Beatrice Manley Movies
A multifaceted Broadway actress who found success as an author and teacher, Beatrice Manley also served as the stateside originator of the lead role in Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and, along with husband Herbert Blau, Jules Irving, and Priscilla Pointer, co-founded the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. A Bronx native who at 20 made her Broadway debut in Maxwell Anderson's Eve of Saint Mark, Manley subsequently moved to California after receiving an artist-in-residence scholarship at Stanford. It was there that Manley met director Blau and the couple married shortly after. It was at the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater that Manley appeared most frequently, and with roles in The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Country Life among others, Manley continued to refine her skills as an actress. Later using her experience to teach acting at Cal Arts, she also authored five plays, two librettos, and three books. In September 13, 2002, Beatrice Manley died in Milwaukee, WI. She was 81. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Richard Glatzer's bittersweet comedy concerns the production of a sleazy tabloid television program called "The Love Judge" and the problems that arise when the Divine-esque producer Jo (Kent Fuher) announces that he/she is leaving to become a Hungarian housewife. Mark (Craig Chester), the head writer who is mourning the loss of his lover to AIDS, spends the time he has not mourning worrying about whether he'll get a promotion to producer of the show after his boss leaves. In his way is the smarmy Paula (Lucy Gutteridge), who also is hoping for the promotion. In the meantime, Mark is flirting with male office worker Bill (Alexis Arquette), even though his old college friend Jeremy (Carlton Wilborn) is warning against Mark's flirtation -- for reasons of his own. In the midst of all this, it's no wonder that the office secretary Leslie (Illeana Douglas) has sworn off men altogether. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Chester, Jackie Beat, (more)
- 1983
Blood Feud was a two-part TV drama, originally presented as an "Operation Prime Time" special. Robert Blake is disturbingly convincing as labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, engaged in a decade-long war of words with attorney (and later attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy. Cotter Smith makes his TV debut as Kennedy, a role he'd repeat on future occasions. Thoroughly compelling when sticking to the facts, the drama falls apart whenever indulging in flight of fanciful speculation (Sample: two of Hoffa's lieutenants watch the live telecast of Lee Harvey Oswald's murder, then celebrate the fact that Oswald will never be able to reveal their complicity in the JFK assassination!) Blood Feud was syndicated to local TV stations beginning April 24, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Cotter Smith, (more)
- 1976
In this made-for-television thriller, a beautiful young woman is driving home on the freeway late one night and inadvertently witnesses the murder of a police officer. Soon afterward, she finds herself pursued by the crazed killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Five Desperate Women debuted as an ABC Movie of the Week on September 28, 1971. Anjanette Comer, Joan Hackett, Denise Nicholas and Stefanie Powers are four of five graduates of an exclusive girl's college, meeting together for a reunion on a remote island. The fifth girl (whose name we'll withhold for suspense purposes) is the one that's murdered first. It appears that an unknown assailant plans to pick off the girls one by one. The survivors must figure out who's doing them in and why before fade-out time. Aaron Spelling was the producer of this middling clichefest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
