Stockard Channing Movies
Born Susan Williams Antonia Stockard Channing Schmidt on February 13, 1944, Channing is the daughter of a wealthy shipping executive, and became interested in the dramatic arts while attending college at Radcliffe. After graduating in the mid-sixties, Channing joined Boston's experimental Theater Company. Several unsuccessful Broadway auditions later, she landed a lead role in a Los Angeles production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Eventually, Channing made it to Broadway, and won a Tony for her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.In the early '70s, Channing appeared in several small television roles, and made her big screen debut in 1971's The Hospital. In 1973, the actress starred in the Joan Rivers-penned black comedy The Girl Most Likely To..., a TV movie about an overweight college girl who loses weight, gets cosmetic surgery, and sets off in hopes of getting even. Channing's first major film role came two years later, when she starred in Mike Nichols' The Fortune with Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. It wasn't until 1978, however, that Channing would win her most memorable role to date -- tough gal Rizzo in the retro-musical Grease. Interestingly enough, although she was cast as a teenager, the actress was in her early thirties when she was chosen for the film. Around the same time, Channing starred in two similar and short-lived sitcoms: Stockard Channing in Just Friends and The Stockard Channing Show.
By 1980, Channing's film career was idling in neutral, so she focused her energies on the theater, though she began showing up in various supporting film roles in the mid to late eighties. In 1993, she was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for playing the formidable Upper East Side matron of Six Degrees of Separation; the role had also earned her a Tony nomination when she performed it in the film's stage version. Channing subsequently made steady appearances in both film and television, and co-starred as a witch in Practical Magic with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, as well as The First Wives Club, Moll Flanders, Edie & Pen, and An Unexpected Family. In 2000, Channing would play one of the more eccentric residents of a small Oklahoma town in Where the Heart Is. After filming Other Voices in 2001, which was screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, Channing would receive a solid amount of critical success for her role in The Business of Strangers (2001), in which she starred as a high-level corporate player who saves her own job only to find out her boss is a rapist. In between filming a variety of television and documentary appearances - namely, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002), A Girl Thing (2001), Out of the Closet, Off the Screen: The William Haines Story (2001), and New York Firefighters: The Brotherhood of 9/11 (2002) -- Channing joined up with Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie in Stephen Herek's Life or Something Like It.
In 2003, Channing made a cameo appearance in Bright Young Things, and went on to co-star in Le Divorce with Kate Hudson, Glenn Close, and Matthew Modine during the same year. The actress also signed on with the legendary Woody Allen in Anything Else, in which she played a middle-aged mother determined to land a role in a cabaret production.
~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1986
- R
Based on a 1981 book by Leonard Michaels, focuses on a lawyer (Richard Jordan) who brings together a singularly dysfunctional group of men in a kind of venting, loquacious therapy session. All that talk brings out the worst in everyone. Cavanaugh (Roy Scheider) is a retired baseball star whose wife wants to leave him, Harold (Frank Langella) is an uptight lawyer, Terry (Treat Williams) is a self-centered doctor, Phillip (David Dukes) is the stereotypical, irritating college professor, and Solly (Harvey Keitel) is a blue-collar worker with a warm heart, the closest to normal among the lot. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Scheider, Frank Langella, (more)
- 1985
The endurance of an upper-middle-class family is put to the test in this well-made television drama about drug abuse. Based on the book of the same name by Beth Polson, Viveka Davis (Shoot The Moon) stars as Susan Bowers, the teenage daughter of a successful surgeon (George Segal) and homemaker (Stockard Channing). When innocent-looking Susan's secret life as a druggie comes to light, her parents try anything and everything to get her clean. Unable to make any headway, they turn to a strict drug-treatment center, where streetwise counselors deal with tough kids on their own terms. The Bowers soon learn that their daughter's rehabilitation will not only be a long haul but also an exercise in family dynamic exploration. Young Davis is compelling as the rebellious daughter, and Channing and Segal are wholly believable as the bewildered parents. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Stockard Channing, Eileen Heckart, Robert Klein, and Dinah Manoff perform in this comedic tale of a three-generation Jewish family. This is a taped performance of James Lapine's work of the same title. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Young divorced mother Kate Nelligan refuses to go into a panic when her six-year-old son disappears. She manages to maintain an even emotional keel even when detective Judd Hirsch unearths several clues which point to sexual molestation. After several false leads, the truth is revealed. We won't divulge the ending, but we will note that we found it pretty hard to swallow-especially when compared to the actual case upon which Beth Gutcheson's novel and screenplay were based. Despite its cop-out denouement, Without a Trace deserves to take its place among such superior missing-children dramas as the made-for-TV Adam and Just Another Missing Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Nelligan, Judd Hirsch, (more)
