The Diary of Anne Frank (1980)

The diary of teenaged Holocaust victim Anne Frank was first published in book form in 1952, then adapted into a Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett two years later. Director George Stevens converted The Diary of Anne Frank into a film in 1959, an effort which required three hours' running time. This TV movie version, which first aired November 17, 1980, telescopes the material into two hours, downplaying the story's suspense in favor of character development. Melissa Gilbert stars as Anne Frank; Maximilian Schell and Joan Plowright play her parents; Melora Marshall is seen as Anne's sister, Margot. Doris Roberts and James Coco are cast as the Van Daans, with Scott Jacoby as their son (and Anne's first love), Peter. Clive Revill appears as fussy, obnoxious dentist Dussel. Rounding out the cast are Erik Holland and Anne Wyndham as the non-Jewish Dutch citizens who hid Anne, her family, Dussel, and the Van Daans in a tiny Amsterdam garret for two years during World War II. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi