Bibi Besch Movies

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks served for 52 years as a maidservant at the White House. Though crippled early on with polio, Lillian diligently and loyally stuck to her duties -- and her own rock-solid set of principles and ideals -- through eight highly different Presidential administrations, often (and occasionally reluctantly) acting as friend and confidante to the First Lady of the moment. The large and stellar cast included a number of top-rank film and TV actors, obviously having the time of their lives impersonating such presidents as William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their respective wives. Also in the cast were several African-American veterans from the landmark TV miniseries Roots. Earning 11 Emmy Award nominations, the nine-hour Backstairs at the White House was seen in five installments from January 29 to February 19, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper (Molly Ringwald) and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé, Jake Lovell(Dylan Walsh), just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father, Eddie (Alan Alda), a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents (Nicolas Coster and Bibi Besch) that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife, Lola (Madeline Kahn), into a financial panic. Pressure from Betsy's extended family to include their joint Jewish and Italian-Catholic heritage in the ceremony doesn't do much to assuage the title character's worries, nor does the lovelorn bitterness of her older sister, Connie (Ally Sheedy), who's single, her parents assume, because she has the audacity to pursue the unfeminine profession of police officer. With all of his funds tied up into the money pit of a house he's building, Betsy's dad has to turn to his crooked brother-in-law, Oscar (Joe Pesci), for financial assistance, and soon a soft-spoken but menacing young mobster named Stevie Dee (Anthony LaPaglia) is supervising Eddie's construction project and casting his romantic aspirations toward the clueless Connie. Underworld hijinks and unconventional matrimonial practices ensue in this broad domestic comedy written and directed by star Alan Alda. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh my God, that's my daughter." So read the advertising copy of Hardcore. George C. Scott plays Jake Van Dorn, a man of means and conservative values who discovers that his precious daughter is appearing in X-rated films. Desperately making his way through the sub-rosa world of pornography, Van Dorn talks to pimps, prostitutes, and other such sterling individuals in hopes of locating his daughter and dragging her home. At one point, he falsely advertises himself as a porn producer in hopes that his little girl will show up for an interview. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his film debut, novice director John Dahl (who would later make The Last Seduction), weaves a quirky tale of love, murder and deception. Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer), a seedy private detective is hired by Fay Forrester (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer), to help her fake her own death in a clever scheme to escape from her mob pursuers, whom she double-crossed stealing money she had been sent to pick up, and are now intent on killing her. There then ensues a series of complicated plot-twists, double-crosses and surprises as Fay and Jack race each other to escape the mobsters, who have found them, and to get the money before the other does. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

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

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

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

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