Tisha Sterling Movies
American actress Tisha Sterling was the daughter of film stars Ann Sothern and Robert Sterling. Though her parents were divorced when she was 3, she had a relatively sedate childhood for a Hollywood kid, even with such playthings as a private soda fountain. Her mother raised her to be a society belle (what a career goal!), but Sterling opted for acting, something that had interested her since grade school. Upon inagurating her Hollywood career, Sterling went through the usual cheesecake-photo mill, though she quickly outgrew this with excellent guest performances on such TV series as Run For Your Life, Mr. Novak and Get Smart. In 1968, she costarred with Clint Eastwood in the feature film Coogan's Bluff, bringing three-dimensionality to the otherwise cliched role of a hippie. Throughout her life, Tisha Sterling has had a rollercoaster relationship with mother Ann Sothern, sometimes close, ofttimes distant; whatever the case, Sterling showed up in 1987 playing Ms. Sothern as a young woman in the well-received film The Whales of August. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1992
- PG
A troubled teen girl finds friendship with a cast-aside horse, in this family drama. Ari Meyers (from TV's Kate & Allie) stars as Allison Mills, a young girl who gets herself into trouble after the death of her mother. Sent to a horse farm as part of a community service sentence, Allison is initially cold and unresponsive, but slowly she begins to open up as she befriends a difficult-to-manage horse named Jet. Unfortunately, just as she begins to find purpose in her work at the farm, Allison's mettle is once again put to test after a devastating accident leaves both she and her prized horse seriously injured. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Begley, Jr., Mimi Rogers, (more)
A once-in-a-lifetime cast of veterans performs David Berry's play about Libby Strong (Bette Davis) and Sarah Webber (Lillian Gish), widowed sisters vacationing on a Philadelphia island for their 60th consecutive summer. Libby is blind and embittered, while Sarah is healthy, supportive, and almost annoyingly chipper. Their neighbor Tisha (Ann Sothern) tries to convince Sarah to put Libby in the care of her daughter, but Sarah hasn't forgotten Libby's moral support when her own husband died, and she won't entertain such notions -- until she is swept off her feet by an aging roué (Vincent Price). When Libby spitefully sabotages this romance, an infuriated Sarah decides that gratitude has its limits. But when it actually comes down to selling their summer house and sending Libby packing, Sarah can't do it. In the film's flashback sequences, Libby is played by Margaret Ladd, Sarah by Mary Steenburgen, and Tisha by Ann Sothern's real-life daughter Tisha Sterling. Another film personality of long standing, Harry Carey Jr., is well cast as the sisters' handyman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, (more)
- 1981
- R
Susan Swift plays the dual role of Loreen and Ann in The Coming (aka Burned at the Stake). The story takes place in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts. Demons who've been seeking revenge since the witch trials of 1692 have reemerged in the quiet New England community. The ghost of a sorceress insinuates herself into the mind and body of her look-alike descendant. Albert Salmi and Guy Stockwell co-star. Its theatrical release scattered and limited, The Coming attained its biggest audience when it premiered in an 80-minute time slot as a CBS Late Night Movie in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this sci-fi mystery set in deep space, crew members aboard an intergalactic spaceship suddenly begin vanishing until only one crewman remains. Investigators look into to the incident to determine the reasons why. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In the Glitter Palace was the first made-for-TV movie in which lesbianism was a crucial plot factor. Chad Everett stars as a defense lawyer and erstwhile detective, whose gay client is Barbara Hershey. She is on trial for murdering her slimy blackmailer (played by that master of sliminess, Anthony Zerbe). Among Hershey's lesbian friends are Salome Jens and Diana Scarwid, who may know more than what they're telling Everett. Just because In the Glitter Palace was a groundbreaker in regards to its subject matter doesn't make it a better movie; strip away the "relevance," and you've got just another by-rote whodunit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chad Everett, Barbara Hershey, (more)
Originally titled D.A.'s Investigator, Kiss Me Kill Me stars Stella Stevens as Stella Stafford, "leg woman" for the LA district attorney's office. The case at hand is the murder of a young, highly respected schoolteacher. Stella is certain that she has the killer dead to rights--but this is before she learns the down-and-dirty about the murder victim's secret life. Supporting Ms. Stevens is an impressive guest cast, including Dabney Coleman, Pat O'Brien, Bruce Boxleitner and Robert Vaughn. First telecast May 8, 1976, Kiss Me Kill Me was the pilot for an intended TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
Stacy Keach plays Lou Ford, a deputy sheriff whose brutal childhood experiences have left him emotionally warped. Ford is prized by his community for his no-mercy treatment of criminals. But the danger that he will snap and begin killing indiscriminately is ever-present. Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, in this adaptation Ford's psychotic breaks are signalled by lightning flashes. Director Burt Kennedy handles his material in the manner of his earlier Welcome to Hard Times: nothing is quite of this earth, and everything is painted in broad, violent morality-play strokes. Despite Kennedy's predilection for "cutting in the camera" (that is, filming each scene with only one or two different camera angles, so that his directorial vision will survive the editing room), Killer Inside Me gives evidence of having been severely tampered with in the post-production process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stacy Keach, Susan Tyrrell, (more)
