Kathleen Beller Movies

Ray (Matthew Blomquist) and his wife Sarah (Andrea Damesyn) are smug, prosperous, unconsciously racist young professional people. Their lives are forever changed when they run over a man in their car. In order to avoid calling the attention of the authorities to their crime, they rescue their victim and take him into their homes. Ramon (Henrique Vargas) is a novelist, a Latino, and a man of mystery. As they gradually get to know one another, many dark secrets of their psyches are uncovered into the light of day. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Keith Michell returns in the role of Dennis Stanton, an ex-jewel thief turned insurance investigator. Jessica (Angela Lansbury) links up with her old friend Dennis when she arrives in San Francisco to attend the opening of a prestigious opera. Before long, things become "operatic" for real when a celebrated tenor, who had previously shot another man (in self-defense, he claimed) who'd been making overtures to the tenor's pretty protégée, succumbs to a suspicious heart attack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The feature films contained in this two-tape set were originally seen on the Showtime cable-TV service. Both films were based on novels from the tremendously popular Harlequin Romances paperback series, which is either a recommendation or a warning depending upon your literary tastes. The first, 1988's Love With the Perfect Stranger, was directed by Desmond Davis. Marilu Henner plays a widowed fashion designer who falls in love with mysterious Britisher Daniel Massey. The second, 1987's Cloud Waltzing, was directed by Gordon Flemyng. Kathleen Beller plays a lonely-for-love journalist who falls for mysterious Frenchman Eric Gendron. Both films were lensed in England, both are predicated upon chance encounters between two people with checkered pasts, and both are chock full of unexpected dangers, unwanted separations, tear-stained reunions, gorgeous interior settings and lush outdoor locations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The TV detective series Blacke's Magic starred Hal Linden as dapper professional magician Alexander Blacke, and Harry Morgan as Alexander's con-man father Leonard. Together, Blacke and Blacke solved mysteries with the help of Alexander's prestidigatory skills and Leonard's flim-flammery. In the series' two hour pilot, the Blackes attend a magician's convention, where an old friend of Alexander's is murdered. All the magic tricks performed on the episode were real, requiring Hal Linden to acquire a few conjuring skills post-haste. The Blacke's Magic pilot aired on Sunday, January 5, 1986; the series itself premiered the following Wednesday. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season five of Dynasty had famously concluded with the notorious "Moldavian Massacre," in which the entire cast was mowed down by machine-gun bullets at the wedding of Alexis' (Joan Collins) daughter Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) to Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed). After keeping viewers in suspense as to who survived the carnage, the series launched its sixth season with the happy news that none of the major characters was killed. Though this proved to be a relief to the series' legion of fans, it also marked the beginning of a precipitous drop-off in ratings, from an all-time high throughout the fifth season. This loss of viewers also had a negative effect on the new Dynasty spin-off series, The Colbys. Be that as it may, there was plenty to hold the interest during Dynasty's sixth year on the air, starting with a wild kidnapping plot engineered by Krystle Carrington's scheming niece Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear) and slimy movie producer Joel Abrigore (George Hamilton). As originally conceived, the delightfully despicable Alexis was to have been the kidnap victim, but when Joan Collins briefly ankled the series over a contract dispute, the action was rewritten so that it is Krystle (Linda Evans) who is snatched -- while a lookalike actress named Rita (also Linda Evans) impersonates Krystle, doing her job so well that she even fools Krystle's hubby, Blake (John Forsythe), in the boudoir! New characters this season include Alexis' authoress sister Caress Morell (Kate O'Mara), whose novel "Sister Dearest" is a tell-all tome about...guess who; Christopher Cazenove as Ben Carrington, Blake's long-estranged younger brother; and the Fallmont family: Senator Buck Fallmont (Richard Anderson), his wife, Emily (Pat Crowley), and their son, Clay (Ted McGinley), who falls in love with the redoubtable Sammy Jo. Season six comes to rousing climax as Blake tries to strangle Alexis, and Steven Carrington's (Jack Coleman) seriously disturbed wife, Claudia (Pamela Bellwood), coming to grief (and leaving the series!) by vengefully setting fire to her father-in-law Blake's resort hotel La Mirage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season four of Dynasty found the series enjoying the peak of its popularity; after that, things could only go downhill -- and alas, they did. On the docket for this season are the Herculean efforts by Denver oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) to regain his financial empire after being systematically undermined by his vengeful ex-wife, Alexis (Joan Collins). Elsewhere, Blake's sexually confused son, Steven (Jack Coleman), vacillates between his long-suffering wife, Claudia (Pamela Bellwood), and his new boyfriend, Luke Fuller (William Campbell). Meanwhile, Blake's oversexed daughter, Fallon (now played by Emma Samms, taking over from Pamela Sue Martin), disappears, prompting her lovesick ex-husband, Jeff (John James), to embark upon a nationwide search, leaving his present spouse, Kirby (Kathleen Beller), in the lurch. New to the series in season five are Billy Dee Williams as Brady Lloyd, the record-executive husband of Blake's half-sister, Dominique (Diahann Carroll); Ali MacGraw as high-profile photographer Lady Ashley Mitchell, with whom Blake briefly dallies; and in his last TV role, Rock Hudson as millionaire horse breeder Daniel Reece, whom Blake's wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), takes up with in her hubby's absence. The most prominent of the series' newcomers is Catherine Oxenberg as Alexis' long-lost daughter Amanda. It is Alexis' engagement to Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed) that sets the stage for Dynasty's fourth-season cliffhanger finale: the infamous "Moldavian Massacre." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season four of Dynasty found the series enjoying the peak of its popularity; after that, things could only go downhill -- and alas, they did. On the docket for this season are the Herculean efforts by Denver oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) to regain his financial empire after being systematically undermined by his vengeful ex-wife, Alexis (Joan Collins). Elsewhere, Blake's sexually confused son, Steven (Jack Coleman), vacillates between his long-suffering wife, Claudia (Pamela Bellwood), and his new boyfriend, Luke Fuller (William Campbell). Meanwhile, Blake's oversexed daughter, Fallon (now played by Emma Samms, taking over from Pamela Sue Martin), disappears, prompting her lovesick ex-husband, Jeff (John James), to embark upon a nationwide search, leaving his present spouse, Kirby (Kathleen Beller), in the lurch. New to the series in season five are Billy Dee Williams as Brady Lloyd, the record-executive husband of Blake's half-sister, Dominique (Diahann Carroll); Ali MacGraw as high-profile photographer Lady Ashley Mitchell, with whom Blake briefly dallies; and in his last TV role, Rock Hudson as millionaire horse breeder Daniel Reece, whom Blake's wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), takes up with in her hubby's absence. The most prominent of the series' newcomers is Catherine Oxenberg as Alexis' long-lost daughter Amanda. It is Alexis' engagement to Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed) that sets the stage for Dynasty's fourth-season cliffhanger finale: the infamous "Moldavian Massacre." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, two young lovers break out of a mental hospital to try to find love in the outside world. The young man escapes first and gets a menial job working at a carnival. Later he returns to help Jennifer escape. They then begin living together to create their own sane haven in an insane world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ever climbing to the top of the ratings heap -- thanks largely to the introduction of the magnificently malevolent Alexis Carrington Colby (Joan Collins) in its second season -- Dynasty serves up even more soap opera skullduggery for its third year on the air. New to the proceedings is mysterious stranger Michael Torrance (Gordon Thomson), who by his own admission turns out to be Adam Carrington, long-lost son of Alexis and her former husband Blake Carrington (John Forsythe). Kidnapped in infancy, Adam has shown up at this critical moment to demand his rightful share of the Carrington millions, even as Alexis is scheming to financially ruin Blake and destroy the life of his current spouse, Krystle (Linda Evans). Also introduced during season three is Kirby Anders (Kathleen Beller), daughter of the Carringtons' butler, Joseph (Lee Bergere), who in effect becomes one of the family when she weds Alexis' stepson Jeff Colby (John James) -- who in turn has just divorced Blake's libidinous daughter, Fallon. Likewise appearing for the first time is Krystle Carrington's ex-husband, tennis pro Mark Jennings (Geoffrey Scott), who in future episodes would rescue mortal enemies Krystle and Alexis from a fiery demise -- then would himself be murdered mysteriously. Finally, season three marks the first appearance of Neil McVane (Paul Burke), an unscrupulous congressman who would ultimately emerge as a cross-dressing killer! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a novel by Margaret Atwood, this suspenseful psycho-sexual drama chronicles a young woman's quest through the wilderness to find her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this taut made-for-television psychological thriller, a young woman has never been able to overcome the guilt she feels about her father's accidental death. She nearly goes insane when a stalker begins watching her every move and she becomes convinced that it is the ghost of her late dad. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this made-for-television drama tells the tale of a college student, a mysterious young woman and a strangely beautiful garden. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This is a tragic tale of the slow degeneration of a cancer patient that is filled with pathos and sorrow. Buffy Koenig (Kathleen Beller) is terminally ill with cancer and for the two-hour running time, she goes through several surgical procedures, suffers all the devastating side effects of chemotherapy, and gets unrelentingly worse. Her doctor (Marsha Mason) has a certain amount of conflict herself, but that is nothing compared to the young patient's distraught parents (Ned Beatty and Susan Clark) or her grief-stricken boyfriend (Paul Clemens). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi