AUSTRALIAN screen legend Bill Hunter has inoperable cancer and has been admitted to a Melbourne hospice.

The 71-year-old star of films including Muriel’s Wedding, Gallipoli, Australia and Crackerjack, is said to be surrounded by family.

Hunter's manager Mark Morrissey told ninemsn the 71-year-old actor was "gravely ill".

"Sadly, he has cancer, and it's inoperable," he said.

"He was admitted to a hospice a couple of days ago."

Hunter’s agent, Mark Morrissey, confirmed to the Herald Sun that Hunter is “gravely ill” and would disclose more after talking to Hunter’s family later today.

Hunter, who lives in a property in north-western Victoria, will be seen in two Australian films this year - feel-good outback drama Red Dog (out August 11) and his last movie, The Cup (out October 13), in which he plays horse trainer Bart Cummings.

The director of The Cup, Simon Wincer, told the Herald Sun Hunter showed no signs of illness when the film was shot in Melbourne last year.

“There was certainly no hint of it then, he was his normal self,” said Wincer. “I will say Billy has lived life pretty hard, a smoker and drinker, a legend in that department, but that was one of his charms. I would describe him as a real Aussie bloke.

"A latter-day Chips Rafferty, I suppose - an iconic, classic, Australian bloke. And a wonderful sense of humour on screen."

Wincer had been in the process of setting up a special screening of The Cup for Hunter, but the actor has been unable to see it.

“We needed a legend to play Bart Cummings and Billy was the man. It was only a very small cameo, but I just wanted him to be part of it.

“We go back a long way, we go back to the Crawford days, Matlock Police and Homicide and all that sort of stuff. So I’ve known him for years and years and years. A real sweetheart and a great pro."

Wincer said a quote Hunter gave for the press kit for the upcoming film summed up the veteran’s approach to acting: “Something along the lines of, ‘There’s no great art to this, you just have to do what you’re told, hit your mark … there’s no great mystery’. It was so self-deprecating but so wonderfully honest. He just turns up and does it, that’s the wonderful thing about Bill. Just old-school.

“But he’s an amazing talent when you think of the range of his work – Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Newsfront, the voice of the dentist in Finding Nemo, fantastic, you know. It just goes on and on and on."

Hunter’s career began in the 1950s. He worked steadily in TV and film throughout the decades, sharing the screen with actors such as Jack Thompson, Terence Donovan, Mick Jagger, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Jackman, Toni Collette, Joel Edgerton, Bryan Brown, Barry Otto, Naomi Watts and Anthony LaPaglia.

Despite having worked with the cream of the Australian crop and internationally, Wincer said Hunter was ever-modest.

“He is absolutely passionate about Australian film,” Wincer said. “But in a very modest way. Billy was never grandstanding, no fuss, no bother, mates with everybody.

“You never hear a bad word about Billy. He’s certainly left his mark.”

Originally published as Family at Bill Hunter's bedside