Nancy Dussault Movies

A young employee of a large corporation (William R. Moses) finds out that a fellow employee has been stealing money from the company. He informs his superiors of the man's embezzlement, which results in the embezzler killing his wife and his son, then shooting himself. The embezzler's daughter, a nurse, vows vengeance on the man she holds responsible for the deaths. When the informant suffers a stroke that leaves him paralyzed and hospitalized, the nurse sees her opportunity and, using another nurse's identity, gets the job of caring for him at the hospital. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Terrified when the Bay Area is rocked by an earthquake, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) seeks out a measure of security by obsessively latching herself to dad Danny (Bob Saget). As a result, Danny finds it impossible to leave the house for even a minute without Stephanie becoming hysterical. Ultimately, he consults a psychiatrist (Nancy Dussault) to remedy the situation (Incidentally, this episode was telecast less than two months after a genuine earthquake wreaked havoc upon San Francisco in October of 1989). Elsewhere, DJ (Candace Cameron) has a crisis of her own when she looks into the mirror and notices her very first pimple. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After ABC cancelled the genial sitcom Too Close for Comfort in the fall of 1983, production actually continued beyond its fourth season. A fifth season, spanning January 1984 through September 1985, aired under the same title as the original series, in first-run syndication; then, in spring 1986, a spin-off (of sorts) appeared, also in first-run syndication. While not officially a sixth season of Comfort, it did feature several of the same principals and characters, yet all were transferred to a new setting and premise. The late Ted Knight returned as cartoonist Henry Rush (the creator of 'Cosmic Cow'), and Nancy Dussault as his photographer wife Muriel, the venerable Jm. J. Bullock as the goofball Monroe Ficus, and Joshua Goodwin as Muriel and Henry's young son, Andrew. But gone were the two Rush daughters, Jackie and Sara (Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Lydia Cornell left the cast)). As this series opened, The Rushes had moved out of San Francisco. Henry, it seems, had abandoned his job as an illustrator to purchase 49% of 'The Marin Bugler,' a weekly newspaper in Mill Valley, California, north of Frisco; Muriel took on work as a staff photographer for the paper, while former security guard Monroe - having graduated from college - assisted Henry at the Bugler. On hand for the first time were Lisa (Lisa Antille), the Rushes' Hispanic maid, and Hope Stinson, the publisher of the newspaper.

This program ran in syndication from April 1986 through September 1986, and a second season was all scripted and set to go into production. Sadly, this never occurred, as Ted Knight (who had been seriously ill for some time) died during the summer of 1986. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Despite its cancellation by ABC at the end of the 1982-1983 TV season, the Britain-inspired sitcom Too Close for Comfort proved immensely successful when it was retooled as a first-run syndicated program and sold to individual stations and sponsors rather than telecast by a single network. As a result, the series was renewed for another season's worth of "syndie" episodes -- and that still wasn't the end of the story. The basic premise remains as ever: a conservative newspaper cartoonist named Henry Rush agonizes over the well-being of his toothsome daughters Jackie and Sara, who live in the lower apartment in the townhouse owned by Henry and his wife Muriel. Also, the familiar cast remains intact: Ted Knight as Henry, Nancy Dussault as Muriel, Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Jackie, Lydia Cornell as Sara, Joshua Goodwin as the Rushes' youngest child Andrew, and Audrey Meadows as Henry's termagant mother-in-law Iris, who now resides in the attic apartment above Henry and Muriel. With the announcement that series regulars Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Lydia Cornell would exit the series at the end of its second syndicated season (and fifth year on the air), the climactic episodes of Too Close for Comfort work overtime to prepare audiences for the series' major format change, coming up the following year. As the result of the cancellation of Henry's comic strip "Cosmic Cow," he and Muriel will soon forsake San Francisco, along with their longtime "house guest" Monroe Ficus (Jim J. Bullock), and move to Marin County, where Henry is destined to assume co-ownership of a small weekly newspaper. Armed with this premise, Too Close for Comfort would reemerge as The Ted Knight Show, beginning in April of 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of the ABC sitcom Too Close for Comfort climaxed with Muriel Rush (Nancy Dussault), 42-year-old wife of ultraconservative newspaper cartoonist Henry Rush (Ted Knight), giving birth to her third child, a son named Andrew. Season three finds Andrew old enough to be played by actual child actors instead of anonymous infants. In this case, the role is shared by twins William Thomas Cannon and Michael Philip Cannon) (though the baby "talks" with the voice of an adult actor in those scenes wherein the audience is made privy to Andrew's innermost thoughts). Now the neurotic Henry is given another child to fret over in addition to his pretty college-age daughters Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) and Sara (Lydia Cornell), who are still living in the apartment below Henry and Muriel's. The fact that the nursing Muriel needs extra help around the house permits the writers to beef up the character of Muriel's domineering mother Iris, played by Audrey Meadows. Once again, this addition is made to heap more frustration upon Henry, inasmuch as he and Iris are constitutionally incapable of seeing eye-to-eye on anything. Addtionally, viewers see more and more of Jackie's policeman fiancé Brad Turner (Jordan Suffin during season three. The season finale, "Family Business", rather curiously downplays the presence of Henry, Muriel et al. to concentrate on the characters played by guest stars Jimmy Baio, George Del Hoyo, and Hillary Bailey Smith. On second glance, however, maybe it isn't so curious: whenever an episode of this nature shows up on an established series, it's a sure bet that the episode is the pilot for a spinoff show (which was true in this case, though the spinoff never spun off anywhere, except into oblivion). Having moved from its high-rated Tuesday night slot to a Thursday berth, and suffering from a general drop of interest in sexy sitcoms that promised much but delivered little, Too Close for Comfort plummetted in the ratings during its third season. However, the show still boasted enough of a following to warrant two additional seasons, produced for first-run syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A mere eleven months after the ITV debut of the British sitcom Keep It in the Family, the American version of the series, Too Close for Comfort, made its bow on ABC. Actually, the latter series might have arrived on the scene even earlier but an actors' strike delayed the start of the 1980-1981 TV season by two months.

