Sharon Gless Movies

Combining the best action/thriller elements with surprising humor and an iconic new breed of espionage, the second season of USA Network hit Burn Notice heats up as blacklisted spy, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) hones his unique skills for new clientele. After being fired as a professional spy and dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, Westen struggles to put his life back together and find out why he has been "burned." The series also stars Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona, a beautiful ex-IRA operative who happens to be Westen's ex-girlfriend; Bruce Campbell as Sam, Michael's closest buddy in town; and Sharon Gless as Madeline, Westen's hypochondriac mother. This new season (2008-9) of 16 episodes follows Westen as he takes on all new death-defying assignments in hopes of getting closer to his new employers, the people that were possibly responsible for his ousting. Joining the cast this season is Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Carla, the woman who may be behind Michael's "burn notice."

As Season 5 begins, Christian (Julian McMahon) joins Sean (Dylan Walsh) in Los Angeles, where they soon discover they're pretty small fish in a very big plastic-surgery pond. Needing exposure for the practice, they hire a publicist (Lauren Hutton), who finds them work as medical advisers for the prime-time soap opera "Hearts & Scalpels." It doesn't pan out for Christian, but the opposite holds true for Sean, who begins wielding a scalpel on-screen after the show's star (Bradley Cooper) is fired in a sex scandal. Sean also dates his costar (Paula Marshall) and meets another publicist, Colleen Rose (Sharon Gless), on the set. Colleen takes an intense interest in him, but Julia (Joely Richardson), who arrives in L.A. from New York, has lost interest in him. She's also involved with someone else -- a woman named Olivia Lord (Portia de Rossi). Olivia's promiscuous and duplicitous teen daughter Eden (AnnaLynne McCord) immediately dislikes Julia. Eden also has a brief fling with Sean and ends up in a threesome with Kimber (Kelly Carlson) and Kimber's old porn boss Ram Peters (John Schneider). Kimber has left Matt (John Hensley), but they share custody of their daughter. Meanwhile, Liz (Roma Maffia) follows Christian and Sean from Miami, but leaves McNamara/Troy after a falling out with Christian. Her replacement, adventurous Theodora "Teddy" Rowe (Katee Sackhoff), a recreational anesthesia user, has an affair with Sean. And Dawn Budge (Rosie O'Donnell) finds herself at McNamara/Troy after being bitten by an eagle while hang gliding. She becomes romantically involved with "Hearts & Scalpels" executive producer Freddy Prune (Oliver Platt). And then there's Christian, who has his own issues. He gets sexually reacquainted with Julia and Gina Russo (Jessalyn Gilsig), his adopted son Wilber's sex-addicted mother. Then he faces a health crisis. ~ Paul Droesch, All Movie Guide

The British ambassador to America becomes locked into a tense political firestorm when an airplane explodes while flying over Washington, D.C. in this topical British television series that explores the possibility of a British terrorist operating on American soil. Terrorists have stricken the stateside skies once again, and as a result the British Embassy is set ablaze by a diplomatic firestorm. Now, as affinities are tangled and interests clash, British Ambassador Mark Brydon (Jason Isaacs) realizes that he is being manipulated by an invisible puppeteer whose sadistic power mongering has become a threat to international security. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Torrie Rosenzweig directs this straightforward documentary on the history of the cigarette and the tobacco lobby's attempts at obfuscating the growing health risks. The film charts tobacco farming in American history from its early colonial origins, which virtually bankrolled the American Revolution, through to the 1880s when industrial revolution allowed companies to mass produce cigarettes. During WWI, tobacco companies exported boat loads of the stuff for free to U.S. troops fighting in the trenches -- thereby addicting an entire male generation. As lung cancer rates went skyward, researchers soon began making scientific connections between that illness and the popularity of cigarettes, in spite of the tobacco company's campaign to confuse the public and to derail anti-smoking legislation. In 1994, this façade irrevocably cracked when boxes of top-secret corporate documents were leaked to a Congressional committee. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The owner of the Cherry Lanes Bowl-a-Rama, Ziggy (Sharon Gless) has been cranky, mean-spirited and desperately lonely ever since she was "jilted" by her erstwhile boyfriend Darrell (Dennis Arndt) 25 years before. Now Darrell has returned home to celebrate his birthday, and Ziggy is determined to get even with him for breaking her heart. The outcome of the story--overseen by Monica (Roma Downey) and her fellow angels, of course--hinges upon Darrell's determination to bowl a "perfect game"...and Ziggy's determination that he won't. In a parallel development, the future of newlywed couple Renee (Samantha Becker) and Warren (John Huertas) likewise hangs in the balance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff were Russian expatriates who came to Hollywood and became two of the best known and most influential acting coaches in the film industry; Chekhov was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Spellbound, and as a teacher he and his associate Shdanoff helped guide the careers of Leslie Caron, Patricia Neal, Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood. From Russia to Hollywood provides a glimpse into their lives and careers as Chekhov flees Russia for Germany after the Communist government expresses its displeasure with his productions for the Moscow Art Theater (Stanislavsky considered Chekhov a genius, but the government considered him ideologically unsound). When the Nazis began to rise to power, Chekhov relocated to the United States, where he taught acting when not busy with his own career on the stage and screen. Here, several of Chekhov and Shdanoff's better known students discuss their work and how their teachings effected a generation of Hollywood actors. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Author and philosopher Ayn Rand (born Alice Rosenbaum) developed an intense following in the 1930s and '40s for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and her anti-Communist, pro-Capitalism creed of Objectivism. Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life is a two-and-a-half hour exploration of her life, work, and influence, featuring newsreel footage of Rand and interviews with her friends, associates, and followers. Narrated by actress Sharon Gless, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature of 1998. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In 1994 -- six years after the final episode of the groundbreaking 1980s television crime drama Cagney & Lacey -- Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly reprised their iconic roles for the first of four TV-movie sequels. Cagney & Lacey: The Return finds the now-retired Lacey reuniting with the now-married Cagney for a case involving weapons smuggling, all while dealing with women's issues such as career, marriage, parenthood -- and, this time around, menopause -- in the trademark style that made the parent show such a cultural touchstone. ~ Sandra Bencic, Rovi

Although his Mother denies his involvement in a brutal attack that left her critically injured and her husband dead, a college student is forced to deal with his guilt. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

William Blinn's teleplay for The Outside Woman smacks of the most exaggerated of contrivances--but it's all based on truth. Sharon Gless, who tries really hard to look dowdy, stars as a Southern mill worker. Highly susceptible to the possibility of romance, Gless falls for the smooth line of Scott Glenn--a convict at Los Angeles state prison. Her common sense clouded by love, Gless agrees to help hijack a helicopter in order to bust Glenn and a fellow convict out of the slammer. Made for television, The Outside Woman was perhaps deliberately slated for its premiere just before Valentine's Day of 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This third film version of Harold Brighthouse's play Hobson's Choice moves the locale from turn-of-century London to 1914 New Orleans. Horatio Hobson (Jack Warden) is the boozy, tyrannical owner of a shoe store. Hobson's daughter Maggie (Sharon Gless) falls in love with humble shoe clerk Will Mossup (Richard Thomas). When Hobson refuses to give the relationship his blessing, Maggie huffily takes her new boy friend out of the store to set up her own shop--which soon threatens to put Hobson out of business. In her last TV appearance, Lillian Gish plays the elderly benefactor who enables Will and Maggie to declare their independence. Hobson's Choice first aired on December 21, 1983. PS: A musical version of the play, Walking Happy, ran on Broadway in the mid-1960s, with Norman Wisdom starring as Will Glossop. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi