Brenda Fricker Movies
An Irish actress with strong roots in the theater, Brenda Fricker has excelled onscreen thanks to a matronly appearance that lends itself well to roles which call for an older woman with strong motherly instincts. Fricker started out working in local theater productions in Ireland, and continued on-stage with a stint at the National Theatre in London; before long, the talented rising starlet was taking the stage with both The Royal Shakespeare Company and Great Britain's Court Theater Company. Though, by the mid-'80s, Fricker had already garnered an impressive list of credits thanks to appearances in such made-for-television features as High Kampf (1973) and Your Man from 6 Counties (1976), it was her role as Nurse Roach in the popular U.K. series Casualty that first brought her to the attention of British television viewers. Fricker remained with the series for four years, and it was during that time that she courted international recognition with her role in the acclaimed 1989 drama My Left Foot. Cast as the determined mother of a talented writer and painter who suffers from cerebral palsy, Fricker turned in a memorable performance that placed her high on the list of A-list actors and earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Though such follow-up efforts as the miniseries Relative Strangers (1999) delivered on the promise shown in My Left Foot, it was roles in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), and Masterminds (1997) that kept Fricker's face familiar to stateside audiences. In 1998, she stepped into a leading role in the period drama Painted Angels, playing a sympathetic madam. In the early 2000s, Fricker's career continued to flourish on both U.K. and Canadian television, and in roles in such high-profile projects as Veronica Guerin (2003) and Going Down: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (2004). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Updated from the 1951 film of the same name, Angels In The Outfield takes liberties with the original to bring sentimental values to a modern setting. Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a foster child whose irresponsible father promises to get his act together when Roger's favorite baseball team, the California Angels, wins the pennant. The problem is that the Angels are in last place, so Roger prays for help to turn the team around. Sure enough, his prayers are answered in the form of angel Al (Christopher Lloyd), and, before you know it, the Angels' bitter manager (Danny Glover) is watching in amazement as his team starts making the plays -- with the help of angels visible to the audience only as glowing special effects. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Tony Danza, (more)
Australian filmmaker Ken Cameron directs the six-part television miniseries Brides of Christ, originally broadcast in 1991. The series involves a group of six women at an Australian convent school during the 1960s, a time of social turbulence and Vatican reforms. Sister Agnes (Brenda Fricker) leads the group of nuns with Mother Ambrose (Sandy Gore). The younger nuns include Sister Catherine (Josephine Byrnes) and Sister Paul (Lisa Hensley). Also at the convent are teenagers Frances Heffernan (Naomi Watts) and Rosemary Fitzgerald (Kym Wilson). Each of the six episodes focuses on one character. Russell Crowe appears in a small role. Brides of Christ premiered in the U.S. on A&E. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 2004
Sopranos ingenue Jamie-Lynn DiScala stars as the infamous Hollywood madam in this made-for-cable bio-flick. Produced without the participation of Heidi Fleiss herself, Call Me traces the Pandering author's progression from pampered daughter of a liberal doctor (Saul Rubinek) to headline-grabbing proprietress of a ring of pricey Tinseltown escorts. Robert Davi and Brenda Fricker co-star as the boyfriend/pimp and the old-guard madam who offer Fleiss her entrée into the oldest profession. Corbin Bernsen plays a big-time movie producer who requires high kink from "Heidi's girls" to sate his jaded sexual appetites. The script, by Norman Snider, covers Fleiss' bust but trails off after her incarceration without covering her subsequent rehabilitation as a legitimate businesswoman. Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss premiered in April 2004 on the USA network. Snider previously worked on the script for another naughty TV flick, Rated X, which starred Charlie Sheen -- one of the few high-flying Fleiss customers to be named publicly during her early-'90s legal ordeals. Fleiss was previously the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala, Robert Davi, (more)
Sixty-five years after making his screen debut as a young stoker in co-directors Noël Coward and David Lean's World War II drama In Which We Serve, Richard Attenborough perfects the balance between epic story and intimate tale with this drama starring Shirley MacLaine and Neve Campbell as a mother and daughter who find a relic from the past sparking an incendiary series of events. The year is 1991, and as a small American town mourns the passing of beloved World War II veteran Chuck Harris, his wife Ethel (MacLaine) numbs herself with alcohol to the point where she completely neglects her grieving daughter Marie (Campbell). Later, after Marie receives a telephone call from a boy in Northern Ireland who claims to have recently discovered a ring belonging to Ethel, a mystery nearly five decades in the making comes slowly into focus as the story drifts back into Chuck's wartime past and the days when he and Ethel first formed their powerful bond. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, (more)
