General News
5 March, 2025
Accidental actress recalls cameo in Apocalypse Now
The Mount Isa woman was asked to play a role as an extra in the famous war movie.
When Tessie Cunado applied for a job at Mount Isa Mines in the early 1980s, her resume drew a lot of unexpected attention.
Buried among the usual list of qualifications, achievements and work experience was the name of one of the most popular movies of the modern age of cinema.
Just a few years earlier, Tessie was in the Philippines working as a secretary for the government’s department of transport when she was invited to join the production crew of the now legendary film Apocalypse Now, which was filming just outside of Manila.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who was still riding high following the mammoth success of his Godfather movies, the multi-Oscar winning movie – which regularly is listed as among the greatest war movies ever made – is a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness and tells the story of a group of soldiers in search of a mysterious deserter, named Colonel Kurtz, who was played by legendary screen actor Marlon Brando
Tessie said she was only initially given a production role in assisting the transportation and security logistics for the Hollywood actors.
However, at the time, the movie was infamously beset with financial and production woes, and Tessie was soon also being asked to join other crew members to appear in front of the camera in cameo roles.
Tessie appears centre frame in one of the iconic scenes – when Playboy bunnies arrive on helicopters to entertain the throngs of lonely soldiers.
Press the pause button during the wide crowd shots and you’ll see a young Tessie holding a huge white sign welcoming the models.
It was only a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, but it drew widespread interest from her fellow Mount Isa Mines employees.
“They used to joke that I was a famous Filipina actress who was now living in Mount Isa,” she said with a smile.
“When the movie finished, I took my soldier uniform home and kept it for a long time because I was excited to have been in that movie.”
Tessie’s production role saw her interact regularly with the famous Hollywood stars appearing in the movie, including arranging for Marlon Brando to visit some unsavoury Manila districts and nursing Martin Sheen’s dog back to health.
“Marlon Brando was very strict – he did not want to be exposed to the photographers – Harvey Keitel and Martin Sheen were both so nice,” she told North West Weekly.
“It was my job to make sure the driver and their security guard were people who they could trust.”
