Blythe Danner Movies
American actress Blythe Danner brings a kind of classy elegance to her work that betrays her real-life background: the daughter of a Philadelphia bank executive, she enjoyed an expensive prep school education and undergraduate study at Bard College. Her earliest theatrical work was with the Theater Company of Boston and the Trinity Square Playhouse of Boston; by the time she was 25, Danner had won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the Lincoln Center Rep's production of The Miser. In 1970, she earned a Tony for her performance in Butterflies are Free; based on the true story of a blind attorney, Danner played the central character's free-spirit love interest. Given the tenor of '70s newspaper publicity, Danner was featured in several magazine and newspaper photo spreads because she spent much of Butterflies' first act clad in nothing but her underwear. Subsequently, the actress was frequently cast opposite fellow up-and-comer Ken Howard, notably in the short-lived 1973 TV sitcom Adam's Rib. She worked so well with Howard that many fans assumed that the two were married; in fact, Danner's longtime husband is Broadway and TV producer Bruce Paltrow.A "critic's darling" thanks to her husky voice and pleasantly mannered acting style, Danner has worked with distinction in TV and on stage, though her film roles have tended to be few and far between. She was memorable as Robert Duvall's long-suffering wife in The Great Santini (1980) and as Nick Nolte's wife in The Prince of Tides (1991), while in 1986's Brighton Beach Memoirs, the decidedly WASPish Danner surprised fans by portraying a middle-aged Jewish woman. Danner's film appearances became more frequent during the latter half of the '90s: she did starring work in such films as To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), The X-Files (1998), and The Love Letter (1999). A memorable turn opposite Robert DeNiro in the 2000 comedy found the established dramatic actress reaching the apex of a particularly impressive comedy run, and a year after reprising her role in the 2004 sequel Meet the Fockers, Danner would make showbiz history by earning a record three Emmy nominations for her roles in Huff, Will and Grace, and Back when We Were Grownups. When the smoke cleared and all of the winners had been announced, Danner did ineed come out on top when she took home the "Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" award for Huff, with nominations for both Huff and Will and Grace at the following year's ceremony offering telling testament as to just how strong her work truly was. In 2006 Danner could be seen performing opposite Zack Braff in the romantic comedy drama remake The Last Kiss.
Frequently seen in TV guest roles (she managed to make her Mrs. Albert Speer in 1982's Inside the Third Reich sympathetic, no mean feat), Danner could be seen on television on a regular basis in the brief 1989 series Tattingers, produced by her husband. In 1992, she did stellar work in the made-for-TV movie Cruel Doubt, in which she played the matriarch of a broken family. Her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow was also featured in the movie, and has since gone on to become a successful actress in her own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the opening moments of this drama, we see a man brutally murder a woman, and in the story that follows, we look back at the events that led up to this tragedy as the killer awaits trial. Archie Landrum (Frank Whaley) is a brilliant mathematician who is socially inept and doesn't interact well with others. He takes a job as a caretaker at a ranch in New Mexico owned by Katherine Samuel (Blythe Danner). Archie has a good reason for wanting to work for Katherine; her daughter Lucy (Sheryl Lee) is the star of the TV show "Banyon's Band" and has appeared in a series of R-rated sexploitation films; Archie is obsessed with Lucy, and he hopes that working for her mother will bring him closer to her. Sure enough, Lucy comes to New Mexico to pay her mother an extended visit, but familial warmth is less a factor than Lucy's need to dry out from her periodic bouts with alcohol and drug abuse. Archie tries to ingratiate himself with Lucy, hoping that she might develop a romantic or sexual interest in him, but it soon becomes obvious that this is not to be. This does nothing to ease Archie's fascination with her; he begins spying on her and reading her diary, until the inevitable day when his obsession turns violent. Mark Medoff wrote the screenplay, adapted from his own play "The Homage That Follows;" Bruce Davidson appears as the public defender assigned to represent Archie in court. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blythe Danner, Frank Whaley, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
