Mare Winningham Movies
Mare Winningham is a critically acclaimed performer on stage, television, and occasionally feature films. She began her career performing a song on TV's notorious Gong Show. While playing Maria in a high school production of The Sound of Music, opposite classmate Kevin Spacey, Winningham was spotted by Hollywood agent Meyer Mishkin who landed her a role in the short-lived TV Western series The Young Pioneers in 1978. This led to her first TV movie, Special Olympics. For her role as an independent-minded farmer's daughter in 1980's Amber Waves, she won an Emmy. That year, Winningham made her feature-film debut starring opposite Paul Simon in Robert M. Young's One-Trick Pony. She fared better in her next film, Threshold (1981), where she played the recipient of an artificial heart. Winningham then went on to play a number of supporting roles and the occasional lead in a series of unremarkable films. She continues to fare much better on television, where she has appeared in popular films such as The Thorn Birds (1983) and Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues (1984). She was part of the ensemble in the Gen X touchstone St. Elmo's Fire in 1985 and went on to appear in Shy People, Miracle Mile, the Tom Hanks with a dog vehicle Turner and Hooch, and Wyatt Earp. She earned long-deserved award recognition in 1995 for playing a successful singer struggling with her drug-addicted sister in Georgia. Her work in that film garnered her an Oscar nomination Best Supporting Actress, and she won that award at that year's Independent Spirit Awards. She had a recurring role on the hit medical drama ER at the close of the '90s. As the 21st century began she maintained her status as a first-class character actress appearing in a variety of projects such as Snap Decision, The Adventures of Ociee Nash, and Dandelion. She enjoyed a recurring role on Grey's Anatomy, but she found even greater small screen success with back to back Emmy nominations for Best Supporting actress in a movie or miniseries in 2011 and 2012 with her work in Mildred Pierce and Hatfields & McCoys. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1990
Love and Lies is a TV "film noir" inspired the true exploits of detective Kim Paris. Mare Winningham stars as a no-nonsense Houston private investigator with a penchant for disguise. She is hired to gather evidence on Peter Gallagher, who is implicated in a double homicide. Assuming a false identity, Ms. Winningham puts the make on Gallagher, hoping that a little romance will put him off guard and force him to convict himself. The rub comes when Winningham falls in love with the suspect. When first telecast on March 18, 1990, Love and Lies barely managed to hold its own in the ratings opposite the competing double whammy of Gunsmoke: The Last Apache and Part One of a new adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. Perhaps as a result, it never developed into a weekly series, as had been intended. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1990
Crossing to Freedom is a 1990 TV-movie remake of the 1942 film The Pied Piper; both productions were based on a novel by Nevil Shute. Peter O'Toole steps into the old Monty Woolley role of the crotchety, isolationist Britisher who finds himself the unwilling guardian of several French war- refugee children. O'Toole leads his flock out of occupied France, making good his escape by striking up an unusual bargain with a Nazi officer. The predominantly British cast members choose to play their roles without French or German accents; not so American leading lady Mare Winningham, whose musical-comedy dialect is straight out of Fifi D'Orsay. Unlike the original Hollywood-bound Pied Piper, Crossing to Freedom was filmed on location in France. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Miracle Mile starts conventionally enough, with bashful musician Anthony Edwards going ga-ga over waitress Mare Winningham. After a pleasant if somewhat quirky day together, Edwards and Winningham plan a tete-a-tete at the all-night restaurant where the girl works. While preparing to call her on a pay phone, Edwards intercepts a frantic call from a soldier stationed at a Midwestern missile silo. The message: nuclear warheads have been launched, and it's only 70 minutes to Armageddon! This unsettling news casts severe doubts over the future of Edwards' and Winningham's relationship. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham, (more)
One by-product of two consecutive Oscar wins is that Tom Hanks no longer has to appear in such potboilers as Turner and Hooch. Hanks plays Turner, a meticulously groomed, excruciatingly well-organized detective working in a small California coastal town. When local "character" Amos Reed (John McIntire) is murdered by drug smugglers, the only witness is Reed's slobbery, smelly mutt, Hooch. You're way ahead of us, folks: Turner, who despises dogs in general and Hooch in particular, is compelled to put the cantankerous dog up as his house guest. Also easily predictable is the fact that Turner and Hooch will, by the next-to-last reel, become boon companions. To its credit, the film has an abundance of laughs and thrills...but, gee, that ending! Neither terrific nor terrible, Turner and Hooch is a pleasant time-filler; we do wish, however, that more time had been spent on the budding romance between Turner and veterinarian Emily Carson (Mare Winningham). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, (more)
