David Ogden Stiers Movies
In contrast to the insufferably intellectual characters he has played so often and so well, David Ogden Stiers wasn't much of a student while growing up in Eugene, Oregon. Like many another "underachiever," Stiers excelled at the things he was truly interested in, such as music (he played piano and french horn) and acting. After flunking out of the University of Oregon, Stiers stepped up his amateur-theatrical activities, and at age 20 was hired by the California Shakespeare Festival at Santa Clara, where he spent the next seven years performing the Classics. After briefly working with the famous San Francisco improv group The Committee, Stiers attended Julliard, in hopes of improving his vocal delivery. Evidently his training paid off: in 1974, Stiers co-starred with Zero Mostel in the Broadway production Ulysses in Nighttown, then went on to appear opposite Doug Henning in the long-running musical The Magic Show. Despite his success, Stiers detested New York, and at the first opportunity he "ran screaming" back to the West Coast. He was cast in the short-lived sitcom Doc in 1975, and the following year played an important role in the 90-minute pilot for Charlie's Angels, though he passed when offered a regular assignment in the Angels series proper. Stiers' performance as a stuttering TV executive in a 1976 Mary Tyler Moore Show episode led to his being cast as the overbearing Major Charles Emerson Winchester on the ever-popular M*A*S*H; at first signed to a two-year contract, Stiers remained with the series until its final episode in February of 1983. Before, during and after his tenure on M*A*S*H, Stiers kept busy in made-for-TV films, lending his patented authoritativeness to such real-life characters as Dr. Charles Mayo (in 1977's A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story), critic and social arbiter Cleveland Amory (1984's Anatomy of an Illness) and President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1987's J. Edgar Hoover). He was also seen as pontificating DA Michael Reston in several of the Perry Mason TV-movies of the late 1980s. Disney animation devotees will remember Stiers for his voiceover work as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (1988) and Lord Ratcliffe in Pocahontas (1995). Parlaying his lifelong love of classical music into a second career, David Ogden Stiers has served as guest conductor for over 70 major U.S. symphony orchestras. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This WW II-set drama follows the creation of the first atomic bomb. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn, (more)
- 1989
In this thriller, a cool detective and a fussy librarian team up to solve the mystery of a killer who hacks up both art books and his beautiful victims. The story is based on a novel by Jonathan Valin and was made as a cable television pilot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Director Lawrence Kasdan and Frank Galati adapted their screenplay for The Accidental Tourist from Anne Tyler's novel. William Hurt plays Macon Leary, a well-known "travel advisor" headquartered in Baltimore. The tragic death of Leary's son causes him to withdraw from the world, which in turn prompts his wife (Kathleen Turner) to walk out on him. Recuperating from a broken leg, Leary moves in with his sister (Amy Wright) and brothers (Ed Begley Jr., David Ogden Stiers)-staid middle-aged intellectuals all. Discipline problems with his dead son's dog lead Leary to hire flaky professional dogwalker/trainer Muriel Pritchett (Geena Davis, who won an Oscar for her performance). The only non-uptight person within shouting distance, Muriel begins to melt Leary's self-protective shell. Once his wife realizes that she has some competition, she makes moves to get him back. But he has by now become accustomed to Muriel's unfettered lifestyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, (more)
Grad-school administrative head Marion Post (Gena Rowlands) is in the midst of writing a book. The walls are thin in the apartment she's taken for work purposes, and soon Marion begins listening to the sessions conducted by her neighbor, an analyst. One of the patients is Hope (Mia Farrow), whose marriage is in tatters. As Hope prattles on, Marion begins flashing back to highlights (and lowlights) of her own marriage. Her musings are constantly interrupted by the memory of the man (Gene Hackman) she'd once ardently loved. Later on, chance encounters with old friends force Marion to face the fact that she has lived her life sheltering herself from her true emotions. Director Woody Allen's career-long indebtedness to Ingmar Bergman is underlined in Another Woman via Bergman's frequent cinematographer Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 1988
Though up on murder charges, a stalwart British diplomat refuses to invoke immunity and instead allows Matlock to defend him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kene Holliday, Lisa Hartman, (more)
- 1988
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason must prove that the man whose murder conviction he upheld when he was an Appellate Court judge is really innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Raymond Burr, as ever, stars in this TV-movie continuation of the Perry Mason saga. Once more pulled out of semi-retirement, Perry takes on the case of a wealthy man (David Hasselhoff) accused of murdering his heiress wife. Of course, this has nothing to do with the Klaus von Bulow affair. As was customary in these latter-day Mason episodes, the bulk of the detective work is in the hands of Paul Drake Jr., played by William Katt--the real-life son of Mason's "Della Street," Barbara Hale. Lady in the Lake was one of two Perry Mason two-hour specials produced by Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove in 1988; the other was subtitled The Case of the Avenging Ace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In the first episode of a two-part story, ALF shows his gratitude to the Tanners by devouring their entire Thanksgiving dinner--then giving Willie's best clothes away to a tramp named Flakey Pete (David Ogden Stiers). Fortunately, the Ochmoneks invite the Tanners to spend Thanksgiving with them. Unfortunately, Flakey Pete recognizes ALF as an alien--and he intends to cash in on this knowledge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
In the conclusion of a two-part story, the Tanners spend Thanksgiving with the Ochmoneks, where they are forced to endure the--er--eccentricities of Trevor (John LaMotta) and Raquel's (Liz Sheridan bizarre relatives. Meanwhile, Flakey Pete (David Ogden Stiers), the tramp to whom ALF gave all of Willie's good clothes, repays the favor by ratting on ALF to the Alien Task Force. This episode was evidently intended to be shown in a single one-hour installment, but was instead telecast as a two-parter on two consecutive evenings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
The last of the four Perry Mason movies telecast in 1987, The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel rounds up veterans Raymond Burr (as Mason) and Barbara Hale (as Della Street), with comparative newcomers William Katt (as Paul Drake Jr.) and David Ogden Stiers (as the "Hamilton Burger"-style prosecutor). The accused murderer in this outing is Susan Wilder, a reporter for a sleazy tabloid. The victim is the rag's hateful publisher, Robert Guillaume. Other suspects include Guillaume's ex-lover, and a banker who was ruined by the tabloid's half truths. Unlike most of the Perry Mason TV movies of the 1980s, The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel doesn't play fair with the audience; vital clues and character motivations are withheld from the viewer, robbing us of the pleasure of trying to second-guess the methodical Mr. Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason takes the case of a publisher implicated in the strange murder of a horror novelist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason begins representing a friend of Della's after he is accused of murdering an old madam who is also his wife. As the intrepid attorney investigates, he soon exposes a multi-million dollar banking fraud. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Based on the book My 30 Years in Hoover's FBI by William G. Sullivan and William S. Brown, this made-for-cable biopic stars Treat Williams as the infamous Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1987
The valor and anguish of the Alamo is resurrected in this '80s effort that features a considerably accomplished cast. Brian Keith plays Davy Crockett and James Arness is Jim Bowie who, although at odds at times with his leader Colonel William Travis (Alec Baldwin), is able to focus upon the battle against the Mexican soldiers. Highlights of this film are the battle action scenes. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1987
The Case of the Lost Love was the fourth of the Perry Mason TV movies of the 1980s. Raymond Burr plays Mason (you're surprised?), who while out of town at a lawyer's conference is reunited with Jean Simmons, his lady friend of 30 years past. Simmons has come up in the world, and is about to be nominated for the US senate. Unfortunately, her husband Gene Barry is accused of murdering a blackmailer. The lack of surprise in the denouement is compensated for by the pathos and emotionalism in the final scenes. Back from the previous Mason films is Barbara Hale as Della Street, and Hale's son William Katt as Paul Drake Jr. Despite stiff competition from the Audrey Hepburn-Robert Wagner TV movie Love Among Thieves, Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love swept the ratings when it premiered on February 23, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
This six-part, 12-hour miniseries was a sequel to the 1985 "mini" North and South, and like its predecessor it was based on a novel by John Jakes (Love and War). In the tradition of The Birth of a Nation (but without the negative racist content), North and South, Book II followed the fortunes of two large families during the Civil War: the Hazards of Pennsylvania and the Mains of South Carolina. As former friends Orry Maine (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazard (James Read) find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict, Orry's sweetheart Madeline (Lesley-Anne Down) is left at the mercy of her sadistic husband Justin LaMotte (David Carradine) and Orry's vixenish sister Ashton (Terri Garber), while George's amour Constance (Wendy Kilbourne) was saddled with an equally disreputable family. Though the series was top-heavy with villains, there was enough time left over for the heroes of the war, notably Abraham Lincoln (Hal Holbrook) and Ulysses S. Grant (Anthony Zerbe). First telecast over the ABC network from May 4-8 and May 11, 1986, North and South, Book II was re-telecast in a six-week block from May 13 to June 17, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirstie Alley
- 1986
Jessica's niece Victoria (Genie Francis) and the girl's husband Howard (Jeff Conaway), previously introduced in the first-season episode "Birds of a Feather", make return appearances here--and, as before, the couple promptly embroils Jessica (Angela Lansbury) in a murder case. This time, the victim was Victoria's advertising-executive boss, a notorious womanizer. Victoria falls under suspicion when it turns out that her late boss had intended to "lend" her to his newest client, the hedonistic owner of a questionable fast-food chain. ~ Hal Erickson, 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
- 1986