Cloris Leachman stars as Melba, a woman with whom violence is a way of life, in Jonathan Demme's high-pitched "B"-movie Crazy Mama. The film spans three decades in the violent life of Melba, beginning in Jerusalem, Arkansas in 1932, when law enforcers kill her father (Clint Kimbrough), turning her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) into a bitter widow. Mother and daughter take off to Long Beach, California, and the time jumps to 1958, when the two are thrown out of their beauty salon for non-payment of back rent. Melba now has an attractive (and pregnant) teenage daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl). The three generations take to the road, stealing cars and creating general mayhem across the United States, robbing a motorcycle racetrack box office and a bank. But in 1959, Melba and Cheryl are picked up again, running a Miami Beach snack bar, their lives wasted in free-living terror. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cloris Leachman, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1974
In her first non-Gunsmoke appearance in two decades, Amanda Blake plays Helen Mercer, a lonely, middle-aged widow. Helen hires the deceptively sweet Adele Murphy (Tisha Sterling) as her companion. What she doesn't know (but we do, thanks to a rather violent prologue) is that "Adele" is really an extortionist named Gretchen, in league with her homicidal con-artist boyfriend Jay (Sam Groom). Singing star Dick Haymes makes his TV movie debut in the third-billed role of Harold Porter. Based on a novel by suspense specialist Doris Miles Disney, the made-for-TV Betrayal premiered December 3, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
A flower child (Tisha Sterling) is the witness to a mob "hit." The police would like to grill her, but she steadfastly refuses to say anything. Her silence, however, carries little weight with the mob bosses, who've targetted the girl for extermination. Peter Coffield, Tim O'Connor and Charles Dierkop co-star. First telecast July 23, 1974, the 90-minute Death is a Bad Trip was produced for the late-night anthology ABC Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
No one in the police department seems to care too much when call girl Wanda Bolen (Tisha Sterling) turns up murdered. All this changes when Chief Ironside meets and befriends the girl's elderly, grief-stricken father (Titos Vandis). Making it his personal crusade to bring Wanda's killer to justice, the Chief must forge a temporary truce with the pimps and hookers who may be able to provide him with the necessary leads. This episode features an orginal song by Marty and David Paich, "Money Girl", sung by Carol Carmichael). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Shelly Winters and John Randolph star in Death of Innocence as distraught small-town parents who learn that their estranged daughter is on trial for murder. They journey to New York City and attend the girl's trial, where the mother learns several details of her daughter's recent life that she'd rather not know. Filmed at the height of the "generation gap" era, Death of Innocence was based on a novel by Zelda Popkin. One of the better TV movies of 1971, the film was first telecast opposite a George Plimpton "wish fulfillment" special, thereby losing out on the large audience it deserved. Casting note: Kim Stanley was to have played the principal juror, but fell ill before shooting. She was replaced by Ann Sothern--the mother of Tisha Sterling, who plays the defendant in the case! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
James Franciscus and his wife Lee Grant take a vacation in a faraway, fogbound village. Before we get a chance to ask "Why not go to the beach?" Franciscus awakens suddenly in the middle of the night to see several of the villagers compliantly boarding trucks; among these glassy-eyed passengers is his own wife. The trucks drive off into the mists. The next day, Franciscus is the only person who remembers this strange occurrence. The title of this TV movie should give you a good idea of what's afoot. Night Slaves is a 1970s spin on the old Shock Theatre favorite It Came From Outer Space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
A girl orphaned at a young age becomes the spark for a violent confrontation between two street gangs. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1970
In this romance, an ex-Marine begins looking for a fellow Vietnam vet in hopes of making it as musicians in New York. He does not realize it, but he is driving in stolen cars. After being chased by the police, he ditches the cars and hitchhikes the New York. By the time he arrives, his pal has already left. At the friend's former apartment, the Marine gets romantic with a hippie chick and begins singing in the Village where he finds audiences unreceptive. He then boards a bus where he meets a young woman on her way to marry a Marine who ends up refusing to marry her. Soon she and the musical Marine are traveling companions. They are accompanied by a trick chicken, and a midget. Just as he finally finds his friend, the girl states that she is pregnant and the honorable fellow offers to marry her, but she will not. Then her old fiancé appears and a fight ensues. She ends up going with him. When the singer finally gets his big chance, he sees the girl watching him and realizes they are in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, (more)
