People: Jul. 1, 1985

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The family that works alternately survives permanently. At least that is the domestic credo of Rachel Ward, 27, and Bryan Brown, 37, who met three years ago while filming The Thorn Birds for TV and ended up turning their onscreen marriage into the real thing. When Rosie made three, nine months ago, the English actress and Australian actor began scheduling their professional work in relays. Ward just finished filming Fortress, an Australian survivalist epic for HBO in which she plays a school marm who is kidnaped and imprisoned along with nine of her charges. "It's Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Lord of the Flies," says Ward, who reports that while mommy was bearing arms on the set, daddy had the arm-cradling duty in the nursery. "Bryan was the chief bottle washer and nappy changer," she says. Now Brown is shooting a spy flick called F-X in New York City, and Ward is taking her turn at changing the baby's, "uh, disposables." Sweet Rosie Brown seems delighted to be caught in the middle.