Mildred Natwick Movies
Fresh out of Bryn Mawr college, American actress Mildred Natwick started the road to stage success in amateur shows in her native Baltimore. By 1932 Natwick was on Broadway in Carrie Nation; establishing what would become her standard operating procedure, the actress played a character much older than herself. In 1940, Natwick was introduced to movie audiences as the cockney "lady of the evening" in John Ford's The Long Voyage Home (1940) -- the first of several assignments for Ford, which included Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1948) and The Quiet Man (1952). Seldom starring in a film role, Natwick nonetheless made the most of what she was given, as in her one-scene part as an advocate of birth control who inadvertently pitches her program to the parents of 12 children in Cheaper By the Dozen (1950). And it was Natwick who, as skulking sorceress Grizelda in Danny Kaye's The Court Jester (1956), inaugurates the side-splitting "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle" routine. A frequent visitor to TV, Natwick briefly settled down on the tube in the mystery series "The Snoop Sisters," which costarred Helen Hayes. In films until 1988, Natwick was honored with a long-overdue Oscar nomination for her work as Jane Fonda's martyr mama in 1967's Barefoot in the Park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Adapted for stage and screen several times over the past century, French author Francois Choderlos de Laclos' 1782 novel Les Liasons Dangeureuses was the basis for this Academy Award-winning Stephen Frears film. The plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and her misogynistic former lover, the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovitch). The Marquise challenges Valmont to seduce the virginal Cecile de Volanges (Uma Thurman) before the girl can be wed. Valmont offers a more difficult counter-challenge: He bets the Marquise that he will be able to bed the very moral and very married Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer). In the course of carrying out his plan, Valmont is stricken with a sudden case of honor and remorse, while the Marquise becomes all the more vicious. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, John Malkovich, (more)
- 1987
Matt Salinger suffers a double blow when his wife is murdered and his baby disappears. All evidence points to the grim possibility that the child has also met with foul play. With the help of reporter Lisa Eilbacher, Salinger unearths a horrible family secret that may hold the key to the mystery-and learns the truth about his baby. Cunningly written with a surfeit of nightmarish setpieces by Gordon Cotler, the made-for-TV Deadly Deception costars Bonnie Bartlett and Mildred Natwick as two human cogs in a wheel of lies. The film was first telecast March 8, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Mildred Natwick plays wealthy widow Carrie McKittrick, who happens to have been the former English teacher of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). Much to the dismay of her family, Carrie has decided to bequeath her fortune to flamboyant evangelist Reverend Willie-John Fargo (Steve Forrest). Not long afterward, Carrie dies of cyanide poisoning, in a hospital owned by Reverend Fargo. It looks like murder, and it looks like Fargo is the guilty party--to everyone but Jessica, that is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Magnum (Tom Selleck) comes to the aid of the LaSalle sisters (Mildred Natwick, Martha Scott), a pair of seemingly helpless little old ladies who are about to be evicted by a nasty slum lord. At the same time, he continues his search for the person who has been systematically robbing the Day-N-Dark convenience stores. It is only after Higgins (John Hillerman, who'd known and loved the LaSalles in their show-business days, organizes a charity bingo game on the ladies' behalf that Magnum begins to discern a link between the elderly "girls" and the robberies. And how does ex-ballplayer Johnny Wells (John McLiam) figure into all this? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
A hark back to the screwball comedies of the 1930s, this made-for-TV movie stars real-life married couple Susan Clark and Alex Karras. When Catherine Abel (Clark), a divorced pro-feminist lawyer, advertises for a live-in maid to take care of her family mansion and look after her two children, who should arrive at her doorstep but unemployed laborer Cal Bullington (Karras). Noting that he has cared for his large family all his life, Cal insists that he would be a perfect maid. Catherine disagrees, insisting that she wanted a woman for the assignment. Using Catherine's own liberal-feminist agenda, Cal takes her to court -- and wins. As Cal begins his domestic duties for the simmeringly hostile Catherine, her sagacious old dad (Fritz Weaver) looks on with amusement, while her stuffy Ralph Bellamy-like fiancé (David Spielberg) suspects that all is not "strictly business" in the Abel household. Maid in America debuted September 22, 1982 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Mulligan directed this Americanized re-make of the successful Brazilian comedy Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. Sally Field stars as Kay Villano, a lonely widow of three years who can't forget the memory of her dead husband, Jolly (James Caan). Jolly was a selfish and unfaithful Broadway choreographer who still managed to win Kay over with his charm. But Kay has fallen in love again with Rupert Baines (Jeff Bridges), a stuffy professor of Egyptology. As her wedding day approaches, Kay receives a visit from Jolly's ghost, who taunts and harasses her, clearly upset that Kay is marrying someone so dull. Kay goes ahead with the marriage and Jolly refuses to disappear, resulting in a bizarre menage-a-tois. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Field, James Caan, (more)
- 1980
Mildred Natwick guest stars as Agatha, the elderly, freewheeling aunt of waitress Vera (Beth Howland). While motorcycling her way to Mexico, Aunt Agatha makes a stopover at Mel's Diner. The old lady's footloose-and-fancy-free outlook on life prompts Vera to experience an epiphany--and to join Agatha on her Southbound odyssey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Mildred Natwick guest stars as the Hartley's next-door neighbor, Grace Dubois, who has retreated into her own little fantasy world. When Grace's relatives move to have her shipped to a nursing home, Emily intervenes. First telecast on December 3, 1977, this was one of several sixth-season Bob Newhart Show episodes to do without the services of star Newhart, who was unhappy with recent CBS scheduling decisions. "A Girl in Her Twenties" was written by Laura Levine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, (more)
- 1975
- G
Peter Bogdanovich's attempt to direct a homage to the great musicals of the 1930s is now remembered as one of the embarrassments of the 1970s. The film's thin plot, standard for the genre, centers on the romantic entanglements and misunderstandings among six stock characters: the bored playboy (Burt Reynolds), his never-ruffled valet (John Hillerman), the debutante (Cybill Shepherd), the Broadway diva (Madeline Kahn), her gambler boyfriend (Duilio Del Prete), and her maid (Eileen Brennan). All six are likely to burst into song and dance at any time, and they often do (the performances were recorded live on the set, not pre-recorded), but sixteen Cole Porter tunes, lavish sets and costumes, and an expensive production cannot hide the fact that Reynolds and Shepherd, the two leads, are way out of their depth. A notorious failure, At Long Last Love left a permanent stain on Bogdanovich's career. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, (more)
Continuing his 1970s recreations of classical Hollywood genres and styles, Peter Bogdanovich turned to the literary costume drama with an adaptation of the Henry James novella Daisy Miller. At a Swiss spa, upper-class expatriate American Frederick Winterbourne (Barry Brown) meets pretty, nouveau riche flirt Daisy Miller (Cybill Shepherd); her bratty, xenophobic little brother Randolph (James McMurtry); and her tremulous, nattering mother (Cloris Leachman). Despite warnings from his dowager aunt (Mildred Natwick) about Daisy's recklessness with men, Winterbourne finds himself drawn to her. When he encounters her again in Rome, he tries to convince her that her liberated behavior with an Italian admirer (Duilio Del Prete) may sully her reputation in aristocratic circles. But Winterbourne cannot reconcile his own feelings for Daisy with the manners that he is used to following, nor can he fathom how she may feel about him beneath her veneer of willful coquetry. After society matron Mrs. Walker (Eileen Brennan) ostracizes her, Daisy's final rash action reveals to Winterbourne how his old-fashioned mores may have sealed her fate. With a screenplay by Frederic Raphael and location shooting in Rome and Switzerland, Bogdanovich carefully recreated the rich surroundings and stultifying social strictures of James' story. Despite this well-executed atmosphere, Daisy Miller suffered critically, as Bogdanovich was especially taken to task for casting the amateurish Shepherd in the complex and pivotal role of Daisy. After three consecutive hits with The Last Picture Show (1971), What's Up, Doc? (1972), and Paper Moon (1973), Daisy Miller flopped, beginning Bogdanovich's mid-'70s slide into box-office and critical ignominy. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, Barry Brown, (more)
- 1974
A Black Day for Bluebeard is a typically lighthearted murder yarn from the Snoop Sisters TV series. Vincent Price guests as a washed-up horror movie star suspected of killing his wealthy wife (Tammy Grimes). The grey-haired Snoop sisters (Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick), mystery writers par excellence, try to crack the case. Among the many suspicious characters in this 90-minute whodunit are Roddy McDowell, Mort Sahl, William Devane and Katherine Helmond. A Black Day for Bluebeard premiered over the NBC network on March 19, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
The Devil Made Me Do It is an episode of the weekly, 90-minute TV sleuth series The Snoop Sisters. Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick star as the misses Snoop, a Geritol Generation team of mystery writers. The case at hand this time involves a cult of satanists, one of whose members is a murderer. Rock star Alice Cooper shows up in a cameo role as a witch (he's certainly got the hair for it). The Devil Made Me Do It was first broadcast on March 5, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Set in 1947, The Thanksgiving Treasure takes place on the small Nebraska farm of the Mills family. 11-year-old Addie Mills (Lisa Lucas) is of the opinion that the purpose of Thanksgiving is to turn an enemy into a friend--just as the Pilgrims and the Indians did back in 1620. Addie hopes to mend the long-entrenched differences between her father (Jason Robards) and a cranky, lonely old man (Barnard Hughes) who lives down the road a piece. Thanksgiving Treasure was first telecast November 18, 1973. It was written by Eleanor Perry as a sequel to her Emmy-winning TV special The House Without a Christmas Tree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Set during Thanksgiving, this feature stars veteran performers Jason Robards, Sr. and Melvyn Douglas in a touching story of warmth, compassion, and reaching out during the feast of the year. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Corpse and Robbers was the first episode of the 90-minute TV detective series The Snoop Sisters. Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick play Ernesta and "G." Snoop, venerable sibling mystery writers. In the manner of Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher (whose own show wouldn't premiere for another decade), the Snoop girls solve mysteries as well as write them. In this inaugural episode, the ladies are plagued by phone calls from an old friend--who died several years earlier. Sam Jaffe and Geraldine Page head the guest star cast of Corpse and Robbers, which was first seen December 19, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
The flammable money of the title is of the counterfeit variety. Enterprising prison inmate E. G. Marshall devises a scheme to churn out phony moola in his jerry-built printing machine. Conspiring with his wife Mildred Natwick, Marshall intends to smuggle the funny money out of jail, then swap it with the genuine article. The "switch" is to occur in the US Treasury itself! Never taking itself seriously, the made-for-TV Money to Burn proved a pleasant diversion when it debuted October 27, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
An antacid pill, provided by Gwen Snoop, causes a basketball star to become ill prior to appearing on a television talk show. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
First telecast December 16, 1972, The Snoop Sisters was the pilot for a Richard Levinson/William Link detective series. Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick play a couple of mystery writers who happen to be siblings. With the help of their pragmatic chauffeur (Art Carney), the Snoop Sisters take it upon themselves to solve real-life mysteries. In this instance, the ladies try to uncover the truth behind the murder of reclusive film star Paulette Goddard. The highlights of The Snoop Sisters include a slapstick car chase and an extended vignette from Ms. Goddard's 1940 feature film The Ghost Breakers. Also worth noting is the early supporting-cast appearance by Jill Clayburgh. When packaged for local syndication, The Snoop Sisters was retitled Female Instinct. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
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Embittered by the death of his wife, James Mills (Jason Robards) refuses to buy a Christmas tree for his 10-year-old daughter Addie (Lisa Lucas). Undaunted, Addie wins a Christmas tree at school, which enrages her father. With the help of her loving grandmother (Mildred Natwick), Addie eventually melts her father's quick-frozen heart. Set in 1946 Nebraska (albeit filmed in Toronto), House without a Christmas Tree was adapted by Eleanor Perry from a story by Gail Rock. Made for television, the film first aired as a 90-minute CBS special on December 3, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Myrna Loy and Sylvia Sidney star as four elderly pranksters devoted to practical jokes. When one of the ladies gets hold of a computer-dating questionnaire, the others invent a mythical girl and feed the falsified information into the computer. Alas, the description matches a very real young lady, who becomes the target of a murderous rapist (Vince Edwards). Attacked at the time of its release for making light of a potentially deadly situation, Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate led to the casting of Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick in the weekly detective series The Snoop Sisters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- G
Cashing in on the popularity of their comedy series Laugh-In, comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin team up ala Abbott and Costello in this spoof of old horror movies and mysteries. Rowan plays a pornographic film producer and Martin plays his star, who is having trouble sleeping at night and seriously suspects that he has become a werewolf. To verify this, the two travel to a "haunted" Gothic Long Island mansion and end up embroiled with Julie Newmar while searching, amidst a series of murders, for a missing diamond. Rowan and Martin's television show was hip and funny. Alas, this film is neither and bombed at the box-office. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, (more)
- 1969
- G
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A mid-1960s TV documentary special (and a New Yorker cartoon before that) was the inspiration for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. The film is a likeable satire of "packaged" European tours, where the nonplused tourists are expected to rush from one landmark to another in a breathless 18 days. Ian McShane stars as the amorous tour guide, with Suzanne Pleshette as the American department store buyer he falls for; their romance ends when Pleshette decides that the supposedly worldly McShane is too immature for her. An all-star cast, including Murray Hamilton, Peggy Cass, Pamela Britton, Marty Ingels, John Cassavetes and Vittorio De Sica, pops up in comic cameo roles. Our favorite bit: an American and German tourist, simultaneously regaling their respective wives with wildly divergent accounts of the same wartime confrontation. If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium was reworked in 1987 as a made-for-TV movie, cleverly title If It's Tuesday, It Still Must be Belgium. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Pleshette, Ian McShane, (more)
- 1969
Mildred Natwick guest-stars as the formidable Mrs. Wharton, a snobbish Englishwoman living by her wits and will in the Wild, Wild West. When the stage on which she is travelling is held up by outlaws, the snooty Mrs. Wharton must rely upon that "uncouth creature" Candy to retrieve her valuables. Candy soon discovers that Mrs. Wharton is a lot more resourceful and self-reliant than she appears to be. Loosely based on the real-life tour of the American West by British actress Mrs. Trollope, "Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds" was written by Preston Wood, and was first shown on January 19, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1969
This trilogy begins with "Miriam" in which the title character (Susan Dunfee) watches as her longtime nanny Miss Miller (Mildred Natwick) slowly sinks into insanity. In "Among The Paths to Eden," Mary (Maureen Stapleton) is a lonely woman searching for a husband among the widowers paying respects to their dearly departed at a local cemetery. "A Christmas Memory" concerns the childhood recollections of a woman who slowly loses her mind. The last segment is narrated by the author and was shown on ABC television, winning both an Emmy and Peabody Award. The success of the program prompted Capote and Eleanor Perry to expand this feature to a trilogy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mildred Natwick, Susan Dunfee, (more)
Based on the hit Broadway play by Neil Simon, who made his screenwriting debut with this adaptation, Barefoot In The Park follows the lives of newlyweds Paul (Robert Redford) and Corie Bratter (Jane Fonda) as they adjust to married life in a tiny Greenwich Village apartment. Paul is a buttoned-down, straight-arrow lawyer who's wound a little too tight, while Corie is an effervescent free spirit who won't let anything disturb her romantic bliss. Aside from the five-flight climb and the hole in their skylight, the Bratters must also contend with eccentric upstairs neighbor Victor Velasco (Charles Boyer), who must go through their apartment to get to his. Corie hatches a plot to get her mother (Mildred Natwick) together with Mr. Velasco, but the entire evening goes awry and even casts doubt on the viability of the Bratters' new marriage, as Corie tries unsuccessfully to loosen Paul up. All ends well, however, and Fonda and Redford are full of youthful appeal in this light domestic comedy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, (more)