Following the excellent ratings response to the 1985 "reunion" special Perry Mason Returns, producers Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove quickly assembled a second two-hour Mason TV movie in 1986. Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun finds Mason (Raymond Burr), now a judge, briefly stepping down from the bench to defend a nun (Michele Greene) accused of murder. The victim was a handsome priest, with whom the nun was allegedly conducting an affair. William Katt plays private detective Paul Drake Jr., who in the tradition of his late father tracks down clues on Mason's behalf--nearly losing his life at every turn. Case of the Notorious Nun was followed in short order by Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (86). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is once more dragged out of retirement to defend a murder suspect. This time the defendant is an obnoxious actor (Joe Penny) who was seen by an audience of millions in the act of shooting a vitriolic TV talk show host (Allan Thicke). The actor claims the shooting was a prearranged publicity stunt, and that his gun was filled with blanks. Why, then, was the host stone cold dead when the cops arrived? Production sidelight: Allan Thicke, the "murdered" talk host in this made for TV movie, was in 1983 the real host of a failed talk show--a show produced by Fred Silverman, who also happened to be the producer of Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, (more)
- 1985
The expensively mounted miniseries North and South was originally telecast in six two-hour installments between November 3 and 10, 1985. Four screenwriters--Douglas Heyes, Paul F. Edwards, Kathleen A. Shelley, Patricia Green--were called upon to fashion a workable script from John Jakes' sprawling best-seller. The story covers the two decades prior to the Civil War, beginning in 1842. Real-life historical events are filtered through the eyes of two rival clans: the Mains, a South Carolina plantation-owning family, and the Hazards, a family of Pennsylvania industrialists. While top billing goes to Kirstie Alley as "Northern Belle" Virgilia Hazard, most of the footage is devoted to the fluctuating friendship between Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazard (James Read). The huge guest-star cast includes Gene Kelly (in his TV miniseries debut), Elizabeth Taylor, Leslie-Anne Down, David Carradine, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Hal Holbrook (as Abe Lincoln) and Johnny Cash (as abolitionist John Brown). The recipient of seven Emmy nominations, the 561-minute North and South was filmed back to back with its equally lengthy sequel, North and South, Book II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirstie Alley
Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know "Savage Steve Holland" as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperboy (who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, (more)
- 1985
The 1985 TV movie The Bad Seed is the second film version of Maxwell Anderson's 1956 Broadway play. Carrie Wells plays Rachel Penmark, a 9-year-old girl who is perfection itself--unless she's crossed or challenged. Several disturbing recent incidents have led Rachel's mother Christine (Blair Brown) to suspect that her child is a latent murderess. Upon discovering that she herself is the daughter of a convicted killer, Christine becomes convinced that sweet little Rhoda is a "bad seed"--an inherent killer who feels no remorse because she doesn't know any better. David Carradine co-stars as a moronic handyman who comes too close to Rhoda's secret to live, while Lynn Redgrave essays the Evelyn Varden role of Monica Breedlove, a garrulous landlady. Originally aired February 7, 1985, this version of The Bad Seed avoids the many cop-outs in the 1956 theatrical film version by retaining Maxwell Anderson's ironic final scene. Film historians will note that producers changed the title character's name from "Rhoda" to "Rachel" for this version, perhaps to lend the story a more contemporary feel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this rather routine adaptation of the French hit, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, Richard (Tom Hanks) is a bicycling violinist who is innocently drawn into a nasty struggle for control of the CIA. Cooper (Dabney Coleman) is the unscrupulous current head honcho of the notorious U.S. agency, Ross (Charles Durning) is his nemesis, and Maddy (Lori Singer) works for Cooper. After Richard the violinist is forced into the picture, Maddy fights off an attraction to the rather dull man, and complications introduce enough gadgetry to fill a James Bond movie, almost. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, (more)
This romantic, melancholy twist on the Frankenstein formula stars Peter O'Toole as Professor Harry Wolper, a lonely eccentric who has dedicated decades of research to cloning his long-dead wife Lucy from a culture of living tissue. To this end, he enlists the services of likeable Graduate assistant Boris (Vincent Spano), who is initially baffled by the professor's endless rants about God, Science and "The Big Picture." After Wolper posts bills seeking a human egg donor, his wish is granted by the vivacious young Meli (Mariel Hemingway), in whom the professor soon discovers a more willing convert to his grand design... and perhaps a love more immediate and real than the one he lost. Boris eventually manages to come around to "The Big Picture" himself when Wolper points him in the direction of another graduate, Barbara (Virginia Madsen). Despite opting for a platonic relationship to better determine if they are ideally matched, Boris and Barbara soon fall deeply in love, realizing that they are soul-mates as the professor had predicted. Tragedy strikes, however, when a brain hemorrhage renders Barbara comatose, and Wolper's nemesis Dr. Sid Kuhlenbeck (David Ogden Stiers) persuades the university to shut down Harry's private cloning laboratory. Meli forces Wolper to choose between her love and his misplaced longing for his dead wife... and his answer is suddenly made clear when he witnesses Boris's heartfelt determination to bring his own true love back to the land of the living. Written by Jeremy Leven (based on his own novel), this is a flawed but engaging comedy which proves that a well-written story can incorporate traditional science fiction elements as more than a mere plot device and actually enhance the humanity of the characters. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Corey, Peter O'Toole, (more)
