abc.net.au/news/kate-mulvany-disability-vietnam-agent-orange-veterans-pain/102730120When actor Kate Mulvany delivered a compelling portrayal of a complicated and intriguing woman accused of murder in the multi-award-winning court room drama, The Twelve, what most viewers wouldn't have known was she filmed the series in crippling pain.
While the cause has never been confirmed, it's suspected her father's service in Vietnam and exposure to Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide used by American forces to defoliate forests and destroy enemy crops, is to blame. "Radiotherapy was weird because I was laying on the table and Mum and Dad would be on a television screen in the corner."I remember that very clearly and turning into an alien, of living this alien life with bits removed from me, my hair falling out and people treating me differently."But the thing that almost killed me was I developed anorexia.
The physical toll was horrendous, but it was the trauma she witnessed her parents, particularly her father, endure that is seared in her memory. "It was very, very important to me that there was an in-depth interrogation of what exactly was the journey of our involvement in the Vietnam War, what it was to be an Australian at the time, and what the ongoing effects were for Australia and Australian veterans, and their families but also the story of the Vietnamese and refugees who arrived in Australia," she says.
Mulvany says her father got a taste of the anti-war sentiment before he even left Australia, making the mistake of wearing his uniform while on recreational leave from training at Puckapunyal and suffering a broken leg after being "beaten up by a Combi load of hippies". "He got rashes and [six years ago] he died of oesophageal cancer, which is dioxin related but also a smoking related illness and he was a smoker.
One positive to come out of Mulvany's illness was that the long, dull periods in hospital led her to a career as an actor and writer.As well as The Twelve, her screen credits include a leading role as Nazi-hunting nun/spy opposite Al Pacino in the Amazon Prime series Hunters, playing record producer Marion Keisker in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis and portraying Robbie Williams' mother in the upcoming biopic, Better Man, plus award-winning and leading theatre roles.