Cheryl Ladd Movies
Actress/singer Cheryl Jean Stopelmoor billed herself as Cherie Moore when she performed as a backup singer on the 1970 Hanna-Barbera animated TVer Josie and the Pussycats. She reverted to her given name when appearing as a regular on the prime-time programs The Ken Berry WOW Show and Search (both 1972), and in various TV guest assignments. Stopelmoor was occasionally written up in fan and industry magazines of the period, more because of her unusual name than her acting skills (often, her last name was longer than the parts she played). Stopelmoor finally became a star when she adopted her married name of Ladd (her husband of many years was actor David Ladd, son of film luminary Alan Ladd) and replaced Farrah Fawcett on the highly-rated ABC "jiggle" show Charlie's Angels. She played blonde angel Kris Munroe from 1977 through 1981, then concentrated on made-for-TV films, wherein she was permitted plenty of creative input. Ladd's TV movies found her cast as both victim (A Death in California) and victimizer (When She Was Bad); arguably her best outing was the title role in the 1983 TV biopic Grace Kelly. She has since returned to series TV from time to time, playing Liane DeViller on Crossing (1986) and Holli Holliday on the syndicated Baywatch wannabe One West Waikiki (1994). Tirelessly active in civic and charitable endeavors, Cheryl Ladd was at one time Goodwill ambassador to Childhelp USA. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1972
Jeannot Szwarc, the director responsible for so many episodes (both good and bad) of the Night Gallery TV series, was the helmsman of The Devil's Daughter. This small-screen Rosemary's Baby clone stars Belinda Montgomery as a young woman targeted by a group of Satanists. It seems that Belinda's soul was purchased from the Devil when the girl was born, with payment due when she reaches the age of 21. Shelley Winters is at her overbearing best as the head of the cultists, while horror-flick vets Joseph Cotten and Jonathan Frid do their utmost to create the proper demonic atmosphere. Colin Higgins, who moved on to such prestige projects as Silver Streak and Foul Play, conjured up the script for The Devil's Daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belinda Montgomery, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1973
How will Keith (David Cassidy) wriggle out of taking two girls out on the same night? Well, he could follow the advice of his sister Laurie (Susan Dey) and tell both girls the truth about the situation--or he could use the old "I've got a terrible cold" routine on one of the ladies. So guess which option he chooses? The role of Johanna is played by one Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor, who, using her married name Cheryl Ladd, went on to fame and fortune as one of "Charlie's Angels." Songs: "Oh No, Not My Baby" and "A Little Bit of Lovin'". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
While on a fishing trip, Ironside (Raymond Burr) and Ed (Don Galloway) make a quick stopover at a roadside inn. It soon becomes obvious that the establish is the front for an illegal gambling house, run by a sinister professional speculator named Lou Hogan (Robert Webber), who may also have the local sheriff in his pocket. When a fatal shooting occurs, Ironside simultaneouly tries to solve the murder and save the lives of an innocent young couple (Suzanne Charney, Don Kanmer) by sitting down to a VERY high-stakes poker game with the gimlet-eyed Hogan. Featured in the cast is a pre-Charlie's Angels Cheryl Ladd, billed under her maiden name Cheryl Stopplemoor. This is the final episode of Ironside's sixth season. ~ Hal Erickson, 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)
- 1974
- PG
Released under a variety of titles, Evil in the Deep is set in Jamaica. Scuba diver Hugo Graham (Stephen Boyd) searches for sunken treasure in the waters of the Caribbean. Ah, but there's a fly in the ointment: a very big, grey fly, known as a killer shark. Made before Jaws, Evil in the Deep went nowhere until its late-1970s re-release--at which point its producers were accused of trying to rip off the Spielberg film. Others in the cast include Cheryl Stopelmoor (before she became Cheryl Ladd), and Chuck Woolery. Chuck WOOLERY????? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
With only fragmentary evidence at their disposal, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) search for the person who raped and murdered a young waitress. Meanwhile, the killer (Don Stroud) and his reluctant accomplice (Charles Martin Smith) are holed up in the home of two innocent bystanders (Ida Lupino, Patricia McCormack). Seen briefly as the murder victim is starlet Cheryl Stopplemoor, soon to achieve stardom as one of Charlie's Angels using her married name, Cheryl Ladd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Johnny and June Carter Cash star in the made-for-TV Thaddeus Rose and Eddie. But they don't necessarily play the title characters: true, Cash essays the role of indigent Texas Thaddeus Rose, but his buddy Eddie is played by Bo Hopkins. June is seen as T.R.'s girlfriend Crystal, while Eddie's steady is portrayed by Diane Ladd. Now that the introductions are over, we note that the story isn't much, merely a series of disasters befalling T.R. and Eddie as they try to improve the quality of life for themselves and their lady friends. Directed by cycle-flick perennial Jack Starrett, Thaddeus Rose and Eddie debuted February 24, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, (more)
- 1978
Guest star Cheryl Ladd joins Timmy Monster and the Clodhoppers for a rousing rendition of "South Rampart Street Parade"; later on Miss Piggy joins Ladd for a duet performance of "I Enjoy Being a Girl". Meanwhile, Fozzie reads a self-help book. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd
- 1979
In this made-for-TV drama, a spunky waitress (Deborah Raffin) is left to support herself, her two small children, and her unborn baby when her no-good husband runs off. Determined not to spend her life in a dead-end job, the woman quits waitressing and sets out to become a truck driver. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1979
A businessman finds that denial is his only coping mechanism when faced with his wife's constant physical abuse of their daughter. His idea of a solution is to move them to a new town. When that fails, he finds himself faced with painful choices. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- Add Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones to QueueAdd Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones to top of Queue
This two-part TV movie was, of course, sparked by the November 1978 mass suicide of 913 people at the South American religious "colony" of Jonestown. The catalyst for this tragedy was cult-leader Reverend Jim Jones (played by Powers Boothe, who won an Emmy for his performance), head of the so-called People's Temple. The film traces the life of Jones from his days as an idealistic 1960s activist. He drifts into penny-ante confidence scams and bed-hops from woman to woman, before electing to pass himself off as a modern messiah--eventually believing his own feverish sermons. The climactic scenes are chillingly staged in a near-documentary fashion, with Puerto Rico and Georgia substituting for Guyana. Ned Beatty plays the ill-fated Representative Leo Ryan, while James Earl Jones has a cameo as 1930s religious-leader Father Divine; most of the other main characters are composites of real people. Originally broadcast April 15 and 16, 1980, The Guyana Tragedy was adapted by Ernest Tidyman from the Washington Post and Charles A. Krause's Guyana Massacre: An Eyewitness Account. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Powers Boothe, Veronica Cartwright, (more)
This romantic melodrama is based on a novel by Danielle Steele and chronicles a wife's reaction to her husband's run of bad luck. Their troubles begin when she returns home from a business trip and discovers that her husband has been arrested and jailed for raping a woman. Though he tends to philander, he is not a rapist. The only way the wife can cope with the pain is to become an alcoholic drug addict. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, Robert Coleby, (more)
- 1983
Grace Kelly, the high-society beauty who became an Oscar-winning actress and then a European princess, is the subject of this TV biopic. Cheryl Ladd has the looks and poise of the original Grace, though she isn't quite as charismatic. The early portion of the film retraces the stormy relationship between Grace and her gruff Philadelphia millionaire dad, Jack Kelly. The script suggests that Grace went through life looking for a strong father figure, finally finding one in Prince Rainier of Monaco (Ian McShane), whom she weds. Several "celebrity look-alikes" parade through the film, pretending to be the film personalities with whom Ms. Kelly worked during her brief Hollywood career. Grace Kelly tones down the darker aspects of its subject, and the film is infinitely more tasteful than most other TV biographies of the same period, even when dealing with Princess Grace's untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Cheryl Ladd seemed bound and determined in the early 1980s to prove that she was a "Charlie's Angel" no more; we probably would have taken her word for it even if she hadn't tried so hard and stridently. Made for television, Kentucky Woman found Ladd as a poverty-stricken waitress who becomes a coal miner, despite male opposition, damp boots and squealing rats. She does this to support her fatherless son and her miner dad (Ned Beatty), who is incapacitated by black lung disease. She does sixteen tons, and what does she get? Another bunch of lukewarm reviews and deeper in...well, that word doesn't rhyme with "get." Kentucky Woman was filmed on location in Paintsville, Kentucky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- R
This tale of doomed romance set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War was the last in a string of box office disappointments from director Sidney J. Furie before he struck gold again with Iron Eagle (1986). Ken Wahl stars as Dr. Don Jardian, a Navy medical officer assigned to duty in Vietnam. Jardian is no flag-waving patriot, however; the reluctant warrior is just biding his time until he can return stateside and start a lucrative private practice. Then he meets and falls in love with Deborah Solomon (Cheryl Ladd), a devoted nurse who at first keeps the handsome doctor at bay, disgusted by the avariciousness that led him to choose what Deborah considers a noble profession. Eventually, however, Deborah's selflessness inspires Don and their romance blooms despite their bloody surroundings, leading to a dangerous mission that could separate them forever. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Wahl, Cheryl Ladd, (more)
- 1985
In this prison drama, two adolescent girls are incarcerated with adults by an obsessive judge. There they are terribly exploited and abused. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
En route to a business meeting in Paris, newly promoted American magazine editor Lily Conrad (Cheryl Ladd) boards the legendary Orient Express. Her she is unexpectedly with her long-ago lover, aristocratic Englishman Alex Woodward (Stuart Wilson). It turns out that this rendezvous was no accident, and before long the couple's passion is rekindled. Variously aiding and abetting the course of True Love (which of course is lovelier the second time around) are such sidelines characters as Lily's brash travelling companion Susan Lawson (Ruby Wax) and Alex's stuffy, tradition-bound father Theodore Woodward (John Gielgud, who earned an Emmy nomination for his performance). Filmed on location in Italy, France and England, Romance on the Orient Express debuted March 4, 1985, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Made for video, The Kermit & Piggy Story charts the course of America's most unlikely romantic couple. Breathes there anyone within reach of a TV who doesn't know all about Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy, stars of TV's The Muppet Show and any number of theatrical-movie sequels? Within its 57 minutes, this video details the divine Miss Piggy's rise from the ranks of the Muppet chorus and the metamorphosis of Kermit from the shapeless "creature" of the earliest Muppet TV appearances to his full amphibian glory. Guest stars Cheryl Ladd, Tony Randall, Loretta Swit and Raquel Welch enliven the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Adapted from a book by Joan Barthel, A Death in California is a harrowing two-part TV movie based on fact. Cheryl Ladd plays Hope Masters, a wealthy Beverly Hills woman who is forced to watch in mute horror as a criminal sociopath (Sam Elliot) murders her boyfriend (Granville Van Dusen). She is kidnapped by the killer and forced to accompany him on a long and grueling getaway trip. Despite repeated sexual assaults, Hope forms something of a bond with her kidnapper. He allows her to go free, but Hope's ordeal is far from over; when the killer is recaptured, both he and Hope are put on trial for murder. Despite the tawdry nature of the tale, Death in California is handled with taste and tact, allowing the weirder aspects of the case to speak for themselves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, Sam Elliott, (more)
- 1986
A six-hour adaptation of Danielle Steel's best-selling novel, the ABC miniseries Crossings began on board a transatlantic ocean liner in 1938. In the course of a truly eventful sea voyage, a torrid romance developed between powerful American steel magnate Nick Burnham (Lee Horsley) and Liane DeVilliers (Cheryl Ladd), the wife of French ambassador Armand DeVilliers (Christopher Plummer). This indiscretion would ultimately embroil both characters in the political intrigues leading up to WWII, with a rousing denouement in Nazi-occupied France just after America's entry into the war. To give the project a semblance of verisimilitude, several prominent historical figures flitted in and out of the action, notably Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and France's Marshal Petain. Even so, most of the audience's interest was focused on the antics of Nick Burnham's hot-to-trot wife Hilary, played by Jane Seymour. Billed near the bottom of the huge cast was future Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as "Craig Lawson." Partially filmed on the old British liner Queen Mary (then dry-docked as a tourist attraction), Crossings originally aired from February 23 to 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, Lee Horsley, (more)
- 1986
Previously filmed in 1950, John Patrick's play The Hasty Heart was restaged 33 years later as a cable-TV special. Set in a British military hospital in 1944 Burma, Patrick's story concentrates on three people: dedicated Red Cross nurse Sister Margaret, insouciant American officer "Yank," and a bitter, standoffish Scottish soldier. Deliberately inflicting his "porcupine disposition" on his fellow patients, the Scot can't understand why everyone is suddenly being so nice to him. The audience, however, knows what Sister Margaret and the other patients know: the Scot has only a few months to live. Gregory Harrison and Perry King deliver well-rounded performances as The Scot and The Yank, but both are outshone by Cheryl Ladd, who is excellent in the difficult role of Sister Margaret. The Hasty Heart was originally offered in a 150-minute time slot over the Showtime Cable service on September 12, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
The made-for-TV Deadly Care stars Cheryl Ladd as an intensive-care nurse. The pressures of her job, coupled with problems at home, lead Cheryl to resort to desperate "coping" measures. She develops an addiction to drugs and liquor, a deadly combination for anyone in the medical profession. Only after a near-disaster during a delicate heart transplant operation does she realize she needs help, and needs it fast. Written by Lane Slate, Deadly Care was originally telecast March 22, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Bluegrass was a two-part TV movie that resurrected virtually every "racetrack" cliche known to man. Widowed Cheryl Ladd heads to Kentucky to start up a horse farm. Her wicked neighbor is Wayne Rogers who seeks Ladd's downfall. Faithful farm manager Brian Kerwin won't let Rogers stand in the way of Ladd's dream. Anthony Andrews hangs around as a Harlequin romance-style Irish rake with a Dark Secret. And what would a horse-farm movie be without Mickey Rooney? Part One of Bluegrass raised a stir upon its February 28, 1988 debut, with a brief shot of horses mating. But it was the foaling sequence in Part Two that really made the headlines. All tangled plotlines knot together in the second half of Bluegrass. Part Two, first telecast on Leap Year day in 1988, Ladd literally bets the ranch on the Kentucky Derby, while mysterious Irish stranger Anthony Andrews reveals his (gasp!) terrible secret. One of the film's highlights was the genuine birth of a foal. The poor animal looked so shaky that the network issued an official statement insisting that the newborn horse survived. When the truth came out (the foal didn't make it), the producers were heartily condemned by animal activist groups--which may be why all current films bear the closing disclaimer about no animals being injured during shooting. Bluegrass was directed by Simon Wincer, who later helmed the epic miniseries Lonesome Dove. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, Brian Kerwin, (more)
- 1989
Based on a novel by LaVyrle Spenser, this made-for-TV drama was originally titled The Fulfillment of Mary Gray. Cheryl Ladd stars as Mary, a farm woman living in 1910 Minnesota. Mary's husband (Ted Levine) is not only neglectful, but impotent. Anxious to have an heir, he suggests that she allow his brother (Lewis Smith) to impregnate her! Needless to say, love blossoms between Mary and her fertile brother-in-law. Filmed in Texas (which looks like Minnesota if you squint a lot), The Fulfillment of Mary Gray was first telecast February 19, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