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Patrick Swayze plays Vida Boheme, a classy and long-reigning drag queen. With his understudy Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes), Vida wins a New York drag stage contest and an all-expenses-paid trip to Hollywood. But when Miss Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) cries at having lost the contest, soft-hearted Vida cashes in the airline tickets so the three of them can take a car out West. The film becomes a strange sort of buddy road movie, with the three cross-dressers traveling across the American heartland in a shiny yellow Cadillac. First they tangle with Sheriff Dollard (Chris Penn). He stops them for a minor traffic violation, puts the moves on Vida, and Vida knocks him out, so they flee. Later, they are stranded by car problems in a small town in Nebraska. Renting a room in a hotel, they put some life into the town and its annual strawberry festival. They provide a mousy local woman, Carol Ann (Stockard Channing), with new role models of assertiveness. They also insist on chivalrous treatment from the local good old boys and give lessons on courting to a teenage girl. This film was released on the heels of the more outrageous Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which featured Terence Stamp as a drag queen. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, (more)
- 1994
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Originally a television mini-series, this drama chronicles the painful and lively reminiscences of a 100 year old woman. Much of the story centers on her tumultuous marriage to a Civil War vet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1992
The two-part TV movie Cruel Doubt was based on a true story, as elucidated in book form by Joe McGinniss. In part one, aired May 17, 1992, Wealthy North Carolinian Blythe Danner discovers that her own son Matt McGrath was involved in a robbery-assault in their home, in which her husband was killed. The story was resolved in part two, which debuted May 19, 1992. As the courtroom trial wears on, flashbacks reveal the extent of McGrath's involvement in the crime, as well as the depths of his mental illness. And for a brief period, there's a slim possibility that the evidence is all wrong, and that McGrath is innocent. The boy's sister is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, real-life daughter of Blythe Danner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blythe Danner, Ed Asner, (more)
- 1992
Based on Robert Anderson's novel, the made-for-television Getting Up and Going Home is a drama about a divorced attorney (Tom Skerritt) who copes with a mid-life crisis by having affairs with no less than three women: his ex-wife, a single mother, and a married suburbanite. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1992
President Abraham Lincoln leads the Union in the fight to end the awful bloodshed of the Civil War. The year is 1863. The president had a continuous struggle with the commanders of his army, and the bloodshed from the fighting at Antietam and Fredericksburg distressed him greatly. 1863 was the year of his Emancipation Proclamation and Gettysburg Address. Listen to the story of the events that led to the amazing address at Gettysburg. Actor Jason Robards brings to life the voice of President Lincoln. PBS originally aired this program, the second of a four-volume set narrated by actor James Earl Jones. ~ Linda J. Shriver, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A shrewd politician, Abraham Lincoln had the intelligence, ambition, and principles to grow into his job as president. This is the first of four videos in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, this program is narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones, and features award-winning actor Jason Robards reading from letters, speeches, and diaries. Highlights include period photographs. The other three programs in the series are titled Lincoln: The Pivotal Year, 1863, Lincoln: I Want to Finish This Job, 1864, and Lincoln: Now He Belongs to the Ages, 1865. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1992
This video is the fourth installment of the Lincoln series, originally aired on PBS. This volume focuses on the last days and hours of Abraham Lincoln's life. Viewers watch as Lincoln's enemies plot their final revenge on the man they believed had dishonored their heritage. The video also reveals how Lincoln's own dreams foreshadowed his murder and how the series of public funerals, following his death, helped fuel his legendary status that has only grown with time. ~ Karla Baker, All Movie Guide
- 1992
By the third year of the Civil War, personal and national tragedy had worn down President Lincoln. However, he focused on his job tenaciously, having a strong sense of history. This is the third of four programs in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, this program is narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones and features award-winning actor Jason Robards reading from letters, speeches, and diaries. Highlights include period photographs. The other three programs in the series are titled Lincoln: The Making of a President, 1860-1862, Lincoln: The Pivotal Year, 1863, and Lincoln: Now He Belongs to the Ages, 1865. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
One of Woody Allen's most seemingly biographical films, Husbands and Wives opens with upper-middle class Manhattan couple Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack) announcing to their best friends, the Roths, that they are splitting up. Gabe Roth (Allen) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow) are taken aback by their casual revelation. Jack begins dating his dim, but sexy, aerobics instructor and Sally starts up a tentative romance with Michael (Liam Neeson). Gabe and Judy begin analyzing their marriage, discovering that they might not be meant to stay together. English professor Gabe begins a serious flirtation with a student of his named Rain (Juliette Lewis) and Judy begins to have feelings for Michael. Eventually, Sally and Jack reconcile, but have not improved their relationship. Gabe and Judy end up going their separate ways. Husbands and Wives was seemingly influenced by Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Judy Davis, (more)