A young mother and her daughter end up on the streets in this grim made-for-television movie. Mare Winningham stars as Theresa Johnson, a young mother whose life falls apart when she finds herself suddenly single, unemployed and homeless. With nowhere to turn, Theresa and her daughter Hillary (Grace Johnston) drift through the social system, wandering from shelter to shelter with little hope for the future. Gripping in its portrayal of the cycle of poverty, the film offers no simple solutions -- much like real life. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- 1987
- R
Writer Jill Clayburgh wants to remove her coke-addicted daughter Martha Plimpton from the corruptive environs of Manhattan. When assigned to write an article about family trees, Clayburgh, with daughter in tow, heads to the bayous of Louisiana, there to seek out an elusive great-uncle--and, it is hoped, to give Plimpton a new start in life. Upon their arrival in the deep south, Clayburgh and Plimpton are confronted with the uncle's rugged, iron-willed wife Barbara Hershey and her four grown sons. The anticipated culture clash results in tragedy for all concerned. Wavering between the plausible and the outrageous, Shy People makes for fascinating, almost mesmerizing viewing. Released late in 1987 to qualify for the Academy Awards, the film was given a general release in mid-1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jill Clayburgh, Barbara Hershey, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Alan Rudolph directed this offbeat, boy-meets-girl romance in which boy dies, dead boy meets dead girl, dead boy loses dead girl, and dead boy tries to find dead girl again. The tale begins is a small Pennsylvania town, where Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton) dreams of escaping small town life and moving to California with his girlfriend Brenda (Mare Winningham). But Brenda leaves him with his motor running and Mike takes off alone. On the way, he rescues a woman and her children from an icy river but perishes himself. He finds himself in Heaven, where he is greeted by Aunt Lisa (Maureen Stapleton), who explains the rules and regulations. Once in the ethereal realm, Mike falls in love with a heavenly lass with flaxen locks named Annie (Kelly McGillis). But their love is torn asunder because Annie has not yet earned her wings on Earth; she must leave on a tour of duty and put in time inhabiting a human body. Mike is beside himself in despair, but the heavenly powers, in the form of Emmett (Debra Winger), chain-smoking and sporting an orange crewcut like a ghostly Laurie Anderson, offer him a deal. Mike can return to Earth, but only on the stipulation that neither he nor Annie will remember each other. They then have thirty years in which to find one another again. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1986
Who Is Julia? was based on author Barbara H. Harris' "speculative fiction" page-turner. Mary Frances (Mare Winningham) is a dull, drab housewife suffering from brain disease. Julia (Judy Ledford) is a drop-dead-gorgeous model who is killed in a car accident. Out of desperation, the surgeons decide to transplant Julia's brain into Mary Beth's body. The balance of the film involves Julia's distressed reaction to being trapped with the plain features and blue-collar lifestyle of Mary Beth. Sidelines sufferers include Jameson Parker as Julia's husband and Jonathan Banks as Mary Frances' spouse. Who Is Julia? is a farfetched but irresistible made-for-TV effort. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This sharp drama is about the trials and tribulations of a young woman defeated by her past, yet tempted to overcome it through a meaningful relationship. Cassie (Rosanna Arquette) works as a waitress in a southwestern town. Not that long ago, she stabbed her lover (and the father of her baby) in public, and even though he recovered, she did not. The most immediate result of her action is that she gave away her baby, and the next, more severe result is that she lost all of her self-respect. Now she takes care of her mother and younger, offensive brother and also dallies on and off with her ex-lover -- who is married. Then Riley (Eric Roberts) comes into town for awhile with a theatrical troupe and he falls for Cassie. He is only in town for a short period of time and that may or may not be enough to convince Cassie to leave with him when he goes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts, (more)
- 1986
- PG
Made for television, A Winner Never Quits is the true story of one-armed baseball player Pete Gray. Having lost his arm in a childhood accident, Pete (played by Steve Rees as a child, Keith Carradine as an adult) still insists upon pursuing an athletic career in emulation of his older brother Whitey (Ed O'Neill). When Whitey suffers permanent brain damage in a boxing match, Pete takes up the cudgel and enters the world of professional sports. Hired in 1943 as a "freak attraction" and wartime morale-booster by the Memphis Chicks, Class-A minor league ball club, Gray attains a batting average of .333 and a stolen-base record of 63; as a result, he is appointed his league's MVP. Though a success, Pete maintains a tough, defensive veneer, which is softened only by the love of his wife Annie (Mare Winningham) and the adulation of baseball fan Nelson Gary Jr. (Huckleberry Fox), who has also lost an arm (and who would, in real life, become a top minor-league ballplayer himself). With the war depleting big-league baseball's manpower in 1945, Pete Gray finally achieves his goal of entering the Majors when he is hired by the St. Louis Browns. Dennis Weaver and Fionnulla Flanagan costar as Pete's immigrant parents. Burt Prelutsky's screenplay wisely avoids pathos and sentiment throughout; though humanized by his relationships with friends and family, Pete Gray is accurately portrayed as a brusque, temperamental soul, who neither asks for nor tolerates sympathy from anyone. A Winner Never Quits first aired in April of 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1985
In its own mild, unobtrusive manner, the made-for-TV Love is Never Silent managed to knock an all-star adaptation of Alice in Wonderland out of the ratings box when it was first telecast on December 9, 1985. Based on the Joanne Greenberg novel In This Sign, the film stars Mare Winningham as a normally functioning woman with deaf parents. Using sign language, Winningham has spent most of her Depression-era childhood as her parents' only conduit to the outside world. When a close family friend (Sid Caesar in a towering non-comic performance) asks Winningham if she isn't sacrificing the opportunity for happiness on her own, she carefully considers his words. She marries Frederick Lehne, at which point her embittered parents close off their relationship with their daughter. How Ms. Winningham manages to bridge this gap is the focus of the film's final scenes. The parents are played by Ed Waterstreet and Phyllis Frelich, longtime members of the National Theatre for the Deaf. The Emmy-winning Love is Never Silent was originally presented as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham
Post-collegiate angst, '80s style, is the subject of this coming-of-age ensemble piece, which traces the fortunes of a group of Georgetown grads as they enter the real world and grapple with work, infidelity, and adulthood. The most outwardly upscale member of the gang, Jules (Demi Moore), hides a plethora of emotional baggage behind a chic wardrobe, an expensive apartment, a fashionable drug habit, and lots of meaningless casual sex. Her friend Wendy (Mare Winningham) has the opposite problem; a trust-fund baby with body-image issues and little sexual experience, she's hung up on Billy (Rob Lowe), a no-good, sax-playing drunkard who can't face up to his responsibilities in the job market or at home with his wife and young child. Such open infidelity is anathema to Alex (Judd Nelson), who must maintain a sense of propriety even while engaging in compulsive womanizing; after all, the Democrat-turned-Republican's nascent political career requires the sort of picture-perfect relationship he shares with girlfriend Leslie (Ally Sheedy). That doesn't sit too well with tortured writer Kevin (Andrew McCarthy), who toils away at a newspaper job and pines away for the unattainable Leslie. Unrequited love also dogs Kirby (Emilio Estevez), a law-school student whose greatest wish is to romance classy doctor Dale Biberman (Andie MacDowell), who is, alas, way out of his league. Co-written by director Joel Schumacher and his studio intern, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire spawned the number one pop hit "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," which was credited to John Parr but co-written by music producer David Foster. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, (more)
- 1985
A stellar cast distinguishes this chillingly cautionary ABC Afterschool Special about the perils of drunk driving. Told in flashback, this is the tale of two couples: sensible Beth (Mare Winningham) and Tim (Lance Guest), and footloose Annie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Eric (Val Kilmer). The latter duo drink champagne on their first date, and continue imbibing at a dangerous rate during their subsequent double dates with Beth and Tim. Finally, Beth confronts Eric about his liquor problem, but he angrily blows her off -- with tragic results. Filmed several years before its network-TV debut in 1985, One Too Many has since become a staple of driver's-education classes throughout America. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham, Lance Guest, (more)
- 1984
This semi-sequel to William Gibson's The Miracle Worker recounts the early adult years of the profoundly handicapped but brilliant Helen Keller. Helen, played by Mare Winningham, enters college, with her friend and mentor Annie Sullivan Macy (Blythe Danner) by her side. As Helen's international fame grows, she must withstand the pressures of those who'd treat her as a freak rather than a human being as well as Annie's near-strident demands that she excel at everything. The multi-faceted Ms. Keller lived too much of a life to be squeezed into a mere two-hour running time; the script betrays the strain of trying to show us more than it's able by wrapping up everything in a hurried, unsatisfying conclusion. Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues was initially telecast as part of the syndicated Operation Prime Time package in 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mare Winningham, Blythe Danner, (more)
- 1984
In this made-for-TV movie, a group of lonely, unattached people meet up in a local bar in search of love and friendship. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shelley Hack, Paul Michael Glaser, (more)
- 1983
- Add The Thorn Birds [TV Miniseries] to Queue Add The Thorn Birds [TV Miniseries] to top of Queue
This mammoth TV miniseries, based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, proved to be a ratings bonanza; indeed, its viewership was surpassed only by the 1978 blockbuster Roots. Set in Australia, the story covers 42 years in the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. The women in de Bricassart's life include Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward, in her first American TV role) and Meggie's iron-willed grandmother Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck). Also in the cast are Jean Simmons and Richard Kiley as the Clearys, Sydney Penny as the young Meggie, Bryan Brown as Luke O'Neill, Mare Winningham as Justine (Meggie's daughter) and Christopher Plummer as the Archbishop. This 4-part, 10-hour presentation earned an Emmy award for Barbara Stanwyck, and Golden Globes for Stanwyck and Richard Chamberlain. Originally telecast March 27 through March 30, 1983, The Thorn Birds was followed 13 years later by The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years, again starring Richard Chamberlain. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, (more)
