John Terry Bell Movies
John Terry Bell spent most of his career involved with television, first as a writer and then as an actor. Prior to entering the TV industry, he had performed on stage. His writing credits include episodes of Love, American Style. As an actor, Bell appeared in the occasional made-for-TV movie and in series like WKRP in Cincinatti and Dynasty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A timid aerobics instructor learns that her new best friend is also her husband's mistress in this domestic drama starring Mary Tyler Moore. Suffering from a bit of empty-nest syndrome as her children pass through adolescence, indecisive homemaker Holly Davis (Moore) reluctantly accepts a part-time gig teaching exercise classes for frazzled gym owner Helga (Salome Jens). There, she meets struggling, independent-minded broadcast journalist Sandy Dunlap (Christine Lahti) and they quickly become thick as thieves. As it turns out, though, Sandy is actually an adulteress -- she's engaged in a clandestine affair with Chip (Ted Danson), Holly's seismologist husband. Chip loves both women and wants to continue seeing Sandy, but she breaks things off with him now that she knows his wife. When Chip dies suddenly, Sandy helps Holly cope and finances Phase Two of her life as the new owner of Helga's aerobics center. Unfortunately, though, evidence of Chip's infidelity lies around just waiting to be discovered. In the end, it's up to Chip's friend Harry Crandall (Sam Waterson) -- who's been nursing a crush on Holly for years -- to help a pregnant Sandy and a heartbroken Holly come to terms with their complicated friendship. Just Between Friends marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Allan Burns. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Tyler Moore, Christine Lahti, (more)
- 1981
Jaclyn Smith trades the flimsy costumes of Charlie's Angels for the pink pillbox hat and white gloves of the former First Lady of the Land in the made-for-TV Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The daughter of socialites "Black Jack" Bouvier (Rod Taylor) and Janet Lee (Claudette Nevins), Jackie spends her early adulthood at the posh Newport estate of her stepfather, Louis Auchincloss (Donald Moffat). In 1953, 24-year-old Jackie marries Senator John F. Kennedy (James Franciscus), himself a child of privilege. The film follows the King and Queen of "Camelot" through Kennedy's 1960 election as President, the tragedy of Jackie's highly publicized miscarriage in the summer of 1963, and the JFK assassination in the fall of that year. All things considered, Jaclyn Smith does a pretty creditable job capturing the "public" Jackie Kennedy, even if the "private" Jackie remains as elusive as she was in real life. (Sidebar: Though "Camelot" is heard on the soundtrack, the real Jackie Kennedy would later note that it was not her husband's favorite song, never mind the legend-weavers in the Kennedy camp). Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was first broadcast October 14, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