This adaptation of Christina Bartolomeo's novel Cupid and Diana was produced for the award-winning anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame. Cate DeAngelo (Mary Louise Parker) is the misfit youngest daughter in a dysfunctional Irish/Italian family; her mother recently died, and her father Dominic (Philip Bosco) has never had much use for her. Cate gets along only a bit better with her sisters, fussbudget Francesca (Bebe Neuwirth) and straight-laced Cynthia (Joanna Going). Cate runs a vintage clothing boutique that isn't doing much business, and her relationship with her boyfriend Philip (David Lansbury) is pleasant but passionless. When she meets Harry (Peter Gallagher), a rumpled but charming lawyer from New York, Cate thinks she may have finally found the man she's been looking for all her life -- except he seems like a less attractive package than Philip, and her family is sure she's making a mistake. Cupid & Cate first aired on May 7, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary-Louise Parker, Bebe Neuwirth, (more)
- 1999
In this drama set in Ireland in the 1930s, Mark Doran (Matt Keeslar) is a young man who has grown up on a cattle farm and has fallen in love with lovely Annie Mullaney (Nancy St. Alban). However, Annie's father Fergus (Patrick Bergin) regards Mark as a callow youth and insists that he prove his manhood before Mark can ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. Mark sees an opportunity to prove himself and help his family at the same time when he becomes angry with the low prices offered by a local cattle broker; Mark decides that he will instead drive his herd 40 miles to the next available market, where's he's sure that they will bring in more money. Mark sets out to play cowboy with his rough-and-tumble Aunt Maeve (Brenda Fricker) in tow, but they soon run into interference from angry ranchers unhappy with Mark's stunt. Durango was produced for television as part of the acclaimed drama anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Keeslar, Patrick Bergin, (more)
- 2002
Based on the children's book by Philip Pullman, Laurie Lynd's I Was a Rat is a feature-length fable originally made as a three-part BBC miniseries. A reworking of a popular fairy tale, the story opens with a young abandoned pageboy (Calum Worthy) taken in by a childless couple: the aging cobbler Bob (Tom Conti) and domestic worker Joan (Brenda Fricker). Nicknamed Roger, the pageboy claims that he isn't human at all but a rat, which attracts the interest of the Daily Scourge newspaper, a mad scientist, and a carnival owner named Oliver Tapscrew (Don McKellar). The search for Roger's real home is accompanied by the story of Lady Aurelia (Katie Blake) and her prince (James Millard). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calum Worthy, Tom Conti, (more)
- 1991
There oughta be a law against TV-movie "title thinker uppers." Lethal Innocence is not a crime or judicial melodrama, but instead an innocuous family-oriented effort about a Cambodian refugee child. Adopted by an American couple, the child presses her new family to bring the rest of her Cambodian relatives to US shores. The film boasts some good work from Blair Brown as the foster mother and Brenda Fricker as an efficient UN representative. Lethal Innocence was originally made for cable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A deeply spiritual war bride attempts to adjust to the slower pace of rural life after relocating from lively London to her new husband's remote farm in Canada in a soulful tale of wartime relationships based on actual events and starring Anna Friel. Upon arrival at her new husband Charlie's picturesque farm, Lily (Friel) struggles to earn the respect of Charlie's stern, traditional-minded mother (Brenda Fricker) and deeply embittered sister (Moly Parker). Though relations are strained, the true test of what it takes to make a family emerges when Charlie returns from the war and attempts to find a peaceful common ground among the disagreeable women. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
This third screen adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel about the destructiveness of sexual obsession stars Laurence Harvey as Philip Carey, a club-footed artist who after two unsuccessful years in Paris decides to pursue a career in medicine instead. During his medical studies he falls in love with a waitress, Mildred Rogers (Kim Novak), who takes advantage of his attraction to her. When Mildred leaves him to marry another man, Philip falls in love with a writer (Siobhan McKenna), who encourages him to complete his studies. Under her tutelage, Philip excels in medical school. But when Mildred returns, pregnant and abandoned by her husband, Philip takes her in and cares for her, breaking off with the kind-hearted writer. Staying with Philip at his flat, Mildred has an affair with his best friend. Confronting her with her indiscretions, Mildred tells Philip how repulsed she is by his club foot and walks out on him. Philip once again throws himself into his studies, passing his examinations and taking an internship at a London hospital. There he hears Mildred has become a cheap prostitute. Philip travels to the brothel where she is living in poverty with her child and takes her under his wing once again. As before, Mildred walks out on Philip, trashing his apartment and taking to the streets. When Philip comes upon her again, he finds that her child has died and she is suffering from the advanced stages of syphilis. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Novak, Laurence Harvey, (more)
