Vivienne Radkoff Movies
Director Dan Ireland adapts writer Robert Bazell's autobiographical novel Her-2 to the screen with this made-for-Lifetime drama concerning UCLA oncologist and researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon, creator of the promising breast cancer drug Herceptin. Convinced that his revolutionary drug could effectively switch off cancer cells for women with tumors of the Her-2+ (Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2-positive) without radiation treatment, Dr. Slamon raised funds for his research with the help of Ron Perelman, Lilly Tartikoff, and the extended Revlon family. Later, as Dr. Slamon attempted to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and get his drug approved, a number of brave patients who had volunteered for the clinical tests of Herceptin sadly succumbed to their cancer. But all hope wasn't lost, because in 1998 the FDA finally approved the use of Herceptin to treat breast cancer, giving hope to millions of women and their families across the country. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Connick, Jr., Bernadette Peters, (more)
- 2001
This made-for-TV movie opens as photojournalist Jo Ellen Hathaway (Melissa Gilbert) awakens from a horrible nightmare. As it turns out, Jo Ellen would have been better off if she had stayed in bed: She is being stalked by a love-obsessed psycho. In hopes of saving her own life and determining the identity of her pursuer, the heroine heads back to her hometown to solve the disappearance of her own mother back in 1983. Before the truth comes out, however, the audience bears witness to a few gruesome murders, including one committed by hatchet. Based on a novel (as indicated by its title), Nora Roberts' Sanctuary premiered February 28, 2001 over the CBS network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
This made-for-TV fantasy was based on Rod Serling's "A Stop at Willoughby," a 1960 episode of Serling's classic anthology series Twilight Zone. The story begins in the year 2000, with advertising executive Charles Lattimer (Mark Harmon) escaping his hectic professional life and increasingly dissatisfying marriage to wife Kristen (Catherine Hicks) by obsessively tinkering with his elaborate model-train set. Through the aid of a magic stopwatch, Charles boards a real train and is whisked back to 1896, where he inaugurates a romance with attractive widow Laura Brown (Mary McDonnell). Traversing back and forth through the years, Charles ultimately finds that he will never truly be happy until he chooses between the "real" world and the world fashioned by his nostalgic imagination. Filmed in Alberta, For All Time made its CBS network debut on October 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
It has been 20 years since Federal agent Dane Corvin (Richard Chamberlain) left his home town of Raven Island -- and also 20 years since Dane's fiancée Helen (Karen Allen), a talented sculptor, bitterly broke off their engagement when he was forced to arrest her brother for poaching. Now Corvin has returned, hoping to somehow, some way win back Helen's love. As it turns out, however, Helen herself is harboring a secret that Dane may not be able to forgive. Some lovely location footage of the Pacific Northwest makes this adaptation of Evan Maxwell's novel seem more compelling that it truly is. All the Winters That Have Been originally aired over CBS on September 21, 1997, posting the eighth highest rating of its broadcast week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Karen Allen, (more)
- 1996
This fact-based TV movie stars JoBeth Williams as Pam Willis, a case worker for the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. In the course of a standard investigation, Pam comes upon Laura Keyes (Kellie Martin), a 14-year-old deafmute girl who has been locked up since childhood and never taught sign language. Even worse, Laura has endured a lifetime of unspeakable abuse at the hands of her father. Taking Laura under her wing, Pam endeavors to teach the terrified girl how to communicate and function in the "outside" world--and in the process, awakens the soul that has been so long buried within Laura's battered consciousness. This mission turns out to be a desperate race against time when Laura's bestial father begins scouring the slums in search of his "runaway" daughter. Breaking Through debuted December 30, 1996 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kellie Martin, JoBeth Williams, (more)
After the Silence concerns a deaf girl who must contend with numerous difficulties in order to make sure her father pays for abusing her. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- JoBeth Williams, Kellie Martin, (more)