- 1982
- PG
In this often comical adventure, a retired stunt man goes to Africa to participate in a transcontinental road rally in hopes of winning a fabulous prize. Also involved is a photo-journalist for Playboy Magazine who has been assigned to accompany him. It is a dangerous 3,000 kilometer car race and some of the stunt man's rivals are desperate to win; with desperation comes danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Stockard Channing, (more)
When Stockard Channing agreed to co-produce the made-for-TV Gun in the House, she fully intended to play the leading role of Emily Cates herself. But schedule conflicts intervened, and Channing was forced to relinquish the role to Sally Struthers, who was quite good. Attacked in her home by two male assailants, Emily Cates grabs a handgun and shoots and kills one of the intruders. Alas, the police find no evidence that Emily was in fact attacked--nor do they discern any need for excessive force. As a result, Emily is arrested like a common criminal and charged with murder--targeted as an "example" to other would-be gun owners by politically ambitious DA Lance Kessler (Jeffrey Tambor). The Stephen Zito-James M. Miller teleplay takes an inordinately melodramatic approach to the film's provocative subject matter, offering cut-and-dried hero and villain types and occasionally illogical plot twists. Still, Gun in the House has remained food for thought ever since its February 11, 1981 debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- PG
The "fish" in the title of this picture refers to the astrological sign Pisces. Not all of Pittsburgh is due to be saved, but the members of a third-rate NBA basketball team could sure use some salvation. When all the team members except for Moses Guthrie (Julius Erving) quit, astrologer Mona Mondieu (Stockard Channing) and streetwise Tyrone Millman (James Bond III) come to the rescue. The supporting cast includes Jonathan Winters in a dual role, as well as real-life basketball champs Meadowlark Lemon and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Jonathan Winters, (more)
- 1979
The made-for-television Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neill Story is a true story about a woman (Stockard Channing) who overcame her deafness to become one of the top stunt women in Hollywood, as well as earning the female land speed record. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Spoofing the entire 1940s detective genre, and his own performances as a bumbling private detective, Peter Falk plays Lou Pekinpaugh, a San Francisco private detective accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress, the partner's wife, Georgia Merkle (Marsha Mason). Police Lieutenant DiMaggio (Vic Tayback) has his eye on Lou and blunders around in a way which complicates Lou's efforts to clear his name. Lou gets a new client when Mrs. Montenegro (Madeline Kahn) and her cronies (John Housman, Paul Williams and Dom DeLuise) hire him to search out a dozen diamond eggs. Marlene DuChard (Louise Fletcher) also comes to him for help of a complicated nature. In this madcap comedy written by Neil Simon, obstacles and complications appear every few minutes, and a great many famous actors show up in hilarious cameos. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, (more)
"Grease," said the poster and the Barry Gibb song, "is the word." Transferring its setting from Chicago to sunny California, and adding a dash of disco to the ersatz '50s score, producer Allan Carr and director Randal Kleiser turned this long-running Jim Jacobs - Warren Casey Broadway smash into the biggest blockbuster of 1978. 1950s teens Danny (John Travolta) and Australian transfer Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) spend their "Summer Nights" falling in love, but once fall comes, it's back to Rydell High and its cliques. As one of the bad boy T-Birds, Danny has to act cool for best pal Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and their leather-clad mates Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Doody (Barry Pearl, in the role Travolta played on stage). Despite befriending Frenchy (Didi Conn), one of the rebel Pink Ladies, virginal Sandy is "too pure to be Pink," as the Ladies' leader Rizzo (Stockard Channing) acidly observes. Declaring their devotion in such ballads as "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy," Sandy and Danny split, reconcile, and split again amidst a pep rally, dances, drive-ins, and a drag race, before deciding "You're the One That I Want" at the climactic carnival. With Travolta white-hot from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease soundtrack singles climbed the charts and summer movie crowds poured in. With the presence of Joan Blondell, Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Frankie Avalon appealing to grown-up memories, Grease became the highest grossing film of 1978, the highest grossing movie musical ever, and the third most popular film of the new blockbuster '70s after Star Wars (1977) and Jaws (1975). Its sequel, Grease 2, did not exactly set the world on fire in 1982. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, (more)
- 1977
Lucan is the pilot film for a late 1970s TV adventure weekly. The story begins in 1967, when a group of Minnesota hunters come across a "wild boy" raised by wolves. After ten years in a research center, Lucan (Kevin Brophy) feels ready to enter the civilized world. On a quest for his human parents, Lucan comes across several people in distress; he uses his inbred wolfen skills to help them out. But as an escapee of the research plant, Lucan is subject to the persecution of bounty hunter Prentiss (Don Gordon). While it bears the usual TV-movie earmarks of too much exposition crammed into too little space, Lucan works well on its own merits. The Lucan series itself ran from September 1977 through December 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
Sweet Revenge was originally shipped out as Dandy, the All-American Girl. The multitalented Stockard Channing plays a car thief with a penchant for elaborate disguises. She hopes to trade in her stolen goods and purchase a snazzy sports model for herself. Sam Waterston costars as a public defender who, much against his will, falls in love with the charming thief. Producer/director Jerry Schatzberg seems so certain of Channing's considerable talents that he feels a coherent story is unecessary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Sam Waterston, (more)
The Big Bus is set aboard a nonstop, nuclear-powered luxury bus commandeered by Joseph Bologna. Naturally, Bologna is a tortured hero with a deep dark secret (he keeps insisting he didn't eat all those passengers on his last disastrous drive). Stockard Channing and Harold Gould play the designers of the big bus, and of course they have a few skeletons in their closet. In fact, there isn't a passenger on the all-star manifest that isn't hiding something. The supporting cast features contributions by René Auberjonois (parodying his M*A*S*H role), Ned Beatty, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon (doing a devastating send-up of Airport's Helen Hayes), Sally Kellerman, Richard Mulligan, and many others; Murphy Dunne contributes a memorable bit as a smarmy cocktail pianist. Unfortunately, The Big Bus was dumped onto the summer 1976 release schedule without fanfare by Paramount, and it sank without a trace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 1975
- PG
Three's a crowd in Mike Nichols's period caper comedy -- or is it? To dodge the 1920s Mann Act barring the transport of women across state lines for "immoral purposes," not-yet-divorced Nicky (Warren Beatty) has felonious buddy Oscar (Jack Nicholson) marry Nicky's runaway heiress sweetheart Freddy (Stockard Channing) so they can all escape New York for Los Angeles. The three set up house together, but trouble starts brewing when odd man out Oscar decides to get Nicky's attention by exercising his rights as a husband to Freddy. Exasperated with being stuck in the middle of the bickering pair, Freddy threatens to donate her impending inheritance to charity, inciting Oscar and Nicky to hatch a plan to bump her off and keep the money. But Freddy just will not die, prompting the three to reconsider the whole arrangement. With a period setting and pair of stellar lead actors similar to the 1973 blockbuster The Sting, a screenplay by Five Easy Pieces author Carol Eastman (under the name Adrien Joyce), and deft comedy director Nichols, The Fortune seemed like a can't-miss proposition. But it resoundingly flopped, as audiences preferred to see Beatty in his earlier 1975 starring role as a racy L.A. hairdresser in Shampoo, and to wait for Nicholson's later 1975 incarnation as an archetypal iconoclast in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As with other late '60s-early '70s period films like Beatty's own Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Fortune lends an updated sensibility to its old-fashioned milieu, complete with a very modern happy ending. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, (more)
This TV movie stars Stockard Channing as an "ugly duckling" who is dumped on by everyone with whom she comes in contact. After her heart is broken by a callous campus jock, Stockard tearfully speeds off in her car and is involved in a serious accident. Plastic surgery is required, and when Ms. Channing emerges from behind the bandages, she is ravishingly beautiful. She uses her new attractiveness to exact revenge on those who'd wronged her, murdering her former nemeses in a variety of creative ways (for example, she entices a nasty cheerleader to back-flip out of a high rise window). Police inspector Ed Asner is called on the scene when the death rate soars, only to find himself falling in love with the crafty Ms. Channing. Despite its morbid plotline, The Girl Most Likely To... is actually a comedy, written by none other than Joan Rivers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Ed Asner, (more)
Up The Sandbox is a complex and difficult film, and it is ambiguous on many points, particularly on whether the protagonist Margaret Reynolds (Barbara Streisand) is a women's liberationist, a closet lesbian, or a masochist. Based on the novel by Anne Richardson Rolphe, it follows Margaret's attempts to tell her husband that she is pregnant with yet another child. The everyday events of her life are punctuated by numerous and complex fantasy sequences which reveal her fears and her desires. It is clear that she is afraid that she and her husband Paul (David Selby) are growing apart -- and that he may be having an affair. Despite the increasingly elaborate and frantic nature of her fantasies, her disclosure, when she finally makes it, has happy results. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbra Streisand, David Selby, (more)
In this Claymation adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Truths We Live By, Michael the Visitor tells the story of a shoemaker named Simon who ventures out one winter night to collect a sum of money that he is owed, but instead, returns home with a man that he finds naked and freezing behind a roadside shrine. Simon's wife is annoyed by her husband's pity for bringing home another mouth to feed, but the young man soon shows himself to be a useful apprentice. Could God have a plan for this young man, and for Simon, who had the kind heart that the young man needed to shine? ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
