Kate Jackson Movies
Willowy brunette actress Kate Jackson spent her early adulthood in summer stock, in training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and as a page and tour guide at the NBC studios in Rockefeller Center. Anxious to burst forth with reams of dialogue as a film and TV actress, Jackson found herself in the utterly non-speaking role of a glamorous ghost on the mid-1960s daytime TV serial Dark Shadows. She was allowed to flap her gums a little more often as Jill Danko on TV's The Rookies (1973-76). Full stardom arrived for Jackson when she was cast as Sabrina Duncan, "the smart one" on the prime time jigglefest Charlie's Angels; she remained with this series from 1976 through 1979. Her last regular weekly TV effort was Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983-1987) in which she played an average housewife who moonlighted as a secret agent. Though Jackson has made sporadic film appearances, it is safe to say that her greater fame rests upon her small-screen work. Jackson received an outpouring of industry sympathy and support when she battled breast cancer in the early 1990s. In recent years, Kate Jackson has been a prolific and popular TV commercial spokesperson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1976
The scene is a roller-games rink, where skating star Karen Jason has been killed in an "accident." To find out the truth behind Karen's death, the Angels go undercover as roller girls. Along the way, they discover that Karen was murdered as part of a scheme to defraud an insurance firm -- but the villains aren't about to let our heroines skate away scot-free. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
The Angels go undercover at an Army boot camp, with Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) posing as "grunts," and Sabrina (Kate Jackson) impersonating a nurse. Their mission: To find out who shot a WAC on the firing range, and why. Before their tour of duty is over, the Angels have uncovered a vicious drug-profiteering scheme -- and have placed their own lives on the firing line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
When a trio of thieves steal an apparently worthless antique, they trigger a violent war between two criminal factions. Investigating, the Angels come upon a widespread call-girl and smuggling operation, fronted by a computer dating service. Needless to say, it falls to Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) to pose as a hooker in an effort to bring the villains out in the open. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) volunteers to spend the day with Skip (Dennis Dimster), a mentally challenged youngster. Stumbling upon a murder scene at an amusement park, Skip finds the gun, and, thinking it's a toy, accidentally shoots Kelly -- then runs away in a panic. As Sabrina (Kate Jackson) and Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) conduct a frantic search for the boy, the murderer who left the gun behind poses as Skip's father, intending to eliminate all potential witnesses to his crime...beginning with the hospitalized Kelly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
Someone has been killing the centerfold models of Feline magazine, the girlie publication run by Hefner-like Tony Mann (Hugh O'Brian). In order to flush out the killer, who is apparently determined to sabotage the magazine's operation, the Angels go undercover -- with Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), naturally, posing as this month's centerfold. The identity of the mystery villain really throws the girls for a loop in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
The Angels find themselves the apparent targets of an unknown assassin. To find out the reason, and to flush out their would-be murderer, our heroines pretend that Sabrina (Kate Jackson) was killed during the attempt on her life. Alas, by the time the Angels realize that the killer's real target is their boss, Charlie Townsend, they've managed to entrap themselves in Charlie's mansion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
The Angels investigate when a crusading journalist "accidentally" drowns at a fancy West Coast resort. As Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) work undercover at the resort itself, Sabrina (Kate Jackson) and Bosley (David Doyle) team up on the "outside." It soon develops that the dead woman had stumbled onto a crooked land-development scheme masterminded by criminals who are "hiding in plain sight" -- and who are not averse to committing four murders if necessary. This was the first Charlie's Angels episode filmed, but the sixth to the be telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
This debut episode of Charlie's Angels takes place at a racetrack catering to female speed demons, where driver Suzy Lennon has died in a crash. Suspected of negligence, Suzy's mechanic Jerry (John Dennis Johnston) turns to the Angels -- Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), Sabrina (Kate Jackson) and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) -- to prove his innocence and finger a murderer. Although Sabrina goes undercover as a racer, it is Jill who ends up being taken for a ride when her cover is blown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
The crash of a private jet exposes a heroin-smuggling operation based in Mexico. The Angels head south of the border -- Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) posing as a vacationing schoolteacher, Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors) as a swimming instructor, Sabrina (Kate Jackson) as a stewardess -- to get the goods on the smugglers. Their main target is a drug kingpin known as Escobar, whom no one has ever seen, and thus could be any one of the episode's main characters (except, of course, the Angels). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
A serial killer who preys on high-fashion models has a distinctive signature: he strangles his victims with rag dolls. The parents of Dana Cameron, the killer's most recent victim, commission the Angels to find their daughter's murderer. Kelly, who bears a startling resemblance to the late Dana (mainly because both characters are played by Jaclyn Smith), goes undercover as a model to flush out the villain -- who may or may not be someone working at the agency where the victims were employed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1976
If for no other reason than its provocative title, this is the single most famous episode of Charlie's Angels. Our three heroines pose as lawbreakers in order to infiltrate a brutal and corrupt woman's prison farm in the Louisiana swamplands. Their mission: To solve the disappearance of one of the inmates, and to find out why so few prisoners leave the farm alive. Among its other virtues, "Angels in Chains" boasts an impressive supporting cast, including cult-film favorite Mary Woronov and future leading ladies Kim Basinger and Lauren Tewes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, (more)
The 1975 TV movie Death Scream is based on the shameful Kitty Genovese affair of 1964, in which a N.Y.C. woman was stabbed to death while 38 witnesses locked their windows and doors and pretended not to hear. Raul Julia stars as the detective who investigates the murder and stirs up the guilt feelings of those who refused to help. The film casts celebrity actors in the roles of the witnesses (Diahann Carroll, Cloris Leachman, Lucie Arnaz, Nancy Walker, Art Carney, et al.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-TV film, a screenwriter (Robert Wagner) begins writing the biography of the dead movie queen who had a brief affair with his father. After work on the project has commenced, he becomes obsessed with her spirit and gets a response from the other side of the grave. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Jackson
- 1975
This 72-minute pilot film of the Charlie's Angels series stars the three original "Angels": Sabrina (Kate Jackson), Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), and Kelly (Jaclyn Smith). Police rookies stuck in go-nowhere jobs, Sabrina, Jill, and Kelly are hired by the never-seen Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), who engages their services as private detectives. Their first assignment: finagle the owner of a vineyard (David Ogden Stiers) into confessing to the murder of his partner. David Doyle co-stars as Bosley, the affable liaison between Charlie and his Angels. A ratings powerhouse when it premiered on March 21, 1976, Charlie's Angels resulted in the long-running (and frequently recast) weekly series, which aired from September 22, 1976, through August 19, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this made-for-TV movie, six persons have won a cruise-ship vacation, but they find that the awards were just a trick to begin a killing game. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Killer Bees a made-for-TV thriller, directed by Curtis Harrington, is the story of a strong willed woman with a curious power. Madame von Bohlen (Gloria Swanson) matriarch of a family and controller of the family wine business rules her family with an iron hand. What is becoming increasingly obvious, after a series of mysterious bee attacks, is that she also has psychic control over a swarm of bees that reside in her vineyard. This silly, fun thriller has a great cast including Kate Jackson, Craig Steven and Edward Albert, and they all seem to be having as much fun with their roles as Gloria Swanson. Swanson attacks her role with the same feline energy that make her a star. She is outstanding as the controlling, iron-willed woman who will stop at nothing to get her way. A fun time is had by all in this outlandish, well-acted thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
One of the most memorable made-for-TV horror films of the 1970s, Satan's School for Girls is set an exclusive institution of learning in Salem, MA, where students have been committing suicide at an alarming rate. A young woman named Elizabeth Sayres (Pamela Franklin) enrolls at the all-girl's school under an assumed name, hoping to find out why her sister felt compelled to kill herself. Slowly and deliberately, Elizabeth is drawn into a coven of Satan worshipers -- and soon she realizes that she herself has demonic potential. Of special interest is the presence in the cast of two future Charlie's Angels regulars, Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd (here billed under her maiden name, Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor). Originally broadcast by ABC on September 19, 1973, Satan's School for Girls was remade for television in 2000, with Kate Jackson assaying the role of the school's sinister headmistress (originally played by Jo Van Fleet). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Thinnes, Kate Jackson, (more)
- 1972
This alleged feature film actually consists of two hour-long TV pilots, both produced by Screen Gems in 1972. The first, "Movin' On," stars Patrick Wayne and Geoffrey Deuel as a stock-car driver and cyclist, respectively. David Soul and Kate Jackson guest-star in this action-filled entry, which was originally telecast July 24, 1972. The title and play-date of the second pilot is currently unavailable though sources say that it stars Barbara Parkins, and that it takes place in a house haunted by the victim of a hanging. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Once more, Lorne Greene essays the dual role of Ben Cartwright and Ben's lookalike, confidence trickster Bradley Meredith. This time out, Meredith takes advantage of Ben's trip to Carson City to auction off the Ponderosa, piece by piece. Kate Jackson makes an early TV appearance as Ellen, while others in the cast include Greg Mullavey as Jordan, William Mims as Williams, Jack Collins as Mayor Harlow, Bill Zuckert as Matt Fowler, and Richard X. Slattery as Henderson. Written by Stanley Roberts, "One Ace Too Many" was originally shown on April 2, 1972 as the last installment of Bonanza's thirteenth season. The episode also represented the final series appearances of Ray Teal as Sheriff Coffee, and, tragically, Dan Blocker as Hoss Cartwright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1972
- PG
Limbo was one of Hollywood's first big-studio films to concentrate on how Vietnam affected the families of the combatants. Kathleen Nolan, Kate Jackson and Katherine Justice play three service wives living at a Florida Air Force Base. Their husbands have all been called to active duty in Vietnam, and all have either been captured or are MIAs. Avoiding the propagandistic stance of most war films of its period (and of such World War II films as Tender Comrade), Limbo manages to accurately convey the churned-up emotions of women who love their husbands and their country, but do not love what husbands are expected to do on behalf of that country. Before it is overwhelmed by soap opera suds, the film (scripted by Joan Micklin Silver and James Bridges, both on the verge of bigger things) makes several cogent points about personal relationships in the face of national crisis. Limbo has also been released as Chained to Yesterday and Women in Limbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Jackson, Katherine Justice, (more)
- 1971
This is the second full-length motion picture feature based on the popular television soap-opera/horror melodrama Dark Shadows. The first film was House of Dark Shadows. This film lacks the grand guignol glee provided by Jonathan Frid and Joan Bennet. However, it has a new storyline, not a rehash of one previously explored in the television series. Here, artist Charles Collins (David Selby, who performed the same part in the TV series) brings his new bride to live in the family mansion, which he has just inherited. The gentle and sensitive young Collins, the last of his clan, has troubled sleep. He dreams of the past, of his family, and of the house. Perhaps his dreams are not just dreams? Increasingly deranged by these visions, it begins to look like he will re-enact the atrocities committed by his family in the past. It is interesting to note that the film uses the mansion of 1890s railroad robber/baron Jay Gould for its setting. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- R
Russ Meyer followed-up his delirious Beyond the Valley of the Dolls with this surprisingly straighforward drama, which offered little of Meyer's traditional tongue-in-cheek humor or remarkably proportioned women in favor of a serious message about the evils of censorship. A bookstore sells a copy of a notorious erotic novel, entitled The Seven Minutes, to a teenager who is later arrested for rape. A prosecutor on a crusade against pornography seizes upon this as an opportunity to have the book declared obscene, and the trial sparks a heated debate about the issue of pornography vs. free speech, as well as revealing a startling revelation about the novel's true author. Adapted from a novel by Irving Wallace, The Seven Minutes featured one of Meyer's more interesting casts, including veteran character actors John Carradine and Alexander D'Arcy, a post-Munsters Yvonne de Carlo, a pre-Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck, lounge comic Jackie Gayle, and Wolfman Jack as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wayne Maunder, Marianne McAndrew, (more)
- 1971
Aware that Daphne (Kate Jackson) knows he killed Edith, Gabriel (Christopher Pennock) locks Daphne up in the forbidden wing of Collinwood, the same wing containing the portal to Parallel Time. In that "other" world, the Parallel-Time version of Flora (Joan Bennett) has a terse conversation with the terrified Stella Young (Gaye Edmond). Back in "real" time, Gabriel contemplates an escape plan, but first he must kill both Daphne and her sister, Joanna (Lee Beery). This episode initially aired on January 13, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Daphne (Kate Jackson) escapes from Gabriel (Christopher Pennock) via a secret passageway -- only to get lost in the darkness. Peering into Parallel Time, Daphne's sister, Joanna (Lee Beery), sees a curious Melanie Collins (Nancy Barrett), who looks just like Leticia Faye in "real time," asking after the whereabouts of the unfortunate Stella Young. This episode originally aired on January 15, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
