Ann Jillian Movies
Blonde, round-faced actress Ann Jillian was the daughter of Lithuanian war refugees. Her mother, for whom the phrase "stage-struck" might well have been coined, determined that the family would settle in Los Angeles so that her children would grow up in the heart of showbiz. In 1961, 11-year-old Ann made her film debut as Bo Peep in Disney's Babes in Toyland (1961). Two years later, she was cast as young Dainty June in Gypsy (1963); her talent and dedication prompted producer Mervyn LeRoy to forecast a "most rewarding future in show business" for the young actress. But after essaying her first semi-adult role as secretary Millie Ballard in the TV sitcom Hazel, Jillian dropped out of acting for three years to study psychology in college; during this period, she paid her tuition by working in a department store. She returned to performing as one half of a singing act (Debra Shulman was the other half) which opened for such Las Vegas headliners as Robert Goulet. In the late 1970s, Jillian scored a personal triumph in the Broadway musical Sugar Babies, holding her own on stage despite the howitzer-shell competition of stars Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller (her role was later reduced in size, reportedly because Miller felt she was being upstaged). Under the guidance of her manager-husband, ex-policeman Andy Murcia, Jillian went onward and upward in 1980 as star of the long-running sitcom It's a Living; later television projects included the short-lived series Jennifer Slept Here and the title role in the TV biopic Mae West, which earned her the first of two Emmy nominations (the second was for 1984's Ellis Island). After undergoing a double mastectomy in 1985, Ann Jillian celebrated her survival by starring in another made-for-TV biography, The Ann Jillian Story (1988) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This 1982 made-for-TV version of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland features an all-star cast. Such celebrities as Donald O'Connor, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden struggle to perform while buried under mounds of makeup and tons of eccentric costuming as Carroll's alternate-world loonies. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast Oct 3, 1983, on PBS' Great Performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This second film adaptation of the Victor Herbert operetta Babes in Toyland was producer Walt Disney's Christmas offering for 1961. The 1903 Herbert original had very little in the way of a plot, so screenwriters Joe Rinaldi, Lowell S. Hawley, and Ward Kimball lifted elements from the 1934 filmization of Toyland, which starred Laurel and Hardy. Annette Funicello plays Mary Contrary, about to wed Tom Piper (Tommy Sands) in the heart of Mother Goose Village. The villainous Barnaby (Ray Bolger), who covets Mary for himself, orders his bumbling henchmen Gonzorgo (Henry Calvin) and Roderigo (Gene Sheldon) to do away with Tom. Hoping to turn a profit, Gonzorgo and Roderigo sell Tom to a band of gypsies, enabling Tom to make a surprise return-in old-lady drag to rescue Mary from Barnaby's clutches. Later, Mary's younger siblings (including Disney regular Moochie Corcoran) wander into the Forest of No Return, compelling Tom and Mary to go after them. Everyone winds up in Toyland, where they try to help the Toymaker (Ed Wynn) and his invention-happy assistant Grumio (Tommy Kirk) meet their quota for Santa Claus despite the continued meddlings of Barnaby. Keep an eye peeled for 11-year-old Ann Jillian, making her screen debut as Bo Peep. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, (more)
- 1987
In this made-for-television movie, a woman (Ann Jillian) is sent to prison for assisting her good-for-nothing boyfriend in an embezzling scheme. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
Based on true incidents, this movie follows the plight of a young American girl who travels to Japan to start work as a club singer, only to discover that she has been tricked into working as a prostitute for the Yakuza. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1983
The seven-hour TV miniseries Ellis Island was adapted from a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart. Per its title, the film is a mosaic of subplots involving several European immigrants who passed through New York's Ellis Island before taking up residence in the Big Apple. Most of the characters are based on real people, notably the Irving Berlin-like musician played by Peter Riegert. Co-stars Faye Dunaway, Richard Burton (in his last film role) and Ann Jillian were honored with Emmy nominations. Ironically, this essentially American saga was largely filmed in London. Originally telecast November 11, 13, and 14, 1984, Ellis Island was re-edited and re-telecast in the summer of 1986, just in time for the Statue of Liberty Centennial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This Stephen Sondheim/Jules Styne/Arthur Laurents musical comedy Gypsy had been a Broadway smash with Ethel Merman in the lead. Based on the autobiography of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, it centers on the antics of Mama Rose (here played by Rosalind Russell), the Stage Mother from Hell who prods and pushes her daughters June and Louise into a vaudeville career. Rose pins most of her hopes for fame on older daughter June (billed as "Dainty June"), while little Louise reluctantly goes along for the ride. Karl Malden plays the girls' agent, who falls in love with Rose but is ultimately turned off by her ruthless ambition. When June escapes the act to get married, Rose puts the unwilling Louise in the star spot, but vaudeville is dying and soon the only booking they can get is in a cheap burlesque house. The strippers take Louise under their wing and advise her that "You've gotta have a gimmick" to survive on the bump-and-grind circuit. The nervous Louise rises to stardom as stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, whose "gimmick" is to adopt a self-mocking attitude and to put on pseudo-sophisticated airs. Rose resents Gypsy's rise to the top, but a bravura eight-minute musical soliloquy reveals that Rose had forced her daughters on the stage because she wanted to live out her own dreams of stardom. Louise--aka Gypsy--is played by Diane Pace as a girl and by Natalie Wood as an adult; June (better known as June Havoc) is portrayal by Suzanne Cupito (later billed as Morgan Brittany) as a little girl and Ann Jillian as an adolescent. Most of the best songs, including "Let Me Entertain You," "Small World," and "Everything's Coming Up Roses," remain intact from the original Broadway production. Gypsy was remade for television in 1993, with Bette Midler as Rose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, (more)
- 1994
Some parents are faced with a difficult decision in this dramatic made-for-TV movie. Based on a true story, parents (Bruce Greenwood and Michelle Greene) of an ill infant decide to donate their brain-damaged baby's heart to help save the life of another newborn in need. The film was nominated for a Humanitas Award. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1997
The recent death of his wife is just one of several blows endured by big-city surgeon Michael (Robert Hays), who has lost confidence in his skills and his been going through the motions only for the sake of his daughter Jilly (Ashley Gorrell). Summoned by his crusty dad Bob (Jack Palance) to come back to his home town for the first time in 20 years, Michael finds out that he is expected to take over the local hospital. None too keen on the prospect, Michael changes his mind when he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart, local veterinarian Sarah (Ann Jillian), who in the absence of anyone else is the hospital's only full time physician. As Michael weighs his future options--can he really go home again, or has he become too jaded by life in the city?--foxy Bob conspires with Jilly to bring Michael and Sarah back together again. First telecast on the CBS network, the made-for-TV I'll Be Home for Christmas originally aired December 23, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
When her daughter's lover begins exhibiting signs of becoming a dangerous abuser, a mother attempts to intervene. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Grieco, Ann Jillian, (more)
- 1986
In this murder mystery, one twin sister assumes the identity of the other after she is killed in a boating accident. She does not realizes that the dead twin held a fatal secret. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
A particularly vicious gang is using heroin to lure young women into prostitution. Investigating this sordid business, a prominent TV reporter is murdered by the criminals. The only hope Kojak (Telly Savalas) to smash the ring and avenge the unfortunate reporter is in the hands of Audrey Norris (Tina Louise), a strung-out hooker whose roommate has also been bumped off. This episode was directed by Leo Penn, the father of actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Little White Lies is a frenetic TV-movie hark bark to the "screwball comedies" of yore. Ann Jillian plays a just-getting-by Philadelphia policewoman who poses as a wealthy CEO because she's sick of "lady cop" jokes. Tim Matheson portrays a rich doctor who poses as a poverty-stricken orderly because he doesn't want women to pay attention to him because of his money. Mattheson falls for Jillian thinking that she's rich, while she falls for Matheson thinking that he's poor. And they went all the way to Rome to film this one. Little White Lies first aired November 27, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Jillian, Tim Matheson, (more)
- 1994
An ex-convict traveling to Las Vegas to visit his son is forced to re-enter the high-stakes world of casino poker in order to win back his family in a tense tale of family loyalty starring Kenny Rogers and Terry O'Quinn. There was a time when John J. "Jack" MacShayne (Rogers) was the best gambler in all of Las Vegas, but upon traveling back to his old haunts the ex-convict discovers that Sin City has been transformed into a homogenized vacation destination for the whole family. When MacShayne is unable to locate his wife and son, ex-policeman Danny Leggett (O'Quinn) offers to reveal the pair's whereabouts if the former gambler agrees to defeat a particularly formidable opponent at the tables. If MacShayne should win, Leggett and his partner will be able to carry out their plan of robbing the casino. Should his opponent win, however, MacShayne stands to lose much more than a simple game of cards. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Rogers
- 1983
Malibu is a two-part, four-hour adaptation of William Murray's best-selling novel. William Atherton and Susan Dey play a green-as-grass married couple from Milwaukee who take a vacation in Malibu. Amidst the elite and their million-dollar beach houses, Atherton starts up an affair with divorcee Valerie Perrine, while Dey fends off the attentions of TV star Steve Forrest before succumbing to the charms of tennis pro Chad Everett. Other Southern California satyrs and nymphs wandering in and out of Malibu include James Coburn, Eva Marie Saint, Ann Jillian, Kim Novak, Richard Mulligan, and (who else?) George Hamilton. The multiple story lines all come to a head during a climactic tennis match. Malibu is trash, true, but it's trash cultivated from the highest-quality refuse heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
A gangster's reputation as a tough guy is put severely to the test when he discovers that he has been made guardian to his dead sister's children. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
Jack Butler (Michael Keaton) is a Detroit automobile engineer unjustly fired by his boss. Jack's wife Caroline (Teri Garr) is compelled to get a job to make ends meet, and is soon hired on as an advertising executive in a firm run by the shifty Ron Richardson (Martin Mull. This leaves Jack at home doing the housework and taking care of the kids, which he discovers is a lot more complicated than he ever imagined. Moving from breadwinner to househusband doesn't do much for his self-esteem, and he bides his time playing poker for 10-cents-off coupons with a gaggle of neighborhood housewifes and pondering infidelity with dedicated homewrecker Joan (Ann Jillian). Among Keaton's fish-out-of-water bits: trying to maneuver a shopping cart with the inevitable wobbly wheels; and imagining a soap opera-cum-film noir episode in which he gives in to Joan's advances, only to be found out by Caroline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, (more)
- 1989
In this drama, a distraught Mid-Western housewife is positive that her husband's father, a crime lord, kidnapped her son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason begins representing a friend of Della's after he is accused of murdering an old madam who is also his wife. As the intrepid attorney investigates, he soon exposes a multi-million dollar banking fraud. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This Disney family film was originally made as a two-parter for the World of Disney TV show. It is the funny and touching story of two brothers who find a rambunctious but wounded seal and try to hide it from their parents in their beach house while it heals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
These are animated tales about Sealab 2020, which is an underwater research laboratory in the year 2020. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1983
Steve Allen hosts and performs with an assortment of pop, jazz and contemporary musicians in this video. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
One certainly can't fault the casting in this made-for-TV biopic. After all, who better to play the title character than Ann Jillian herself. Dwelling very briefly on Jillian's early years as a child actress and her return to the limelight via the Broadway hit Sugar Babies, the film concentrates on her courageous comeback following her bilateral mastectomy in 1985. Tony LoBianco costars as husband-manager Andy Murcia, while Viveca Lindfors and George Touliatos portray her immigrant parents. Equal parts entertainment and inspiration, The Ann Jillian Story was originally telecast January 4, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Jillian, Viveca Lindfors, (more)
- 1996
Jean Townsend (Ann Jillian) is happily married to the dull but dependable Roger (Garrett M. Brown), who does not object to her evenings out to attend various classic-film festivals. On one of these occasions, Jean befriends Tom Doster (Lee Horsley), a fellow film enthusiast likewise mired in a comfortable, conformist marriage. Over the next several weeks, Jean begins socializing with Tom, and it isn't long before the couple is toying with notion of an extramarital affair. But how far will things go--or, to be more specific, how far are Jean and Tom willing to go beyond their own deeply ingrained middle-class values? Essentially a Brief Encounter for the 1990s, the made-for-TV The Care and Handling of Roses was first broadcast by CBS on October 8, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