Barbra Streisand directed and stars in this love story about two people of dissimilar backgrounds who form a connection based on their unhappy experiences. Adapted from the novel by Pat Conroy, the story concerns Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte), a rudderless, unemployed football coach. Stuck in a loveless marriage with a wife (Blythe Danner) who feels nothing for him, and unable to move forward with his life, he is suddenly jarred out of his lethargy when he travels to New York because his twin sister (Melinda Dillon) has just tried to kill herself. In New York, he meets her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein (Barbra Streisand), who is married to a snobbish husband (Jeroen Krabbe). Susan and Tom become attracted to each other out of their loneliness. As his relationship with Susan blossoms, Tom learns to deal with his mother Lila (Kate Nelligan), who is the sole emotional center of his life. In the past, Lila was married to an abusive alcoholic. When she left her first husband, she married a rich man whose abuse was mental rather than physical. Tom hates Lila, but he can't free himself of his attachment to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, (more)
- 1991
In this fact-based made-for-cable docudrama, Leonard Nimoy stars as Mel Mermelstein, a Nazi death camp survivor who wages a court battle against the revisionist Institute for Historical Review over their claims that the Holocaust never occurred. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Nimoy, Dabney Coleman, (more)
Woody Allen's character study of a well-kept, upscale Manhattan woman (Mia Farrow) takes the title character on a journey through a Wonderland of her own making, in which she learns some truths about herself, her relationships, and the universe in general. Alice leads a comfortable life, except for some nagging aches and pains, but when she visits the mysterious Dr. Yang (Keye Luke), he discovers that what really ails Alice is her own lack of true human experience. Alice has been married for sixteen years to Doug (William Hurt), an emotionally detached stockbroker, and she lives a perfectly maintained life in a perfectly maintained apartment, with a pair of children and the requisite support staff. All that changes when a chance meeting with a neighbor (Joe Mantegna) leads Alice to consider an affair. Dr. Yang, seizing the opportunity, gives Alice herbal potions that make her both invisible and seductive, allowing her to free herself from her inhibitions. Plunging into her new fantasy world, Alice ultimately comes to terms with her family, her husband, and her life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, (more)
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (played by real-life "Mr. and Mrs." Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward) are well-to-do residents of Kansas City in the 1940s. So far as the Bridges are concerned, however, it's the 1920s, with Mr. Bridge treating his wife like property, regarding his grown children as if they're still adolescents, and habitually voting against that upstart Roosevelt. Though the underlying painfulness of such an archaic arrangement is never ignored, Mr. Bridges' obstinancy is for the most part amusing. The scene that seemed to please the audience most was the one in which Mr. Bridge orders Mrs. Bridge not to leave their table at their country club despite tornado warnings (they sit quietly in the deserted dining room while the building shakes and shudders). As for Mrs. Bridge, her "life" is totally defined by those around her--which in any other film would be a tragedy, but which here seems a logical extension of all that's gone before. Based on two separate novels by Evan S. Connell, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is a rare excursion into Americana by the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
The true-story of a small town Louisiana molestation case is re-created in this made-for-cable drama. When a couple learns that their young son has been molested by a popular parish priest, they are offered a bribe in exchange to keep the story quiet. They soon find out that their son wasn't the only victim, and they have to decide if they want to fight the Catholic Church. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1989
As a reporter investigates the disappearance of an anchorwoman, his important characters are being killed by an "avenging angel." ~ All Movie Guide
Grad-school administrative head Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is in the midst of writing a book. The walls are thin in the apartment she's taken for work purposes, and soon Marion begins listening to the sessions conducted by her neighbor, an analyst. One of the patients is Hope (Mia Farrow), whose marriage is in tatters. As Hope prattles on, Marion begins flashing back to highlights (and lowlights) of her own marriage. Her musings are constantly interrupted by the memory of the man (Gene Hackman) she'd once ardently loved. Later on, chance encounters with old friends force Marion to face the fact that she has lived her life sheltering herself from her true emotions. Director Woody Allen's career-long indebtedness to Ingmar Bergman is underlined in Another Woman via Bergman's frequent cinematographer Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow, (more)