Clint Eastwood stars as Walt Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff who has been sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). On arrival, he's forced to wait by NYPD detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb), who informs him that Ringerman is recovering from a bad acid trip at Bellevue Hospital. After briefly flirting with attractive probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark), Coogan heads for Bellevue, where he's able to con the hospital's staff into releasing the criminal. The cop and the fugitive are on the way to catch a flight back to Arizona, when Ringerman's hippie girlfriend Linny (Tisha Sterling) and a large accomplice spirit the killer away, leaving Coogan unconscious. Luckily, Julie is the girl's probation officer, and Coogan manages to get her address from the woman's files while getting to know her better. He tracks the girl to a popular psychedelic club, whereupon, deciding she likes the deputy, she takes him back to her apartment for further interrogation. The first in a series of films on which Eastwood would collaborate with director Don Siegel, it features a memorable scene in which a battle fought with billiard balls and cue sticks suggests the birth of a new martial art. Although its seemingly innocuous scenes of sex and violence drew criticism at the time, it served as the source for television's considerably more benign McCloud, starring Dennis Weaver as the laconic fish out of water. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, (more)
- 1968
In this adventure, seven young west Texans ride out to volunteer for the Confederate army during the mid-point of the Civil War. The Concho County Comanches, as they call themselves, find that it is truly a long way to Shiloh, Tennessee where a major battle is about to occur. En route they encounter a variety of perilous adventures. As the story progresses, each of the Comanches suffers a different fate. Their leader endures the great battle, is wounded and awakens to find his arm cut off. He then learns that the only other survivor ran off in the middle of battle and is being hunted. The leader finds his mortally wounded friend huddled up in a barn. Later the amputee tells General Bragg the story of the Concho Comanches, and the compassionate General orders that the leader ride home to Texas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Michael Sarrazin, (more)
- 1968
Candy comes to the aid of down-and-out Laura Jean Pollard (Tisha Sterling), offering the bedraggled young woman the shelter and hospitality of the Ponderosa. Before long, however, an ex-marshal named Passmore (William Windom) has arrived on the scene to blackmail poor Laura. What is her secret-and how will it affect the Cartwright clan? Also appearing are Jean Willes as Mrs. O'Brien and Bruno Ve Sota as the Bartender. Written by Thomas Thompson, "Star Crossed" was originally telecast on March 10, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1968
Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord stars in this odd little thriller directed by Gunnar Hellstrom. Lord plays a Hungarian man named Lipa who meets the beautiful Mickey (Susan Strasberg) while wandering the highways of Arizona. Mickey runs a gas station in the desert with her mother (T.C. Jones) and two sisters and invites Lipa to stay with them. He does, not knowing that the entire family is stark-raving mad. The usual psychological games ensue, with Lipa being attacked by a rattlesnake, seduced by the psychotic sisters, and run over with a car before figuring out the predictable truth -- that "Mom" is really a man. Gorgeous photography by Vilmos Zsigmond and some amusingly sadistic set-pieces accent this enjoyably trashy thriller. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg, (more)
Based on the same H.G. Wells story as his later Food of the Gods, this silly but good-looking fantasy from Bert I. Gordon is among his more entertaining films. The young Ron Howard plays Genius, who develops a substance which causes animals to grow to monstrous size. After eight kids (led by Beau Bridges and Tisha Sterling) crash their car in the mud, they dance and get drunk, then steal some food containing the growth-gunk, causing them to attain huge physical size as well. It's up to the good teens of the town (including Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, and "Mickey" crooner Toni Basil) to set things right. That involves a gas-like antidote and a lot of subpar musical numbers from the likes of Freddy Cannon and the Beau Brummels. Joseph Turkel and Rance Howard are also in the cast, and a jokey ending features a number of midgets including Felix Silla, best known as Cousin Itt on TV's The Addams Family. The first in a projected 13-picture production deal with Joseph E. Levine, Gordon followed this with the William Castle-inspired Picture Mommy Dead. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, (more)
- 1964
City dweller Keith Hollands (Arthur Kennedy) rents a dilapidated beach house, much to the dismay of his wife, Elsa (Phyllis Thaxter), who is both disgusted and frightened by the place. Rather than attempt to mollify his wife, Keith helps matters not at all by ardently pursuing a local beach bunny named Rachel (Tisha Sterling). When she finally puts her foot down and refuses to allow Keith to purchase the beach house outright, Elsa signs her own death warrant. But if Keith figured he'd get away with murder, he hadn't reckoned on a little "souvenir" left in the house by the previous owner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
