
Amy, who played Nurse Emma Franklin on Shortland Street, admits she didn’t know much about Louise before she was cast in the role. “Perhaps it was a good thing – I would have been pretty daunted otherwise. She was an incredible woman and a very big part of Sir Ed’s story. She went off to Sydney to study music and would often go climbing. She was very supportive of her husband.”
Louise’s mother Phyllis was also a strong woman who liked to get things done. According to an interview Ed once gave, he was too shy to ask Louise to marry him, so Phyllis took matters in hand and proposed to her daughter on Ed’s behalf.
“I hope I have done enough to be able to capture Phyllis’ essence,” says Alison. “It sounds like she was quite an amazing person as well.”
The Almighty Johnsons and Being Eve star once met Ed. “I was about 22 and my then-boyfriend had been to school with his son Peter. I remember going to his
house and he was sitting in a big chair. I was trying not to be overwhelmed but it was Edmund Hillary!”
Although the actresses felt the pressure of playing the family of a man who changed history, they say working on the mini-series was in fact a relaxing experience.
The ice-pick archway at the real Hillary wedding back in 1953.
“It was quite a cruisy set and that was because of our director Danny Mulheron,” reveals Amy. “He would say, ‘Stop worrying, just enjoy doing this.’”
“He makes you feel like he trusts you, so you relax,” adds Alison. “He gives you enormous freedom to play the role and because you are not anxious about getting things wrong, you end up doing better work.”
“It really was an amazing opportunity to be cast in this production,” concludes Amy. “I really do hope that we’ve been able to do justice to the story of Sir Ed and his family.”
Hillary begins on TV One, Sunday, August 21 at 8.30pm.
