Jean Stapleton Movies
Each and every week from 1971 to 1980, the popular TV sitcom All in the Family was heralded by the glass-shattering offkey singing of Edith Bunker, aka "Dingbat." This tended to obscure the fact that Jean Stapleton, the woman who so brilliantly portrayed Edith not only possessed a lilting, well-modulated singing voice, but also was as far removed as possible from a "dingbat" in real life. While attending Hunter College, Stapleton began her performing career as a member of the Robert Shaw Chorale. She made her professional stage debut in 1941, then went on to fruitful work-study associations with the American Apprentice Theater, the American Actors Company, the American Theater Wing, and director-acting coach Harold Clurman. Her first Broadway appearance was in the 1953 production In the Summer House; the following year, she made her TV bow as a semi-regular on the daytime drama Woman With a Past. She endeared herself to Broadwayites with her wistfully funny characterizations in the SRO musicals Damn Yankees, Bells Are Ringing, and Funny Girl, roles that she would carry over into the film versions of these hits. In 1958, she made her first appearance at the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA, a summer-stock operation managed by her husband, Bill Putch.Most of Stapleton's onscreen work in the 1960s and 1970s could be found in New York-based movies (Something Wild, Up the Down Staircase, Klute) and TV series (Car 54, Where Are You, The Defenders, The Patty Duke Show). Her earliest association with producer-director Norman Lear occurred in the 1969 theatrical feature Cold Turkey, in which she played a neurotic housewife named Edith. When Lear began assembling the cast for his upcoming TV sitcom All in the Family, he immediately thought of Stapleton for the role of slow-witted, strident, essentially kindhearted Bronx housewife Edith Bunker. Before leaving the series in 1980, Stapleton earned three Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Edith -- not to mention the undying affection of millions.
Once free of All in the Family, she sought out roles that she hoped would demonstrate her versatility: She played the distraught mother of a drug-addicted teenager (enacted by her real-life son, John Putch) in the made-for-TV Angel Dusted (1981), and effectively portrayed Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1982 TV biopic Eleanor: First Lady of the World. Stapleton kept her comic skills sharpened by appearing in the made-for-cable productions of Shelley Duvall: She was terrific as a no-nonsense Fairy Godmother ("Trust me. This is important.") in Duvall's Faerie Tale Theater adaptation of Cinderella, and even better as the title characters in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. In 1990, she briefly returned to weekly television as co-star (with Whoopi Goldberg) of the offbeat sitcom Bagdad Café. Jean Stapleton was then an infrequent but always welcome TV guest-star presence; in 1995, she startled (and delighted) her Edith Bunker fans with her con brio portrayal of Lea Thompson's sex-starved aunt in an episode of Caroline in the City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A man with little passion for either his job or his wife gets a wake-up call in this independently produced romantic comedy. Frank Whaley plays Alan, an L.A.-based advertising executive currently being wooed by a tech firm in Seattle. He's about to move himself and his significant other (Dawn Eason) to the rainier climate when, upon returning from the interview, he finds she's left him for another man (Adam Baldwin, at that). Uncertain of anything anymore, Alan tries to find solace in friends and family, turning to his longtime friend Marissa (Annabeth Gish) for support; she in turn is having her own troubles with her husband, Jack (Alex Hyde-White). Hitting the singles bars to find a new love, Alan is slow to realize that the "right girl" may be right in front of him. Actor-turned-director John Putch is the son of actress Jean Stapleton, who appears briefly in Pursuit of Happiness. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Whaley, Annabeth Gish, (more)
- 2001
In one of the most startling examples of "playing against type" in TV history, beloved sitcom icon Mary Tyler Moore stars as Sante Chamber Kimes, a woman who was accurately described during her trial for murder as "...a sociopath of unremitting violence, the most remorseless degenerate ever to appear in this courtroom..." Based on a true story, this CBS TV movie details the events leading up to the killing of wealthy, lonely socialite Irene Silverman (Jean Stapleton), a murder orchestrated by the evil-incarnate Sante and carried out by her loving son Kenny (Gabriel Olds). The film is unsparing in its depiction of the coldblooded, sexually promiscuous Sante, who throughout her life managed to wheedle and manipulate other people to do her bidding, no matter how odious and repellant that bidding was. Without giving away the film's ending, it is a matter of record that, as of this writing, Sante and Kenny Kimes are serving prison terms with a combined total of 246 years. Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes was originally broadcast on May 20, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Tyler Moore, Jean Stapleton, (more)
- 2000
In this sequel to the previous season's episode "Psalm 151", Wynonna Judd and Mika Boreem make return appearances, respectively cast as grieving mother Audrey and ebullient youngster Celine. Audrey has still not gotten over the death of her son Petey, and resents Heavenly caseworker Monica (Roma Downey) for talking her into "letting go." Sensing this, Celine makes a beeline to the boy's grave and says a special prayer. In a twinkling, who should arrive but "special guest angel" Emma (Jean Stapleton), assigned to help Audrey overcome not only her bitterness, but also her addiction to alcohol. Crucial to Audrey's salvation is an acerbic radio personality named Liz, played by Wynonna Judd's real-life mother Naomi Judd. The episode's highlight is the Judds' musical duet "That's What Makes You Young" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Written by the author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, Baby was produced for the TNT cable service. Set in New England, this is the story of the Malones, a family nearly torn apart by the death of an infant son. While trying to cope with this tragedy, Lily and John Malone are surprised by the arrival of an abandoned baby girl, left on their doorstep. Though at first reluctant to welcome the child into their home, the Malones soon become inextricably attached to her -- no one more so than 12-year-old Larkin Malone who, in a pathetic effort to use the baby as a replacement for her lost little brother, hides the letter written by the child's now-repentant birth mother. Despite such lighthearted scenes as a drunken tap dance rendition of "Singin' In the Rain", Baby is rather heavy going for the most part, especially in the scenes with the family's dying grandmother. Co-produced by actress Glenn Close, Baby was first telecast on October 8, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett, Keith Carradine, (more)
Sleepless in Seattle director Nora Ephron originally made a name for herself as the writer of romantic comedies such as Heartburn and When Harry Met Sally. She continues the genre with You've Got Mail, marking her second collaboration with actors Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The story brings romance and courtship into the electronic age of the World Wide Web via e-mail and chat rooms. Joe Fox (Hanks) and Kathleen Kelly (Ryan) live and work blocks from each other on New York City's Upper West Side. Their lives are practically intertwined. They both shop at the same place, frequent the same coffee shop, and even own competing bookstores on the same street. They also both have significant others of their own. Joe has the overly hyper book editor Patricia Eden (Parker Posey), while Kathleen lives with the scholarly newspaper columnist Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear). Then they meet in a chat room. Though they keep their identities secret (they're known only by screen names "NY152" and "Shopgirl"), they tell each other everything about their lives, including their private feelings, which slowly turn into affection for each other. When Joe decides to open a new branch of his "Foxbooks" chain that risks putting Kathleen's "Shop Around the Corner" out of business, the tension between them escalates. Surely her boutique business will be lost to the conglomerate with a built-in newsstand and coffee bar. When Joe sees Kathleen waiting for him in the restaurant where they agreed to meet up, he puts two and two together, but cannot face her, given their agreement not to reveal each others' names and professions. How can he reveal himself to her now, knowing that he is the cause of her misery? Hopefully, love will conquer all. ~ Chris Gore, All Movie Guide
- 1998
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For this animated direct-to-video sequel to Disney's 1995 animated Pocahontas, Irene Bedard returns to the title role -- with Judy Kuhn once again providing Pocahontas' singing voice. The story starts in colonial Jamestown before Pocahontas travels to England to meet with the king in hopes of preventing a British-Indian war. Her guide and companion is royal emissary John Rolfe (Billy Zane). They are attracted to each other, but Pocahontas yearns for John Smith (Donal Gibson, brother of Mel Gibson). After a conflict with the evil Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers), the missing Smith is presumed dead. Ratcliffe tells the king that the Jamestown Indians are savages, so Pocahontas enters high society, hoping to prove otherwise by presenting a civilized appearance at the Royal Hunt Ball. Ratcliffe schemes to sabotage Pocahontas' plan. New songs by Marty Panzer and Larry Grossman include the closing-credits tune, Between Two Worlds. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Bedard, Judy Kuhn, (more)
There are angels among us, and they like lots of sugar in their coffee, in writer-director Nora Ephron's comic fantasy Michael. Vartan Malt (Bob Hoskins) is the editor of a tabloid called the National Mirror that specializes in unlikely stories about celebrities and frankly unbelievable tales about ordinary folks. When Malt gets word that a woman is supposedly harboring an angel in a small town in Iowa, he figures that this might be right up the Mirror's alley, so he sends out three people to get the story -- Frank Quinlan (William Hurt), a reporter whose career has hit the skids; Huey Discoll (Robert Pastorelli), a photographer on the verge of losing his job (even though he owns the Mirror's mascot, Sparky The Wonder Dog); and Dorothy Winters (Andie MacDowell), a self-styled "angel expert." They arrive at the rooming house of Patsy Millband (Jean Stapleton), who informs them that she does indeed have an angel for a tenant, and introduces them to Michael (John Travolta). Michael has wings like an angel, but the resemblance ends there; Michael loves cigarettes, has an uncontrollable sweet tooth (and a pot belly to match), tends to use a large number of non-angelic phrases, is not much on personal hygiene, and likes to hang out with the ladies. Michael informs his visitors that in Heaven, an angel is allowed a certain number of "vacations" on Earth, and he's in the midst of one now; trouble is, this is the last one he's entitled to, and he wants to make the most of it. Frank and Huey then stumble on a great story idea -- if Michael wants to have some fun, why not take him to Chicago, where he can really kick up his heels? Michael was written in part by Jim Quinlan, himself a one-time reporter, though with a much more respectable tabloid than the Mirror -- he wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Andie MacDowell, (more)
- 1996
Appropo to the episode's title, Jean Stapleton guest stars as Miles' grandmother Nana Silverberg. The old dear is in Washington to attend the wedding of Miles (Grant Shaud) and Corky (Faith Ford)--actually the couple's "official" ceremony, inasmuch as they've already eloped. Trouble ensues when Nana lets slip her grandson's marital status to Corky's ultra-WASP family--which, up until now, was unaware that Corky has been Mrs. Miles Silverberg for several months! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
- PG
A production of Hallmark Hall of Fame that originally aired on the Showtime Cable Network, this family drama tells the moving tale of a 19 year-old boy's attempts to reconnect with his estranged family. The story is set in Texas, 1910. The boy is Horace Robedaux. His real father died when he was 12; shortly thereafter his mother married a railroad worker, a man who accepted Horace's younger sister Lily Dale but booted the boy from his home. For the past seven years, Horace has deeply resented his stepfather and this complicates the reunion. The costume designer for Lily Dale, Jean-Pierre Dorléac received an Emmy nomination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Guinee, Stockard Channing, (more)
- 1993
This made-for-television movie, which debuted on Halloween, has Jean Stapleton as a mother from hell (literally) who returns from the dead to help her son, a doctor. He must find a Japanese artifact called the Stone of Ise, which possesses magical powers, and keep it out of the hands of a criminal Asian gang. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Stapleton, Geraint Wyn Davies, (more)
- 1993
- NR
Jean Stapleton stars in this comic fantasy about Martin, a man who learned to be tolerant of his meddling mother -- so when she dies and is brought back to life by a mystic stone, it's almost as if nothing has changed! Somehow a Japanese hit squad, a beautiful housekeeper from Scotland, and a hastily-arranged trip to Niagara are in the cards before Martin can get his life back to something close to normal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Franz Kafka's classic tale of Josef K., a bank clerk who is placed on trial for an unnamed, unknowable crime, is given a faithful, if not overly literal, treatment in this drama. Knowing only that he has been charged, Josef naturally sets out to defend himself, but soon finds himself deeply mired in a battle against an incomprehensible government bureaucracy. Following Orson Welles's adaptation of the book by some three decades, director David Jones chooses to avoid the earlier film's expressionistic approach. Instead, he sets Josef's travails against a realistic background that specifically recalls Eastern Europe during the early 20th century, the time of the book's writing. Similarly, the screenplay by famed British playwright Harold Pinter, whose own darkly absurd vision owes much to Kafka, hews closely to the original text. This faithful approach helps ground the story in historical reality, and allows for a good use of brooding Prague locations. However, many critics have found this approach less effective than the low-budget abstraction of Welles' version, which is more successful at highlighting the universality and symbolic nature of the tale. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
- 1992
A dreary and depressing tale despite the excellent assemblage of talent, this is the story of a Depression-era family where sibling rivalry and tragedy seem to be the watch words of their home life. A period piece set in 1930s Texas. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Duvall's Emmy- and ACE award-winning animated bedtime stories, narrated by celebrities. Each tape contains two stories and are available individually. ~ All Movie Guide
The television show Beakman's World was little more than an updated of the classic children's program Mr. Wizard. Best of Beakman's World contains fifteen experiments attempted on the program, each presented in such a way that a viewer can get the necessary equipment and perform the experiments along with the characters on screen. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
When her Mother breaks her hip and needs full-time care, a married woman is forced to a new understanding of the process of aging and the human spirit. Her Mother becomes resentful and fearful in this powerful affirmation of the dignity of the elderly and the power of a family. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This tribute to the long-running and very successful TV comedy series features the original cast as they take a nostalgic and respectful look back at the series, reflecting as to its impact on their lives and careers. Included too, are actual scenes from early episodes as well as viewers opinions on the smashing series which was watched faithfully by millions who apparently found more than a little of their own lives depicted. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
An all-star cast is included on this children's adventure that follows a search for Mother Goose by her son (Dan Gilroy) and Little Bo Peep (Shelley Duvall). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Adapted from the play by Jules Feiffer, Grown Ups was produced for cable television. A pre-talkshow Charles Grodin plays the Feifferesque central character, a writer facing a mid-life crisis. He turns to his family for support, but, to put it mildly, they're no help at all. Feiffer is a writer of monologues rather than plays, and the verbose nature of this taped drama bears this out: characters talk at each other incessantly, but never to each other. Still, Grodin and his co-stars Jean Stapleton, Martin Balsam and Marilu Henner hold up quite well under the circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Peter Ustinov stars once more as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's insufferably brilliant Belgian detective. Unlike many of Ustinov's earlier Poirot vehicles, which were set in the 1930s, the made-for-TV Dead Man's Folly takes place in contemporary England. Jean Stapleton costars as an American mystery novelist who organizes a "murder hunt" at a sprawling English manor. It isn't long before several of the guests are also sprawling--on the ground, stone cold dead. American-born British stage star Constance Cummings makes a rare TV appearance as a mysterious noblewoman. Dead Man's Folly was lensed on location at West Wycombe Park in Buckinhamshire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov
- 1984
A Matter of Sex is the calculatedly misleading title of a based-on-fact TV movie, which originally bore the more suitable title Women of Willmar. In 1976, the women working in a bank in Willmar, Minnesota become incensed because less-qualified men are being promoted over them. Head teller Jean Stapleton, with the help of attorney Peter Dvorsky and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, organizes an employee's union. When the chauvinistic bank officers cause negotiations to break down, Stapleton and seven other female employees go on strike--a job action which lasts for two years, despite political and social pressure from the community. Director Lee Grant, whose daughter Dinah Manoff is cast as one of the strikers, had previously helmed a documentary based on the same incident, The Willmar Eight--which was telecast on PBS the night before the January 1984 network premiere of A Matter of Sex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
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Originally aired on Shelley Duvall's family-oriented HBO television series, this lively retelling of the classic tale features Jennifer Beals as the good-hearted slave girl who overcomes all to become a princess. Matthew Broderick plays the handsome object of her affection. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
