Maureen Stapleton Movies

For his film directorial debut, producer Dore Schary selected a longtime pet property: Miss Lonelyhearts, Nathaniel West's trenchant 1933 novel. Montgomery Clift delivers a haunting performance as journalist Adam White, assigned by his cynical editor Adam Shrike (Robert Ryan) to take over a newspaper advice column. Signing himself Miss Lonelyhearts, White is appalled by the human misery pouring out of the letters sent to him (one of his correspndents was born without a nose), but Shrike insists that anyone who'd write to such a column is fake. To find out for himself, White looks up one of the correspondents, unhappily married Fay Doyle (Oscar-nominated Maureen Stapleton). His pity for the seriously disturbed Fay nearly leads to tragedy (in the novel, there's no "nearly"). Meanwhile, Shrike tries to contend with his own tottering marriage to his wife Florence (Myrna Loy). In additional to shortening the title to Lonelyhearts, Dore Schary made a number of radical changes in the original, adding an overabundance of "meaningful" dialogue and softening the character of Florence Shrike. Purists were enraged by Schary's liberties, while critics carped at his perfunctory direction; audiences, however, seemed to like the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A View from the Bridge is set in New York, but the alleged political undesirability of playwright Arthur Miller dictated that this film be lensed in France. Director Sidney Lumet shot the film in both English and French, with the English version sounding more recited than acted at times. Raf Vallone plays Eddie Carbone, a tough Italian-American longshoreman living in Brooklyn with his wife Beatrice Carbone (Maureen Stapleton), and her comely niece, Catherine (Carol Lawrence) -- to whom he feels an overwhelming yet undeclared attraction. Then two illegal immigrants, Rodolpho and Marco (Jean Sorel and Raymond Pellegrin), turn up, and rage builds in Eddie when he senses a burgeoning, mutual attraction between Rodolpho and Catherine. To divert suspicions of his own incestuous desires, he first declares Rodolpho a homosexual, then does everything in his power to ensure that Rodolpho and Marco are deported - thus setting the film up for a surprisingly grisly and shocking climax. The film is more commonly remembered today for a "shocking" set piece, in which Eddie kisses Rodolpho full on the lips to "prove" that the boy is gay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

It is not uncommon for actors to double and triple in roles while appearing in the "omnibus" plays of Neil Simon. Plaza Suite was the first film version of a Simon play to carry over the multiple-role device to the screen. Walter Matthau appears in all three one-act playlets comprising Plaza Suite, with a different leading lady in each. First we see Matthau as the husband of Maureen Stapleton, nostalgically returning to the same hotel suite where they'd spent their honeymoon 24 years earlier. Times have changed, however, and the twosome spend more timing sniping at one another than pitching woo. The second vignette casts Matthau as an effusive movie producer (lavish toupee and all) who hopes to seduce his old sweetheart Barbara Harris. The third and best sequence finds Matthau and Lee Grant playing the parents of a bride who steadfastly refuses to leave her locked room to attend her own wedding. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom stars Maureen Stapleton as Bea Asher, a woman faced with many new challenges since becoming a widow. She has been afraid for herself and her future since her husband's death, and friends concerned for her well-being take her to the Stardust Ballroom in the hopes that, for one night, she might dance her troubles away. While there, she meets Alvin Green (Charles Durning). They spend the evening dancing and talking and, thanks to his charm and goodness, Bea begins to come out of her sheltered existence. This story was directed for television by Sam O'Steen, who was Mike Nichols' only editor for almost 30 years. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The Gathering stars Ed Asner as an ill-tempered executive who long ago walked out on his family. Just before Christmas, Asner is told that he has only a few weeks to live. He confides this information to his estranged wife Maureen Stapleton, who suggests that he call his four adult children (Gail Strickland, Gregory Harrison, Rebecca Balding, Lawrence Pressman) together for one last reunion. He agrees on the proviso that they not be told of his imminent death. Of the four offspring, Asner is most trepidatious about seeing Harrison, who was virtually disowned when he moved to Canada during the Vietnam War. But The Gathering is a Christmas movie, and does its best to stay heartwarming. Made for TV and first shown December 4, 1977, The Gathering was the pilot for a potential series--(presumably one without Ed Asner, unless his character suddenly experienced a miracle cure). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Stanley Kramer ended his career with this absorbing drama, adapted from the play by Milan Stitt and based on a real-life event from 1927. Dick Van Dyke stars as Father Rivard, an intellectual priest in a small, impoverished mining town in the state of Washington. A lonely man with low self-esteem, Rivard is depressed by the arduous and dreary lives of his flock, until the arrival of Sister Rita (Kathleen Quinlan), a bright, spirited young nun who joins his parish to teach at its school. Rita appreciates Rivard on a level that few others in the community can, and soon the priest falls in love with her. But when Sister Rita is murdered, Rivard's infatuation is revealed and the love-struck priest is put on trial. Only Rivard's housekeeper, Mrs. Shandig (Maureen Stapleton), knows the truth about Sister Rita's death. Kramer broke up the staginess of his source material by structuring The Runner Stumbles (1979) into three acts that unfold not sequentially but simultaneously, revealing Rivard's developing relationship with Rita, his prison stint, and his murder trial all at the same time. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Ed Asner dominated the proceedings of the 1977 TV movie The Gathering; inasmuch as Asner's character died at the end of that film, he is absent from the 1979 sequel The Gathering, Part 2. Said sequel could certainly have benefitted from Asner's presence, no matter how illogical that presence might have been. In Part 2, widowed Maureen Stapleton gathers her family together for the first Christmas after the death of her husband. She is being wooed by handsome industrialist Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and the family (Rebecca Balding, Gail Strickland, Bruce Davison et.al.) isn't all that keen on this contingency. Even more so than the first film, The Gathering, Part 2 has the smell of a pilot. It was originally networkcast on December 17, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1979 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Maureen Stapleton and features musical guests Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide

The Electric Grandmother was the second TV adaptation of Ray Bradbury's I Sing the Body Electric (the first was presented on The Twilight Zone in 1962). Maureen Stapleton plays the title character, a custom-made android purchased by widowed Edward Hermann. "Grandma", a magical creation who can read minds and conjure up meals literally at her fingertips, is supposed to act as surrogate mother to Herrmann's three children; two of the kids accept her immediately, but the third (Tara Kennedy) is hostile. The relationship thaws after Grandma saves the little girl's life. Years later, the grown-up children tearfully bid their Grandma a fond farewell; but the grandmother eventually cares for the children after they themselves have grown old. Paul Benedict costars as cheerfully eccentric robot creator Guido Fantoccini. Adapted for television by Ray Bradbury and Jeffrey Kindley, the 60-minute The Electric Grandmother first aired as an NBC "Project Peacock" special on January 17, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a homeless shoeshine boy who lives in a locker at the train station finds himself quite popular after he reveals a talent for picking winners at the racetrack. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Documentary filmmaker Claudio Masenza, cinematic chronicler of the lives of Marlon Brando and James Dean, turns his attentions to the tragic film idol Montgomery Clift. Masenza offers a cursory synopsis of Clift's stage work (including The Skin of Our Teeth), then launches into a paean of the actor's film career, beginning with The Search (1947) and ending with The Defector (1966). It comes as no surprise that the film dwells upon Clift's erratic behavior, his quicksilver temperament, his sexual ambiguity, and his near-fatal 1957 auto accident. At 2 hours, the film leaves few stones unturned, though repetition is the order of the day during some stretches. Still, Montgomery Clift is a valuable primer for anyone unfamiliar with this compellingly unique performer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide