Early career Dodd's first opportunity to act in
Australian film came in 1946, when the actor
Chips Rafferty noticed Dodd on the set of
The Overlandersa film set in the northern Australian bush during
World War IIand arranged for him to have a minor role. Two Aboriginal actors who, unlike Dodd, are credited for their parts in the film, were
Henry Murdoch and Clyde Combo, who worked alongside Dodd on later movies like
Bitter Springs and
Kangaroo.
The Overlanders was the first of three Rafferty movies in which Dodd secured a part, Dodd, meanwhile, appreciated Rafferty's vision for an Australian film industry and its potential to provide opportunities for Indigenous Australians.
Homicide (1974), and
Rush (1976). In March 1969 it was reported that he had been cast in a new series titled
Sparky, the Koala Bear to be filmed after Easter that year. In 1973 it was reported that a television film
Marra Marra featuring prominent Aboriginal actors
David Gumpilil and
Bob Maza, together with Dodd and Zac Martin, had been completed by Spinifex Productions. '' in November 1978|alt=an indoors colour photograph with three white people and one Aboriginal man in formal attire in the foreground with a large gathering in the background Although Dodd obtained small parts in several television series, for many years he and his fellow Aboriginal actors found themselves included in only minor and typecast roles in television productions. According to Indigenous actor, historian and activist
Gary Foley, Dodd joked that "he was sick of roles where his total dialogue was, 'he went that way, Boss!'" Reflecting on this issue, a commentator remarked on the 1978 film
Little Boy Lost: "There are many irrelevant scenes, the most obvious one being where Tracker Bindi (Steve Dodd), an Aboriginal, is introduced – yet another tired reinforcement of a false stereotype.
Later career Dodd contributed to several films in which issues facing Indigenous Australians, such as
land rights and race relations, were the central subjects. These appearances included
Bitter Springs and
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), the first of two films in which he appeared alongside
Jack Thompson. Dodd played the character of Tabidgi, the uncle of the lead character, Aboriginal man Jimmie Blacksmith. In the film, Jimmie Blacksmith marries a white woman named Gilda Marshall (played by
Angela Punch McGregor). When they have a baby, Dodd's character, "a tribal elder, ... is worried about Jimmie's marriage to a white woman and has brought him a talisman to keep him safe". Pauline Kael, writing in
The New Yorker, described the performances of the two black professional actors (
Jack Charles and Dodd) as "wonderful as sots: ... Steve , who is tried for murder and simply says, 'You'd think it would take a good while to make up your mind to kill someone and then to kill them, but take my word for it, it only takes a second'". Dodd's career was busiest in the 1980s, and by 1985 it was reported that he had acted in 55 movies or television features. In 1981 he played Billy Snakeskin in the film
Gallipoli, about the fate of young men who participated in the World War I
Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. This was followed by parts in
Chase Through the Night and
Essington, both in 1984. In 1985 he played the role of Mr Joe in
The Coca-Cola Kid, an Australian romantic comedy with an international cast including
Eric Roberts and
Greta Scacchi. In 1986 he appeared in the film
Short Changed. He also had minor parts in the popular television series
Homicide (1964–1977),
Division 4 (1969–1975),
Rush (1974–1976) and
The Flying Doctors (1985––1988).
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith was not the only film in which Dodd appeared that addressed topical Indigenous issues of the day. A decade after
Jimmie Blacksmith, Dodd performed in
Ground Zero, again with Jack Thompson in one of the lead roles. This film is a thriller based on claims that Indigenous Australians were used as human guinea pigs in the
British nuclear tests at Maralinga. The film uses as its context the
McClelland Royal Commission, which was investigating radioactive contamination at the site. In the film, Dodd plays a minor character named Freddy Tjapaljarri. Sources differ on whether Dodd had a part in
Evil Angels (released as
A Cry in the Dark outside of Australia and New Zealand), the 1988 film about the
Azaria Chamberlain disappearance, with Dodd's name not included in the cast list published by
Australian Film 1978–1994. In 1988 he played a minor role in
Kadaicha, an unreleased
horror film about a series of unexplained murders. In 1990 Dodd appeared in two films:
Quigley Down Under, a
western made in Australia but starring American
Tom Selleck and Briton
Alan Rickman; and
The Crossing, an Australian drama set in a country town. Dodd's career returned to politically contentious Indigenous issues when he played a minor role, of Kummengu, in the 1991 film
Deadly. This film is a police drama based around the death of an Indigenous man in police custody. As with
Ground Zero, the subject was very topical: the movie was released at the same time as the report of the
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which had for four years been examining why so many Indigenous Australians
died in police detention. In 1999, Dodd was one of three actors in
Wind, a short film portraying the pursuit of an old Aboriginal man (Dodd) by a young black tracker and a white police sergeant. That same year was marked by the most commercially successful film of his career,
The Matrix. Later, Dodd played minor roles in an episode of television series
The Alice (2006) and the movies
My Country (2007) and
Broken Sun (2008); his career in film and television lasted for sixty-seven years. In 2013, Dodd received the
Jimmy Little Lifetime Achievement Award at the
19th Deadly Awards at the
Sydney Opera House. Departing from tradition by presenting the award to someone who was not primarily a musician, the organisers described Dodd as "a pioneer and leader for our people in the field of the arts, showing resilience and dogged determinationbarriers were not going to hold him back". They also described him as "an actor that created a pathway for others across the entire arts and music sectors to follow, at a time when typecasting stereotypes and discrimination was the 'norm' in Australia's arts industry". ==Filmography==