Brighton Beach Memoirs is the first of playwright Neil Simon's unofficial "autobiographical trilogy" (it was followed by Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound). Jonathan Silverman repeats his stage role as Simon's teenaged alter-ego Eugene, who lives in 1937 Brooklyn with his parents (Blythe Danner and Bob Dishy), older brother Stanley (Brian Drillinger), aunt (Judith Ivey) and female cousins (Stacey Glick and Lisa Waltz). Much is made of Eugene's burgeoning sexual self-awareness and his father's efforts to support his huge extended family on his meager salary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blythe Danner, Bob Dishy, (more)
Richard A. Levinson and William Link took the "fantasy murder" concept popularized in the classic Preston Sturges film Unfaithfully Yours (1948) one fatal step further in Guilty Conscience. Criminal attorney Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins) wants to divorce his wife Louise (Blythe Danner) but will have to clean out all his assets to meet her alimony demands. With the help of mistress Jackie (Swoosie Kurtz), Arthur plans to murder his spouse and thus stave off financial ruin. But how best to pull off the dirty deed? Conjuring up an imaginary alter ego (also played by Anthony Hopkins), the attorney cerebrally stages several murder scenarios before hitting upon the perfect scheme. The fact that linear time is ignored throughout Guilty Conscience keeps the audiences on its toes. Are we watching another imaginary killing, or is this one the genuine article? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1984
This semi-sequel to William Gibson's The Miracle Worker recounts the early adult years of the profoundly handicapped but brilliant Helen Keller. Helen, played by Mare Winningham, enters college, with her friend and mentor Annie Sullivan Macy (Blythe Danner) by her side. As Helen's international fame grows, she must withstand the pressures of those who'd treat her as a freak rather than a human being as well as Annie's near-strident demands that she excel at everything. The multi-faceted Ms. Keller lived too much of a life to be squeezed into a mere two-hour running time; the script betrays the strain of trying to show us more than it's able by wrapping up everything in a hurried, unsatisfying conclusion. Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues was initially telecast as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time package in 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1983
- PG
In this melodramatic story, a college professor and his family experience trauma and tears when the professor discovers that his one-time lover in France has recently died and left a son behind -- his son. When the young boy shows up on the doorstep because the shocked father can only do what is right and offer him a home, the professor (Martin Sheen), his wife (Blythe Danner), and their children -- as well as the boy -- face new issues in a crisis that threatens the once-cohesive family. Both Sheen and Danner carry their roles beyond the sappy limitations of the script, but neither can change an unsatisfactory ending meant only to bring out another handkerchief. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1983
Blythe Danner stars as a successful and somewhat sheltered attorney. After a chance meeting with abused teenaged streetwalker Beth Ehlers and tough social worker Joyce vanPatten, Ms. Danner quits her job to set up her own legal defense office for children. Four different "cases" intersect in this made-for-TV film, with emphasis on 12-year-old Tony LaTorre, who is on his own and perpetually in trouble with the law. Ms. Danner is compelled to battle bureaucracy, as well as the retrogressive attitudes of abusive parents who feel that their authority is being usurped. Assembled by several veterans of the TV series Lou Grant (including producer Seth Freeman), In Defense of Kids has the ring of truth throughout, even though it was not (as might be assumed) based on a true story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This 1982 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Blythe Danner and features musical guest Rickie Lee Jones. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blythe Danner, Rickie Lee Jones, (more)
- 1982
The two-part TV movie Inside the Third Reich was based on the extraordinary revelatory (if self-serving) autobiographical book by Albert Speer. Played herein by Rutger Hauer, Speer is a young man of privilege in pre-Hitler Germany who happens to be a brilliant architect. Becoming a member of Hitler's inner circle, Speer is appointed the Nazi regime's master builder. According to this film, Speer is egomaniacal and ambitious, but somewhat blinded to the inherent evils of Nazism. Though he'd later claim to be ignorant of Hitler's horrific policies aimed at the Jews, he was certainly aware of the use of Jewish prisoners as slave labor: as Germany's armaments minister during World War II, Speer exploited these enslaved unfortunates as much as anyone, if not more so. The cast includes Derek Jacobi as Hitler, Blythe Danner as Speer's wife Margarethe, John Gielgud as Speer's father, Ian Holm as Goebbels, Maurice Roeves as Hess, and George Murcell as Goering. Originally running 5 hours, Inside the Third Reich was filmed in Munich; it was first telecast on May 9 and 10, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