- 1982
Deserted by her no-good husband, Kate Bradshaw (Mare Winningham), an illiterate, unemployed mother of three, proves to be easy prey for a smooth-talking older woman, Mary Gertrude (Polly Holliday). Persuaded to enroll her kids in Mary Gertrude's "child care center," Kate soon realizes to her horror that she has given up her youngsters to a crooked private adoption agency. In her subsequent battle to reclaim her children, Kate runs up against a brick wall of political conspiracy and corruption. Though the film contains very few surprises, fans of the old sitcom Father Knows Best might get a kick out of seeing Jane Wyatt in a none-too-sympathetic role. Missing Children: A Mother's Story made its CBS network bow on December 1, 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1982
Amber Waves is the tale of two radically different personalities, united by crisis. Dennis Weaver plays a midwestern wheat harvester, coarsened by his lifelong struggle with poverty and the elements. Kurt Russell plays an obnoxious Manhattan-based male model, who has coasted through life on his charm and has never gotten his hands dirty. When Russell finds himself facially disfigured and penniless, he takes a job on Weaver's farm. Though the two men dislike each other at first, they reach a common ground when Weaver suffers a serious personal dilemma. Beautifully lensed in Alberta, Canada, Amber Waves was one of the high points of the 1979-80 TV movie season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1981
- PG
Donald Sutherland plays a brilliant surgeon who becomes a media celebrity after performing an artificial-heart transplant. Jeff Goldblum, inventor of the ersatz heart, likewise basks in the glow of sudden fame. The only person to have reservations about the procedure is heart recipient Mare Winningham, who becomes depressed over the knowledge that she's not altogether human. Several ethical questions are raised and left unresolved; the film assumes that the audience is intelligent and perceptive enough to draw its own conclusions. Released in Canada in 1981, Threshold was not offered an American distribution until after the Barney Clark heart transplant of 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, John Marley, (more)
- 1981
Not much time is actually spent in Weasel Creek in this made-for-TV movie, despite its title. Essentially, this is a semiserious "road" picture concerning the misadventures of a rambunctious young girl (Mare Winningham). Linking up with a runaway farm boy (John Hammond), the girl heads to California with only the clothes on her back and the few possessions from her house trailer. En route, the boy stops over in the aptly named Weasel Creek to visit his aunt (Colleen Dewhurst). The film is populated with such familiar rustic types as Barry Corbin, Richard Farnsworth and Trey Wilson. A Few Days in Weasel Creek first aired October 21, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1981
After a particularly bitter argument with her divorced mother, teenager Libby Bellow (Mare Winningham) runs away from home. Eventually, she links up with a traveling carnival and takes on a variety of responsibilities, in so doing coming to the realization that her life at home might not have been so bad after all. In addition to serving as an early showcase for actress Mare Winningham, this made-for-TV film also features a number of original songs by Janis Ian. Freedom was originally telecast by ABC on May 18, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
The Rockford Files' Meta Rosenberg and David Chase respectively produced and wrote this intensely adult made-for-TV movie. Mare Winningham stars as 15-year-old Micki, who runs away from her Minnesota home and heads for New York. Alone and without money or shelter, Micki is taken in by a "friendly" pimp, and soon joins other runaway girls turning tricks on the street. She is rescued from this dead-end life and returned to her parents (Hal Holbrook and Michael Learned), whom she disdainfully characterizes as "the original pod people." The rest of Off the Minnesota Strip records Micki's efforts to reassimilate herself to her middle-class lifestyle--a losing battle until her father makes a guilt-ridden curtain speech. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
This critically-acclaimed film chronicles nineteen years in the life of a divorcee (played by Lee Remick), from the repressive 1950s through the liberated 1980s. Women's Room earned three Emmy nominations: one for Best Drama Special, and one each for costars Patty Duke Astin and Colleen Dewhurst. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1980
- R
The struggle of a has-been singer to work his way back up the charts is the focus of this drama by Robert M. Young with screenplay and music by Paul Simon. Simon plays Jonah, a once-popular singer who now opens for punk rock bands. In the ten years since he had a hit song, Jonah's wife has divorced him, but he still sees his young son as often as he can. With his record company on his back to come up with something that sells, Jonah begins to compromise his own talent when he listens to the advice of a trendy producer. Whether or not he can straighten out his personal life and steer his own ship may depend on his ability to trust his own judgment and adjust to the changing times. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Simon, Blair Brown, (more)
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