A devastated father struggles to find answers after a bomb detonated in the peaceful Irish town of Omagh claims the life of his twenty-one year-old son in this topical docudrama from writer/producer Paul Greengrass and director Pete Travis. In 1988 a group who referred to themselves as the "Real IRA" set a bomb that took the lives of thirty-one people in the Northern Ireland town of Omaga. In the aftermath of the explosion, soft-spoken mechanic Michael Gallagher (Gerard McSorley) was forever changed by the loss of his twenty-one year-old son. Determined not to let the same grim fate befall his neighbors, Gallagher took it upon himself to become the official spokesperson for the victim's families, challenging the government's official stand on terrorism and providing a voice for the grief-stricken families of the innocent victims killed in the blast. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerard McSorley, Michele Forbes, (more)
- 1994
- Add Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America to QueueAdd Out of Ireland: The Story of Irish Emigration to America to top of Queue
This documentary chronicles the 200-year history and experiences of Irish-American immigrants. The film is comprised of a blend of still photographs, drawings, and on location re-creations. It also includes the personal stories of many famous Irish-Americans including modern actors Aidan Quinn and Liam Neeson. The film also includes interviews with historians and commentators. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Liam Neeson, (more)
- 1998
British director Jon Sanders helmed this British-Canadian period re-creation of a 19th-century Midwestern prairie town's bordello run by tough madam Annie Ryan (Brenda Fricker). Despite competition during the 1870s, Ryan manages to maintain the business with her staff of frontier women: Married to a drunk, mother Nettie (Kelly McGillis) supports her child by moonlighting as an abortionist. Age is fast catching up with Ada (Anna Mottram), who now draws fewer customers, while youthful Georgie (Lisa Jakub) unwittingly betrays Ada. After another woman in the house is shot, German dancer Katya (Meret Becker) is the stand-offish newcomer who steps in as a replacement. Katya uses her alleged psychic powers to contact the departed family of Irish lass Eileen (Bronagh Gallagher), destined for a tragic situation. Actress Mottram co-scripted with director Sanders. Filmed in Saskatchewan locations and shown at the 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Fricker, Kelly McGillis, (more)
Featuring Saturday Night Live alumni and Austin Powers star Mike Myers in his first dramatic role, Pete's Meteor centers on ex-Junkie Pete (Myers), who is in the process of turning his life around when his two closest friends both die unexpectedly. Hoping to raise money for their children, he moves in with his late friends' kids and grandmother (Brenda Fricker). Before long, they witness what seems to be a miracle: A meteor lands in their backyard and the orphaned children believe it was sent from their parents to keep a wealthy scientist (Alfred Molina) from getting credit for it. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mike Myers
- 2008
Betrayal proves more tragic than death in this tale of a newly widowed wife and mother who discovers that her late husband had been secretly married to another woman. Maureen Lessing (Academy Award-winner Brenda Fricker) always thought she knew her husband better than anyone else, but when he died she discovered that her happy marriage was nothing more than an illusion. Upon confronting the other woman, Maureen is devastated to learn that the couple also had a child together. Now, in the darkest depths of despair, Maureen will be confronted with the unthinkable. When the little boy from her husband's other marriage falls gravely ill, his only hope for survival lies with Maureen's ability to put aside her pain, and turn to her own children for help. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Fricker
- 1999
Seriously injured in the auto accident that killed her husband, Clare Miller (Dana Delany) has a bizarre near-death experience while on the operating table. Confined to a wheelchair after the tragedy, Clare suddenly discovers that the dream may have been no dream at all: She now has the power to heal. First curing her own physical infirmities, Clare moves on to heal others who are suffering. Unfortunately, these "miracles" are limited: Clare seems totally unable to heal the emotional problems that have distanced her from her friends and loved ones, problems that only seem to be getting worse. First telecast by ABC on March 15, 1999, the made-for-TV Resurrection is a remake of the 1980 Ellen Burstyn film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Delany, Brenda Fricker, (more)
