James Daly Movies

The phenomenal success of the 1977 ABC miniseries Roots all but demanded a sequel to writer Alex Haley's epic story of his African and African-American forebears. Debuting February 18, 1979, Roots: The Next Generations picked up where its predecessor left off, with Haley's slave ancestors winning their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War. Even so, life for black Americans was wrought with hardship and oppression thanks to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the staunch refusal of the white power structure to pass anti-lynching laws, and the formation of the dreaded Jim Crow laws which legalized racial segregation in the South (and much of the North). Covering the period from 1882 to the mid-1970s, the miniseries first focuses on blacksmith Tom Harvey (Georg Stanford Brown), great-grandson of Kunta Kinte (the protagonist of the original Roots), and his family. Meanwhile, reacting to the marriage of his son to a black woman, anal-retentive Southern colonel Warner (Henry Fonda) begins setting the legal wheels in motion to deny blacks like Tom the right to vote and to hold "white" jobs. A few decades later, Tom's son-in-law encourages his fellow blacks to stand firm against the KKK's reign of terror. His labors on behalf of his race are rewarded when his daughter Bertha (Irene Cara) becomes the first descendant of Kunta Kinte to receive a college education. It is Bertha Palmer who weds the equally ambitious Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood), who goes on to serve in WWI and to organize farmers and sharecroppers during the Depression. Simon's son Alex (played at various ages by Kristoff St. John, Damon Evans, and finally James Earl Jones) is just as determined to succeed in a white man's world as his father, and to that end becomes a professional writer after his own service stint in the Coast Guard during WWII. At the height of his professional success (largely due to his having ghost-written the autobiography of Muslim activist Malcolm X), Alex Haley pays a visit to his boyhood hometown -- where, almost by accident, he receives the first clue to his heritage, a clue that will lead him on an odyssey of self-discovery, arriving full circle at Kunta Kinte's birthplace in Africa. Although the miniseries' "money scene" was Haley's nervous interview with American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando in a superb cameo turn), the climactic episode, in which Haley tearfully embraces the living African descendants of Kunta Kinte, is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of network television. Running 12 episodes and 14 hours, Roots: The Next Generations concluded on February 25, 1979, playing to huge ratings all along the way and ultimately garnering several Emmy nominations (and one win). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This action/comedy picture follows the adventures of a group of anti-war, anti-establishment guerillas, who come up with a scheme to destroy Fort Knox with an atom bomb. The most notable feature of this film is that it features Brandon de Wilde in his last performance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This episode marks a rare joint appearance by actor James Daly and his daughter Tyne Daly. The elder Daly is cast as Judge McIntire, who is presently touring college campuses giving lectures about a controversial death sentence he'd levied eight years earlier. During a classroom re-enactment of the trial, McIntire is himself marked to death by an unknown party. Law student Mark (Don Mitchell) must rely upon his boss Ironside (Raymond Burr) to save the judge's life and ferreting out the would-be "executioner". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Ryan (Ryan O'Neal) is a cucumber picker who is fired after a fight with a Mexican-American (Victor Paul) co-worker. He finds work on a ranch owned by Ray Ritchie (James Daly). Soon his private secretary Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young) is after Jack. She spends her free time in pursuit of hedonism and reckless pleasure by fornicating on tombstones and breaking hearts as well as windows. Sam Mirakian (Van Heflin) is the motel owner whose lonely resident (Lee Grant) makes a play for Jack. She ends up killing herself and Nancy ends up killing someone else for sheer pleasure. This forgettable and pointless movie -- one critic described it as "a rancid piece of trash" -- is O'Neal's big-screen debut. Some nudity required an "R" rating. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The initials stand for University Medical Center, where this TV movie was set (the University was actually UCLA, though not so named). The heads of the institution are Dr. Joseph Gannon (Richard Bradford), and Gannon's mentor and best friend Dr. Lee Forestman (Edward G. Robinson). Gannon performs a heart transplant on Forestman, a procedure that lands him in court. The plaintiff is the heart donor's widow, who claims that Gannon allowed her husband to die to save Forestman. When U.M.C. developed into the long-running weekly series Medical Center, Edward G. Robinson was busy elsewhere, Chad Everett replaced Richard Bradford as Gannon, and James Daly, third-billed in U.M.C., had been appointed the med center's chief of staff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood film favorite Gene Tierney makes a rare TV appearance in this episode, in which she plays one of three witnesses to a Mob murder. The victim was an ex-FBI agent who just before his death had informed Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) that the Mafia was in the process of taking over an isolated retirement village. Despite a marked lack of cooperation from the witnesses, Erskine endeavors to prevent their extermination at the hands of fugitive killer Leonard King (Ken Lynch). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally intended as a project for Blake Edwards, the film version of Pierre Boule's semisatiric sci-fi novel came to the screen in 1968 under the directorial guidance of Franklin J. Schaffner. Charlton Heston is George Taylor, one of several astronauts on a long, long space mission whose spaceship crash-lands on a remote planet, seemingly devoid of intelligent life. Soon the astronaut learns that this planet is ruled by a race of talking, thinking, reasoning apes who hold court over a complex, multilayered civilization. In this topsy-turvy society, the human beings are grunting, inarticulate primates, penned-up like animals. When ape leader Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) discovers that the captive Taylor has the power of speech, he reacts in horror and insists that the astronaut be killed. But sympathetic ape scientists Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter) risk their lives to protect Taylor -- and to discover the secret of their planet's history that Dr. Zaius and his minions guard so jealously. In the end, it is Taylor who stumbles on the truth about the Planet of the Apes: "Damn you! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!" Scripted by Rod Serling and Michael Wilson (a former blacklistee who previously adapted another Pierre Boule novel, Bridge on the River Kwai), Planet of the Apes has gone on to be an all-time sci-fi (and/or camp) classic. It won a special Academy Award for John Chambers's convincing (and, from all accounts, excruciatingly uncomfortable) simian makeup. It spawned four successful sequels, as well as two TV series, one live-action and one animated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Promising to smuggle wealthy Eastern Europeans across the Iron Curtain, banker Alfred Belzig 9James Daly) lures the hapless escapees to their deaths, then deposits the victims' money in his own bank to finance a neo-Nazi party. The IMF hopes to put Belzig out of business permanently by stealing his $3 million nest egg from his safety deposit box. Assisting the agents this time out is Paul Lebarre (Pierre Jalbert, a convicted bank robber who may not be entirely trustworthy. Originally telecast October 1 1967, "The Bank" was written by Brad Radnitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roy Thinnes was the star of this 1967-1968 science fiction series, about an Earth poised on the brink of alien takeover. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Saunders (Vic Morrow) and his squad are assigned to help engineer officer Captain Cole (James Daly) find a suitable location to build a bridge. At the same time, Cole's son Jack (James MacArthur), a war correspondent, has arrived in hopes of mending a long-standing rift between himself and his father. The situation comes to a head when the principal characters are trapped in a farmhouse surrounded by Germans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Using the alias Stephen Fitzgerald, con artist Andrew Cook (James Daly) has married the widow of a bank owner, embezzled the bank funds, and murdered his wife--a pattern he has followed for years in several other cities. Now the homicidal Cook has targeted wealthy Amy Hunter (Margaret Leighton) as his next victim, with both Amy's life and a million-dollar "prize" at stake. Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must figure out the reason behind Fitzgerald's modus operandi in order to stop him before he can steal--and kill--again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon learning of the death of his father, fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) arranges a secret meeting with his sister Donna (Jacqueline Scott) in Fort Wayne, Indiana. What Donna doesn't know is that her every move is being monitored by Mike Ballinger (James Daly), the prosecutor who presided over Kimble's murder trial. Figuring that something is afoot, Ballinger alerts Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse)--and it looks as if Kimble is finally going to be ensared in an inescapable trap. Lin McCarthy appears in this episode as the latest of several actors cast as Donna's long-suffering husband Len Taft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Give Us Barabbas! was originally telecast in color on March 26, 1961. The story begins during the trial of Jesus, conducted by Pontius Pilate (Dennis King). Giving the populace a choice between Jesus and the thief Barabbas (James Daly) as to whom will be crucified, the crowd shouts back "Give Us Barabbas!". Following the crucifixion, Barabbas undergoes a transformation; a thief no more, he spends the rest of his life atoning to the martyred Jesus. Written by Henry Denker, the 60-minute, videotaped Give Us Barabbas was the Easter offering of the long-running anthology Hallmark Hall of Fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide