Australian Story (1996)

Season 19: Episode 34

This week’s program concludes the family saga of the woman credited as the ‘silent operator’ of the Australian entertainment industry. Jan Russ helped launch some young stars who have gone on to fame in Hollywood but unbeknown to anybody, her own life was as drama filled as anything on the big screen. Russ’s motto has been ‘the show must go on’ and so it has – not least through the new ascendancy of her son Sam who’s emerged as the king of comedy on South Korean TV. But she never stopped thinking about the earlier baby she adopted out in heartbreaking circumstances five decades ago. In Monday's program we find out what happened when Jan tracked down her lost daughter...