Two guys facing more challenges than most people learn some valuable lessons about life and love in this comedy drama. Michael Connolly (Steven Robertson) is a young man in his early twenties who suffers from cerebral palsy; confined to a wheelchair, Michael's speech is unintelligible to all but a handful of people, and his situation has made him shy and withdrawn as he spends his days at a home for the disabled in Dublin. One day, a new arrival moves in at the home -- Rory O'Shea (James McAvoy), a lad about Michael's age who suffers from muscular dystrophy and can only use two fingers on one hand. This, however, hasn't stopped Rory from developing a sharp tongue, a quick wit, a taste for alcohol, and the courage to put the moves on any women who crosses his path. Rory can also understand Michael's attempts at speech, and Rory puts his outsized personality to work encouraging his new friend to become more outgoing and not to let life pass him by, despite his handicaps. In time, Rory and Michael are able to convince Eileen (Brenda Fricker), director of the home, that they should be allowed to get an apartment on their own, and the boys use their stipend to rent a flat and hire an assistant to help with the tasks they can't manage. Rory chooses Siobhan (Romola Garai) for the job, mainly because she's blonde and pretty, and she soon becomes attracted to him; unfortunately, Michael has fallen in love with her, and this leads to a major rift between him and Rory that drives them apart. Screened in the United Kingdom as Inside I'm Dancing and in the United States as Rory O'Shea Was Here, the film won the Audience Award at the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, (more)
- 1996
Mary Swann, an Ontario farmer's wife, lead a fairly dull existence until she demonstrated a remarkable talent for poetry and became the darling of the literati. Tragically, she was ruthlessly slain by her own husband who then committed suicide. Mary's closest friend Rose is devastated by the death and so runs a small museum to keep Mary's memory alive. Sarah Maloney is a writer who wants to write a biography about Swann. Learning that a competitor has similar plans, Sarah hastily leaves Chicago and heads northward where she meets Rose. The ensuing friendship between the disparate women provides the film with some interesting comparison/contrasts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Andie MacDowell, Olivia Williams, and Stephen Rae star in this bittersweet tale of two grieving women connected by an accidental phone call. Connecticut mother Marilyn Vine (MacDowell) has always lived a charmed life, so when her adolescent son Dale suddenly dies while celebrating his fifteenth birthday the tragedy of her loss is almost too powerful to bear. 3000 miles away in Dublin, Ireland, Ria Lynch (Olivia Williams) finds her marriage to longtime husband Danny (Iain Glen) coming to an unexpected in when Danny reveals that he is divorcing her to set up home with his pregnant mistress Bernadette (Heike Makatsch). When fate delivers the telephone call that connects these two women, both at a crucial turning point in their lives, Marilyn and Ria both agree to a two-month house exchange that could provide them with the space and down time to move beyond the pain that threatens to consume them. As both women grow increasingly accustomed to their new environments, the kindness of strangers and opportunity for reflection provides them both with the courage to face their changed lives with a newfound sense of hope. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, Olivia Williams, (more)
Danish filmmaker Kristian Levring directs the Dogme 95-inspired period drama The Intended, co-written by leading lady Janet McTeer. Shot with digital video, the film takes place in the Malaysia jungle during the 1920s. Fortysomething British woman Sarah (McTeer) travels with her younger fiancé, Hamish Winslow (JJ Feild), to a small community near Borneo. Hamish has been hired to survey the land and map a road for a trading post run by a deeply dysfunctional family. The local ruler is tough matriarch Mrs. Jones (Brenda Fricker), who dominates her son William (Tony Maudsley) and nephew Norton (Philip Jackson). When a climate change causes them to become even more isolated, the family tension takes a dark turn. Also starring Olympia Dukakis. The Intended premiered at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet McTeer, Olympia Dukakis, (more)
- 1992
Based on the true story of Alexander Graham Bell, this movie shows his efforts to help the hearing impaired and where his inventions led. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Produced in Canada and telecast in the US over the TNT Cable Service, The Sound and the Silence is a two-part biography of Alexander Graham Bell. Can the corny jokes, folks: Don Ameche isn't in this one. John Bach delivers a credible performance as Bell, a dedicated teacher of the deaf whose desire to develop a practical electric hearing-aid device leads to the invention of the telephone. Brenda Fricker, Vanessa Vaughn and Ian Bannen costar in this sincere historical drama.Part One, which aired July 18, 1993, details Bell's formative years as teacher and inventor; Part Two, first telecast July 19,1993, covers Bell's later experiments with aviation. Remaining faithful to the facts, John Bach portrays Bell not as a saintly icon but as an irascible, sometimes bombastic maverick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
