Ben Cross Movies
Formerly of the RADA and Royal Shakespeare Company, British leading man Ben Cross made an impressive film debut as Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in Chariots of Fire (1981). Cross' participation in this Oscar-winning film immediately opened up new professional doors and increased his asking price. But he was not about to blindly capitalize on his new fame; he turned down 100,000 dollars to play Prince Charles in a made-for-TV movie in favor of appearing for a comparative pittance in a BBC miniseries adaptation of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel. He has continued to select film, stage, and TV roles on the basis of quality rather than monetary potential. One exception may be Cross' acceptance of the role of centuries-old vampire Barnabas Collins in the failed 1991 revival of the cult-favorite TV series Dark Shadows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this lively caper film, an ex-con with uncommon expertise in understanding the workings of high-tech security systems begins preparing to steal a rare diamond that is worth over $5 million. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
She Stood Alone is the fact-based story of Prudence Crandall, described by her admirers as "the bravest woman in America." In Connecticut in the 1830s, Ms. Crandall establishes a school for young woman. Upon her acceptance of a black girl for admission, Prudence endures racism, threats, renunciations and mob violence. When the white parents pull their children out, Prudence defiantly opens the doors of her school exclusively for African-American girls. Mare Winningham is excellent, and scrupulously accurate in her period costumes and mannerisms, as Prudence Crandall. Produced by Disney, She Stood Alone was originally telecast as part of NBC's "Education 1st" week in April of 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Based on a novel by Pope John Paul II, this reverent tale focuses on a pair of married Polish couples whose children meet decades later in North America. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1989
The four-part British miniseries Pursuit, based upon Robert L. Fish's novel of the same name, was first telecast in the United States as the two-part "movie special" Twist of Fate. Bruce Greenwood essayed the leading role of Helmut Von Schraeder, an ex-S.S. officer on the run after conspiring to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Undergoing plastic surgery, Von Schraeder assumed the new identity of Jewish concentration camp survivor Daniel Grossman. And as if that wasn't unbelievable enough, "Grossman" went on to a colorful career as an Israeli freedom fighter. The huge multinational cast included British film and TV stalwart Ben Cross and American leading lady Sarah Jessica Parker. Though made for British television, Pursuit did not air in that country until 1990, a full year after its American debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Cross, Veronica Hamel, (more)
- 1989
Nightlife was produced for the USA Cable Network, which might give you a general idea of its artistic merit. On its own junk-food-for-the-eyes terms, however, this vampire comedy is a stitch. Ben Cross and Maryam D'Abo star as a loving vampire couple who go out on a night on the town (they certainly can't go out in the daytime). "Normal" human being Keith Szarabaijka spots Maryam, and it's love at first...sight. The script, by director Daniel Taplitz and former Saturday Night Live staffer Anne Beatts, works well on a comedy-sketch level, though the 90-minute length tends to suck the premise dry. Nightlife was first telecast on August 23, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maryam D'Abo, Ben Cross, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Eleven-year-old Charlotte Burke, the neglected daughter of Ben Cross and Glenne Headley, passes out on the school playground and dreams of visiting a house she'd previously drawn in her composition book. She imagines another visit to her "paper house" while playing hide-and-seek. Experimenting, Burke draws a figure in the window of the house; the next time she dreams, she meets a young boy, as lonely as she. Convinced that she wields a large degree of power in her pencil, Burke draws a picture of her father, Cross, hoping that in doing so he will return home. But Burke is dissatisfied with the picture, and crosses it out--whereupon Cross shows up in her dreams as a murderous stalker. What happens next is a maelstrom of psychological horror, told completely from the child's point of view. Paperhouse is based on Marianne Dreams a novel by Catherine Storr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Burke, Glenne Headly, (more)
This made-for-cable espionage melodrama centers on a beautiful Israeli spy who is assigned to use her wiles to convince an Iraqui flyer to defect and bring with him a valuable Soviet fighter plane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
Archbishop Mosley (Hal Holbrook) assigns Father Michael (Ben Cross) to a church in New Orleans in this supernatural horror film. The parish church was the site of the throat-slashing murders of two priests two years earlier. While Father Michael tends to the mostly impoverished flock of parishioners and their needs, he launches his own investigation into the mysterious unsolved deaths. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Cross, Hal Holbrook, (more)
- 1986
This two-part, four-hour TV miniseries was adapted from the same-named 1984 novel by Arthur Hailey. Pamela Sue Martin headed the huge cast as Celia Gray, a young woman who rose from humble drug store clerk to become the head of a major pharmaceutical manufacturing firm during the 1950s and 1960s. Along the way, of course, Celia met with formidable opposition from the all-male medical establishment, and consequently, her private life was often a mess. Also on hand were two other TV stalwarts, Patrick Duffy as Dr. Andrew Jordan and Dick Van Dyke as Sam Hawthorne. Presented as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time dramatic anthology (one of many pre-Fox efforts spearheaded by a consortium of independent TV stations to establish a "fourth network"), Strong Medicine was first made available on April 21, 1986, though most local markets did not run the property until May. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