Ted Knight starred as Henry Rush, a San Francisco-based cartoonist and creator of the popular comic strip "Cosmic Cow." Prudish and conservative, Henry was extremely overprotective of his gorgeous college-age daughters, brunette Jackie (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) and blonde Sara (Lydia Cornell). Henry's wife, Muriel, who prior to her marriage had led a freewheeling (but respectable) existence as a band singer, now worked as a freelance photographer. Less strict and strait-laced than Henry, Muriel tended to allow her daughters a freer reign, though she still made sure that they didn't make too many mistakes. Season one began as Jackie and Sara moved into the downstairs apartment of dad Henry's two-apartment town house, recently vacated by the death of tenant Mr. Rafkin (who, much to Henry's dismay, turned out to be a transvestite). Having reluctantly agreed to this arrangement, Henry agonized over what might have been going on in the lower apartment, especially considering the steady stream of attractive young men who paid regular visits to his darling daughters. (He had nothing to worry about, of course, but that didn't stop him from doing so.) During the series' first 19 episodes, Jackie worked at a bank while Sara attended college -- where she met and befriended that walking mass of neuroses and insecurities known as Monroe Ficus (J.M. J Bullock), who from episode four onward was a more or less permanent house guest of Henry and Muriel. A handful of other recurring characters were introduced during the series' maiden season. Among these were Mr. Wainwright (Hamilton Camp), Hamilton's short-statured, dictatorial publisher; Mildred Rafkin (Selma Diamond), the abrasive and insulting sister of Henry's deceased tenant; and Henry's libidinous 75-year-old father Huey Rush (Ray Middleton). Also given prominence was another "character," the Cosmic Cow hand puppet with whom Henry "consulted" in moments of crisis. Scheduled as part of ABC's virtually unbeatable Tuesday-night sitcom lineup (which in 1980 included Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Three's Company), Too Close for Comfort emerged from its inaugural season as America's 15th most-watched program, with a Nielsen rating of 20.8. ~ All Movie Guide

Dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) is a respectable man. He has a daughter who is about to marry the son of a very suspicious character, Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk). They are practically relatives already, the wedding is so near. Certainly, Sheldon already despises Vince as if he were already a well-known relative. Nontheless, Vince calls on Sheldon and convinces him to go with him on a series of wild and hilarious adventures, claiming all the while that he is a CIA agent, and that what he is doing is in the national interest. Sheldon follows Vince to a South American country ruled by a very odd man, General Garcia (Richard Libertini), who talks to his hand (which talks back). It seems that the dictator is involved in a scheme to counterfeit and undermine U.S. currency. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Arthur Schwartz was a 20th century composer whose melodies often released the full talents of the various lyricists who worked with him. He is credited for writing such tunes as "That's Entertainment," "Dancing in the Dark," and "Make the Man Love Me." Schwartz began his distinguished career by writing tunes for 1920s Broadway productions. He worked most frequently with lyricist Howard Dietz. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide