Bibi Besch Movies
The daughter of Austrian actress Gusti Huber, Bibi Besch has been a Hollywood fixture since 1977, and a TV regular since long before that. A versatile character actress with nary a trace of a European accent, Besch's film roles have ranged from Carol in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn (1979) to Belle in Steel Magnolias. Her television career has encompassed the daytime soaps The Edge of Night, The Secret Storm, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and Somerset, and the nighttime serials The Secrets of Midland Heights (1980) and The Hamptons (1983). Devotees of the late Northern Exposure will have vivid memories of Bibi for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of the mother of Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), who reacts to a mid-life crisis by accidentally burning her daughter's home to the ground. In real life, Bibi Besch is the far less inflammatory mother of actress Samantha Mathis. Besch died of cancer on September 7, 1996, in the home of her sister-in-law, Jenny Besch. The actress was 56. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1996
Benton (Eriq La Salle) is removed from a round of surgery because no one on that shift wants to work with him. In other developments, Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) and her sister, Chloe (Kathleen Wilhoite), lock horns over custody of little Suzy; Ross (George Clooney) treats eight-year-old Jeremy (Kevin Duran), who has been traumatized by witnessing his mother's murder; and Carter (Noah Wyle) spitefully prevents Dale Edson (Matthew Glave), the college friend and ex-lover of Harper Tracy (Christine Elise), from performing an appendectomy. On a happier note, Greene (Anthony Edwards) successfully re-enters the dating pool. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Upon learning that her wealthy father has suffered a severe stroke, an independent, willful and successful Wall Street accountant leaves her high-powered job and heads down to her family's Texas ranch in hopes of guaranteeing her inheritance. While back home, the woman feels a strange stirring in her heart and begins remembering how much she once loved the land. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paula Devicq, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1994
A murder has been committed in Cabot Cove, and the body is found in the garage of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). Actually, two murders take place, and the cause of it all is the illicit affair between a married woman and the town bully. All the members of the couple's bowling league are suspected, but Jessica deduces that it took only one person to score the two strikes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
In this episode of HBO's popular Tales from the Crypt horror anthology series, a wicked man who runs a home for the blind (and abuses its residents) gets a taste of his own medicine from two scheming denizens. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1993
A young woman is charged with the bombing of a parking garage. Further investigation reveals that the woman is the member of a cult, and that she may have been brainwashed. If so, the D.A.'s office is determined to bring up cult leader Daniel Hendricks (Sam Robards) on charges of murder and conspiracy -- but a grim plot twist awaits virtually everyone concerned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-TV drama, a New England family's secrets all come tumbling out at once as they spend a weekend together to celebrate the engagement of their youngest son. Lisa Carter (Bibi Besch) and her military husband, Phil (James B. Sikking), couldn't be happier when their youngest son, Matt (William McNamara), brings his rich bride-to-be, Allison (Lori Loughlin), home from Yale. Col. Carter views Matt as the perfect son, especially given the way his other children have turned out. Tim (Jim Carrey) has sunk into alcoholism after dropping out of college, while Karen (Jayne Brook) must support her husband, Tom (David Byron), a struggling art photographer who wants to start a family despite his father-in-law's financial misgivings. As Allison gets acquainted with the Carter clan and its dysfunctions, her fiancé's artfully constructed facade of perfection begins to crumble, ultimately threatening his family's reputation, his impending nuptials, and his very life. Doing Time on Maple Drive debuted March 16, 1992, as a "Fox Night at the Movies" feature on the Fox network; it was later nominated for several Emmy awards. Directed by thirtysomething star Ken Olin, the film features a number of additional television staples among its cast, from Loughlin, star of Full House, to Carrey, then best known as Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color. Two additional TV personalities from the cast -- Hill Street Blues actor Sikking and Northern Exposure actress Besch -- both share the distinction of being Star Trek vets, Besch in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Sikking in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James B. Sikking, Bibi Besch, (more)
- 1991
Lonely Hearts is a modern film noir in which a lonely woman meets and falls for a man whom she refuses to let go. Alma (Beverly D'Angelo) is a wallflower who lives with her mother and works at a Social Security office. In her desperation to make some sort of social life for herself, she answers a personal ad and meets Frank (Eric Roberts) with whom she falls in love. Frank turns out to be a con man and a swindler, but Alma is obsessed with him. She begins to help him by posing as his sister while he cons other women, until she and Frank are forced to flee when one of the victims hires a private detective. Beverly D'Angelo plays Alma with the perfect mixture of both predator and victim and director Andrew Lane understands and directs his actors well, making Lonely Hearts a very well-thought-out and executed thriller despite a somewhat languid pacing. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beverly D'Angelo, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 1991
In this frothy romantic comedy set in a small Texas town, a never-married high school principal starts a scandal when she falls in love with the handsome school janitor. Unfortunately, he is Mexican and she Anglo. The local community frowns on such relationships and ultimately, their new love seems doomed. This film was made especially for cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, Rubén Blades, (more)
- 1990
This is the series' fourth and final "Day in the Life" episode, in which the Night Court staff must process a huge number of cases before a predetermined deadline. On this occasion, the staffers must try a record 242 cases before midnight as workmen attempt to repair a hole in the courtroom ceiling. Judge Harry (Harry Anderson) is especially anxious to rush through one particular case, this one involving a nice young man (Andrew Hill Newman) who hopes to save his girlfriend (Eileen Seeley) from a forced marriage to a "pre-lab preppie" (Jonathan Emerson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Filmed in semidocumentary fashion, Extreme Close-up features Morgan Weisser as a 16-year-old boy grieving the death of his mother (Blair Brown). Trying to assuage his grief, Weisser runs family videotapes of his mother. It becomes increasingly clear that the woman was falling apart emotionally in the months before her death, and Weisser wants to know why. Looking for answers, he begins taping new videos of his turbulent home life -- which slowly mirror the disintegration of his mother. Made for television, Extreme Close-up was written by thirtysomething veterans Marshall Herkovitz and Edward Zwick; its director was Peter Horton, who'd played Gary on thirtysomething. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blair Brown, Craig T. Nelson, (more)
- 1990
This made-for-cable series features comedy performers starring in various skits and satires. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Alfre Woodard plays a Los Angeles DA who moves back to her home town of New Orleans. She does this so that her teenaged son (Keith Williams) can be nearer to his estranged dad (Mario van Peebles). No sooner has Woodard arrived in "The Big Easy" than she is swept up in a local sex scandal. While the main plot is resolved, several secondary story lines are left unresolved, suggesting that Blue Bayou was the pilot film for an unsold series. The film was written by LA Law's Terry Louise Fisher and directed by Cagney and Lacey's Karen Arthur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to wine-growing country to help wealthy vintner Salvatori Gambini (Eli Wallach) celebrate his 75th birthday. Unfortunately, Gambini's fractious family isn't in a celebratory mood, and the festivities come to a grim climax when a corpse is found in the wine cellar. In her efforts to solve the mystery, Jessica is heartbroken over the likelihood that she might have to turn an old and cherished friend over to the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
A cocky, irresponsible professional golfer discovers that he will have to clean up his act if he wants to compete in the PGA tour. Based on a novel by Dan Jenkins, this drama originally aired on cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry was especially written by playwright James Prideaux for Katharine Hepburn. It would have been impractical to attempt a live staging, so the script was committed to a TV movie, under the direction of Hallmark Hall of Fame veteran George Schafer. Hepburn plays another variation on the indomitable elderly lady that has become her forte in the past decade. Here she is Margaret Delafield, a wealthy WASP widow who falls in love with the divorced Jewish doctor (Harold J. Stone) who has saved her life. The clucking tongues of both her family and the doctor's will not dissuade her: Mrs. Delafield stands her ground in a climactic scene reminiscent of the actress' earlier Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (67). Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry is formula all down the line, but every latter-day Katharine Hepburn performance deserves to be treasured (though the film itself hardly warranted the three-page TV Guide article written by Ms. Hepburn herself). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Known variously as "Skirty Harry" and "Dirty Harriet," beautiful but tough lady police detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) patrols the mean streets of Chicago. In her dealings with dope pushers, rapists, and loan sharks, Katy would just as soon dispense with Due Process and blast every outlaw away with her trusty .357 magnum. But Internal Affairs frowns on such behavior, so Katy is forced to adopt a more civil attitude in her efforts to bring a particularly nasty cocaine kingpin, Dona Maria Theresa (Katy Jurado), to justice -- at least until there are no other options available, allowing the heroine to fire away at her heart's content. Condemned for its overabundance of violence when it originally aired April 15, 1985, on ABC, the made-for-TV Lady Blue nonetheless yielded a weekly series, which ran from September 15, 1985 to January 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The wacky comedy-melodrama Gone are the Dayes was assembled in 1984 as an "original production" for the Disney cable channel. While dining out at a Japanese restaurant, the Day family witnesses a gangland slaying. Federal agent Mitchell (Harvey Korman) persuades the Daye parents (Susan Anspach, Robert Hogan) to serve as witnesses in the upcoming trial of the gang boss who ordered the hit. Mitchell then puts everyone in protective custody, a decision he comes to regret when he's forced to baby-sit the Dayes' unruly teenaged kids. It's all typical Disney nonsense, right down to the obligatory slapstick chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
John Evan tells the story of his life in an interview before his death beginning with his crimes and ending with his electric chair execution. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1983
In this drama, a mother and daughter become rivals for a single man's affections. The mother is a widowed movie star and the daughter is recently divorced. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A peaceful Midwestern city attempts to recover after it is destroyed by a nuclear missile strike in this powerful and deeply disturbing testament to the folly of pro-military hawks who believed that annihilation was a justifiable means of attaining power and control. The Day After originally aired on network television. At the end of the broadcast, many stations offered teams of counselors staffing 800 telephone numbers to help distraught viewers calm down. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., JoBeth Williams, (more)
- 1982
Tom Burman's innovative prosthetic special effects (used to greater effect in later horror films) are the saving grace of The Beast Within. The premise concerns a couple honeymooning in Mississippi. Caroline (Bibi Besch) is brutally raped by a hairy, sub-human monster and gives birth to a child named Michael (Paul Clemens), who appears normal until he hits his teens. At 17, Michael begins to feel strange, and his parents take him back to Mississippi to find out if his problems are related to Caroline's long-ago rape. Once in Mississippi, Michael transforms into a ravenous insect-like creature that roams the countryside, disemboweling innocent victims and feasting on their torsos. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, (more)
- 1981
Streetwise teenager Renie Lake (Karin Argoud) lands in juvenile hall charged with theft and drug dealing. Remanded to the custody of her father Russell (Lin McCarthy), Renie is ordered to move into the suburban home of Russell, his second wife Marlene (Bibi Besch), and her stepdaughter Gretchen (Kristina Sorenson). The embittered and resentful Renie refuses to warm up to her new family and surroundings until she is drawn out of her selfish (and self-pitying) shell via her friendship with a hearing-impaired fellow high-school student. This ABC Afterschool Special is based on a novel by Barbara Morgenroth. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karin Argoud-Morrissey, Bibi Besch, (more)
- 1981
Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story is a surfacy TV-movie rehash of the same real-life events which inspired the 1980 theatrical feature Star 80. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Dorothy Stratten, here depicted as an ingenuous, highly vulnerable Canadian girl who aspires to show business stardom. Decked out with a generous toupee, Bruce Weitz co-stars as Paul Snyder, the "fringie" who married Dorothy and managed her career. The girl is discovered by Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, who features Dorothy in a nude foldout spread. As Dorothy's fame grows, Snyder becomes more obsessive and difficult to control. Dorothy tries to make a clean break from Snyder, which culminates in tragedy. Death of a Centerfold initially aired on November 1, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This made-for-TV drama produced by David Susskind preceded the release of Silkwood by three years, but tells basically the same story. Janet Margolin is the nuclear plant employee who blows the whistle on hazardous conditions and finds herself intimidated, harassed and finally targeted for elimination by her superiors. Powers Boothe and Bo Hopkins are among the supporting cast of this well-directed telefilm, which -- although not as brave as its theatrical counterpart -- still makes for interesting viewing. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In this drama, an ambitious executive must decide whether or not to have a much needed heart transplant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
