Nina Foch Movies

The second of two CBS TV movies based on the novels of Lavyrle Spencer, Family Blessings begins as young police officer Greg Reston (Darren Lucas) dies in an auto accident. Having already lost a husband, Greg's mother Lee (Lynda Carter) is all but consumed by grief. In his efforts to comfort, Lee, Greg's fellow officer Chris Lallek (Steven Eckholdt) falls in love with her, despite the 15-year difference in their ages. The question now is whether or not Lee will reciprocate Chris' love, a task complicated by the disapproval of her friends and family members--especially her daughter Janice (Ari Meyers), who once carried a torch for Chris herself. Codirected by actresses Deborah Raffin and Nina Foch (who also plays Lee's mother Peg), Lavyrle Spencer's Family Blessings originally aired September 6, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rookie detective's investigation of a particularly brutal murder takes a personal turn for her when her lover turns out to the their main suspect. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) comes to the aid of Ellen Woer (Dee Wallace Stone), whom she'd previously helped to beat a murder rap. In the interim, Ellen has become owner of a diner, in which three patrons died of arsenic poisoning. While Jessica labors to find out what really happened, several disgruntled "locals", convinced that Ellen had actually been guilty of murder the first time around, aren't about to let her slip through the fingers of the law a second time--and no one is more vituperative (or profane) than the town's chief hothead, Edge Potter (Don Swayze). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Outback Bound is a made-for-TV film tailored to the talents of Donna Mills. She plays a pampered Beverly Hills resident whose cash flow bottoms out. Learning that her late father owned an opal mine in Australia, Mills packs what's left of her things and heads for the Outback. The mine is virtually tapped out, but that won't stop our dauntless Mills. Filmed on location in late 1987, Outback Bound made the syndication and cable rounds in the US in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based upon a novel by Richard Peck, Child of Glass was updated to the present when it was created for Disney's TV series in 1978. Alexander Armsworth and his family move into a spooky old Dixie mansion that was once the home of a notorious river pirate. Before long, Alexander catches sight of a mysterious little girl and her dog, both of whom turn out to be ghosts. The little girl ghost tells Alexander that her name is Inez, and appeals to him for help in finding a child of glass. With the aid of his new friend, Blossom, Alexander finds out that Inez was a victim of the river pirate whose house his family now inhabits. The pirate killed the young girl when she refused to divulge the location of the treasure he sought; for good measure, he placed a curse upon her that has caused her to roam the plantation after death. With only a few days left before the curse becomes permanent, Alexander and Blossom rush to find the child of glass and free Inez's spirit. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Made for television, The Great Houdinis tells the life story of famed American illusionist/escape-artist Harry Houdini and his wife Bess. Studiously avoiding covering the same ground as the 1953 Houdini theatrical-film biopic, director Mel Shavelson's script for Great Houdinis spends a great deal of time on the conflict between Harry's Catholic wife Bess and his Jewish mother. The spiritualism angle so important to the Houdini story allows the 1976 film to recreate Houdini's meetings with "true believer" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Again departing from the 1953 Houdini, this later film does not end with Houdini's death from peritonitis in 1926; instead, we watch as the widowed Bess desperately tries to make contact with her husband in the "other world," all the while debunking phony mediums, just as her husband had done. Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers star as the Houdinis, with Ruth Gordon as Harry's mother Mrs. Weiss, Peter Cushing as Conan Doyle, Jack Carter as Houdini's brother, Adrienne Barbeau as his mistress, Nina Foch as a medium, and Vivian Vance as the all-around best friend/severest critic, who narrates the film. The Great Houdinis first aired on October 8, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made for TV Female Artillery is a comedy, just in case the title didn't tip you off. Set in the Old West, the film stars Dennis Weaver as Deke Chambers, an outlaw on the lam from his old gang. Joining a wagon train, Deke aligns himself with a group of tough, well-armed pioneer women. When the gang attacks, the gals retaliate in noisy fashion. First telecast January 17, 1973, Female Artillery is elevated by the special effects wizardry of Albert Whitlock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The FBI suspects a trucking firm of being the front for a sophisticated hijacking ring. To get to the truth, Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover as a truck driver, while Colby (William Reynolds), posing as an ex-con, lands a job with the firm as dispatcher. Inevitably, Colby's cover is blown--but this may prove less dangerous to him than to the head hijacker (Edward Binns), who has been set up for murder by one of his own "pals". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prescription: Murder, a 1967 TV movie, represents the first appearance of Peter Falk as the rumpled but crafty detective Columbo. Gene Barry plays a distinguished doctor whose happiness is thwarted by his drunken wife (Nina Foch). Barry is in love with a pretty actress (Katherine Justice), and to smooth the path of his romance he murders his wife and arranges the evidence to pin the blame elsewhere. Enter Columbo, who seems to be slow on the uptake but who in fact is suspicious of the doctor's story. Snooping, prodding, puttering, and forever stopping at the doorway with the inevitable "just one more question," Columbo gets to the truth by playing a psychological trick on Barry, with the grudging cooperation of Barry's mistress. Written by Richard Levinson and William Link, Prescription Murder began life as a Broadway play in the late 1950s, starring Thomas Mitchell in the Columbo part (with a different character name), Joseph Cotten as the devious doctor, Agnes Moorehead as the victim and Patricia Medina (Mrs. Cotten) as the mistress. It would be adapted into a one-hour special on NBC in 1961 (with Bert Freed as the disheveled detective) before finally hitting weekly-series paydirt with Peter Falk in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In desperate need of transportation to take the wounded Kirby (Jack Hogan) to an aid station, Saunders tries to commandeer the truck driven by a French matron named Mme. Carmaux (Nina Foch). But the woman stubbornly refuses to cooperate: her vehicle is carrying a coffin intended for the body of her son, and she will not be stopped until the boy receives a proper burial. What begins as a stalemate evolves into an uneasy truce, with Saunders and Mme. Carmaux ultimately working together...sort of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus, eventually replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Agatha Christie's popular novel And Then There Were None (which isn't the original title of the novel, but it's easy to understand why the change was made) is the murder mystery this made-for-TV adaption is based upon. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide