Australian director Peter Weir's Gallipoli was a hugely popular film, which was released in 1981. The film starred, among others, future-star Mel Gibson and Mark Lee. Both of these were at the time two ordinary, hard working Australian actors, none of which had an idea that one of them would become one of the great Australian film exports of the late 20th century. The film is set in the 1910s, and a large part of the film is set in Turkey, although it was filmed in Australia.

Gerda Nicolson has a very small part in this movie, playing Rose Hamilton, the main character's mother. She unwittingly waves her son good-bye for the last time as he is heading for a running competition. What she does not realise, is that he has decided he will not return home, at least not until after he has enlisted to the army and joined the Australian troops in Turkey. As fate will have it, the son is killed, fighting for the British Empire on foreign soils.

Even though they are actors in the same movie, Gerda does not share any scenes with Mel Gibson.

Director Peter Weir also directed later, international blockbusters, like Dead Poets Society (starring Robin Williams) and The Truman Show (starring Jim Carrey).