TVMovie/Miniseries Trivia

[lavenderblue19]

Thanks,Lana.

 

This very popular mini-series had many very famous actors and actresses appearing in it. One great legend who played an older woman was not the first to be offered the role. Another Legend was offered the role 1st, of this tough, head of household. Can you name the actress who first turned down the role, the actress who played it and the mini-series ? (80's)

 

 

[allaboutlana]

Audrey Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, *The Thorn Birds?*

[lavenderblue19]

Yikes!!!! The all-time Thornbirds expert! I think you posted the answer before I finished posting the question (LOL), Barbara was perfect, totally different movie with Audrey I think. As much as I love Audrey, too beautiful for the role. Would have taken attention away from Meggie's striking beauty, I think,

Good work, Lana- you probably love The Thornbirds as much as I do. Your thread.

[allaboutlana]

Other actors in this first miniseries was an actor whose remembered for a role in which he tried to warn people, but they wouldn't listen; an actor whose biggest success was portraying a president after being typecast in films; an actor famous for his tan, and an actress, who, if you know anything about 1980 and 1990s tv shows, famously fell down an elevator shaft.

 

Edited by: allaboutlana on Sep 13, 2011 9:03 AM

[allaboutlana]

 

It is The Survivors with Lana Turner. Harold Robbins was the writer associated with it. The Last of the Powerseekers was a TVM in which the stars reprised their roles.The other players I referred to were Kevin McCarthy, Ralph Bellamy, George Hamilton, and Diana Muldaur, who was on L.A. Law in the late 80s early 90s, but, when her character was written off the show, the elevator doors opened without the elevator and she turned and fell to the bottom. It was quite a shock and made for a memorable moment on the show. Your turn.

 

 

[lavenderblue19]

*RKO 281* ?

[lavenderblue19]

Thanks. I watched *RKO 281* when it first aired on HBO. It's terriffic. Fascinating and the portrayls of Orson, Herman Mank,Marion , Hearst, Louela, Hedda, etc. are great. I taped the film at the time and I watch it every now and again. I highly recommend it. Be back later with one.

[flashback42]

Thanks, lavender. I piddled around and actually discovered a couple of new approaches to researching matters like the ones we deal with. Next up:

 

Early 1970s. Christmas-themed TVM set in hard economic times. The father has been working away from home, and is expected home for the holiday. Through a church connection, the smaller children get some toys donated by people better off. A small girl is delighted with a doll, unil she finds that it is broken. Star / Narrator: "Nobody ever gave away anything worth keeping, I guess."

[flashback42]

Delightful support characters: Two elderly maiden sisters help support themselves through the Depression using the product of their late father's excellent still. ("Papa's recipe") The old dolls will sell you all the booze you need if you tell them you're making fruitcakes.

[MilesArcher]

That sounds like "The Homecoming". It was the pilot film for "The Waltons" TV series. In the original, Patricia Neal played the mother and Andrew Duggan was the father. Those roles would eventually go to Micheal Learned and Ralph Waite. Earl Hamner, the scriptwriter, based the characters on ones he used in the movie "Spencer's Mountain" with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.

[flashback42]

Correct, Miles. My next clue was to be that a series followed the TVM some nine or ten months later, with major cast changes. And just as the Waltons were variations on the Spencers, the real source is supposedly the family and experiences of scripter Earl Hamner, Jr. BTW, do you know if there is a "Hamner's Mountain" anywhere?

 

Miles' thread.

[lavenderblue19]

Just as an aside, many years ago my boyfriend at the time and Richard Thomas (John-Boy) were friends. We double dated a number of times.

[flashback42]

Miles, I'm stumped on this one unless it's *Roots.* I was able to spot Chuck Conners (baseball) and John Amos (football) as former pro athletes in the cast, And a couple who were educated on athletic scholarships. Am I on the right track?

[MilesArcher]

You got it, flash. It is "Roots". By the way, Chuck Connors also played professional basketball in the forties with the Celtics. The one athlete that you missed was active in his sport at that time. It was none other than O.J. Simpson, who was seen in an early episode running with LeVar Burton. You're up next, flash.

[flashback42]

On stage in London and on Broadway during the 1960s. The TV filming was done in the 1990s. The work of a very popular British writer, composer and performer.

[flashback42]

Succesful in business. He builds himself a mountain -- high. He takes that daydream up the mountain slope.

[flashback42]

Cast: One boy, one man, a seven-woman ensemble and a woman who plays (and sings) three different characters. Minimal set. When the man and the ensemble build that mountain and build it high, It is all chiorigraphed so as to help the audience see the mountain rise.

[flashback42]

♫ What kind of fool am I...? ♪

[flashback42]

"♫ Gonna build a daydream, gonna see it through...

Gonna build a mountain and a daydream, gonna make 'em both come true. ♫"

[flashback42]

"♪ I'm a typically English rosebud

Born of typically English stock,

With a typically Anglo-Saxon family tree...♫"

 

"♪ I'm a glorious Russian comrad

born on glorious Russian soil...

I was part of my glorious parents' Five-Year Plan...♫"

 

"♪ I'm an all American female

From an all American town.

I'm from all American Main Street, USA...♫"

 

The same actress plays all three of these roles, and sings all of these numbers.

[flashback42]

Sheeesh! I should have made use of this story on the 'name this song thread' It was released theatrically in 1966 with the British cast.

 

"♫ When I take my daydream up the mountain

Heaven will be waiting there! ♪"

[flashback42]

Wheeew! Correct, Sixes.

 

The 1996 made-for-TV version featured Peter Scolari (best remembered as Tom Hanks' roommate in "Bosom Buddies" and as Bob Newhart's irritating foil in "Newhart") as Littlechap. The multiple-role leading lady was Stephanie Zimbalist, best remembered, I think, as Remington Steele's partner.

 

mr6666's thread.

 

Edited by: flashback42 on Oct 1, 2011 5:39 PM

[flashback42]

Final comments on *Stop the World...* It helped establish the multitalented Anthony Newley on both sides of the Atlantic. It was followed a couple of years later by *The Roar* of *the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd.* Both of these works faired better on stage, and did not adapt well to film. But they generated some popular songs. The score of *Stop World* included the hit "What Kind Of Fool Am I?", Sammy Davis Jr's recording probably the most popular. Also, Once In A Lifetime and Gonna Build Me a Mountain were easy listnin' standards for a while.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Now I want to try something more user-friendly.

 

Late 1960s TVM. A highschool teacher. divorced mom, wants to lose a few pounds. Takes up jogging.

[flashback42]

First time out, she hits the street in a goodlooking outfit of gym sweats. Fade out. Fade in. She's back at her house, getting out of a taxi.

[flashback42]

She perseveres, gets better. Her routine is forced to change in Octbor, when Daylight Savings Time ends. Running alone on dark streets, she is assaulted. She escapes, but the scene ends with her in a laughing/screaming breakdown. Not letting it stop her, she is then seen running at night with her two daughters. One on skates, one on her bike. Safety in numbers and witnesses. That problem does not come up again.