Michael York Movies
Frequently portraying dashing heroes or upper-crust socialites, British actor Michael York appropriately got his start in the theater. He graduated from Oxford University and toured with the National Youth Theatre before his meeting with director Franco Zeffirelli for the 1965 staging of Much Ado About Nothing. Taking him into the world of feature films, Zeffirelli cast the young actor in the roles of Lucentio for the Taming of the Shrew and Tybalt for Romeo & Juliet. York remains best known for his film work of the late '60s, but he also developed a lengthy career in televised adaptations of literary classics. Over a 30-year span, he played key roles in Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Jesus of Nazareth, and several others. His small-screen work began with the role of Jolyon Forsyte on the BBC's 1967 series The Forsyte Saga. He had some of his most interesting roles throughout the '70s, including the swashbuckling D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, Count Andrenyi in Murder on the Orient Express, and the title hero in the sci-fi Logan's Run. He also played the bisexual Konrad in Something for Everyone, the expatriate writer in England Made Me, and he brought it all together as bisexual expatriate writer Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's Cabaret. After a brief stint as a producer, the '80s were a slow time for York's film career and he moved on to countless TV movies, after-school specials, and a reoccurring role on the soap opera Knots Landing. In the '90s, he returned to the stage for Broadway productions of The Little Prince, Bent, and The Crucible. He also authored his memoirs, released in the U.S. under the title Accidentally on Purpose. Younger audiences may recognize him from the Austin Powers movies as Basil Exposition, head of the British Intelligence Agency, or from the Omega Code movies. Since 2000, York has found work playing the headmaster in Borstal Boy, lended his voice to such History Channel productions as Alexander Hamilton, and resurrected his D'Artagnan character for the miniseries La Femme Musketeer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond made his directorial debut with this drama. Gabor (Michael York), a stage actor living in Eastern Europe, receives a message from his family -- his father Raphael (also played by York), a world-famous archeologist, has just died in Israel. Traveling to the Holy Land to attend the funeral, he meets Katherine (Liv Ullmann), the woman who was married to Raphael at the time of his death, as well as Abu (Babi Neeman), a director who was making a film about the scientist's life and career. Gabor bears a striking resemblance to his father -- so much so that Abu asks him to play Raphael in a small role in his film. Gabor agrees, but playing the role forces him to examine a part of his life that he's been trying to leave alone all these years, and he also finds that Katherine, struck by his resemblance to her late husband, has become strongly attracted to him. The Long Shadow was filmed in part in Hungary, where Zsigmond was born and lived up until fleeing the country in 1956 following the political unrest of the nation's Soviet takeover. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Liv Ullmann, (more)
- 1992
Sumptuous gardens on tropical islands in the Caribbean and Pacific, where native plants include orchids and ginger, are visited in this program in the award-winning PBS series. Elegant actress Audrey Hepburn visits famous botanical gardens in the area, walks along the garden paths, makes observations about the plants, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the world, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this episode of the award-winning PBS series, visits are paid to colorful, sumptuous, and wistful flower gardens around the world -- including Monet's Giverny, exotic desert gardens, and many others. Hosted by elegant actress Audrey Hepburn, who wanders along the garden paths, makes observations about the plants and flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the globe, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Inspiring, lovely, informal country gardens -- including romantic Italian gardens and cozy English cottage gardens -- are featured in this volume of the award-winning series, hosted by actress Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn, wearing graceful dresses, wanders along the garden paths, makes observations about the plants and flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The PBS series visits more than fifty beautiful gardens around the world, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Gardens all over the world that are home to lovely varieties of the fragrant, romantic rose are the focus of this program in the award-winning PBS series. Elegant actress Audrey Hepburn, wearing graceful dresses, wanders along the garden paths, makes observations about the flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 beautiful gardens around the globe, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Remarkable historic parks and gardens -- including gardens that have been restored at the American historical landmark, Mt. Vernon, and the varied public gardens of Paris -- are featured in this volume of the award-winning PBS series hosted by elegant actress Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn, wearing graceful dresses, wanders along the garden paths, makes observations about the flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the world, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Europe's formal gardens -- some of them several centuries old -- are featured in this volume of the award-winning PBS series, hosted by elegant actress Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn, wearing graceful dresses, wanders along the garden paths, makes observations about the flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other worthwhile information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the world, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
As spring is welcomed by glorious fields and gardens full of brilliant flowers, this award-winning documentary takes viewers to tulip-filled Holland, one of the most famous and abundant bulb-producing regions in the world. Elegant actress Audrey Hepburn walks along garden paths, makes observations about the flowers, and reads excerpts from poetry and literature. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and other intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the globe, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The made-for-TV Duel of Hearts is based on a novel by Barbara Cartland. It is difficult to believe that there's a Gothic-romance TV movie in existence that isn't based on a Cartland novel. Alison Doody plays gorgeous debutante Lady Caroline Faye, who falls for dashing nobleman Genuse Warlingham (Michael York). To be near the love of her life, Lady Caroline poses as a humble servant. The top-drawer British supporting cast includes Geraldine Chaplin, Billie Whitelaw, Virginia McKenna, Richard Johnson, Jeremy Kemp and Beryl Reed. Duel of Hearts made its American TV bow over the TNT Cable service on February 24, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Japanese gardens -- delicate and serene yet controlled and orderly -- are featured in this episode of the award-winning PBS series, hosted by actress Audrey Hepburn. The grounds of ancient temples and palaces, the quiet paths of Shinshin-an, the moss garden at Saijo-ji, Katsura's Detached Palace, and the teahouses at Hakusanso are featured. Narration by actor Michael York provides historical background and intriguing information. The series visits more than 50 lovely gardens around the globe, each volume having a specific theme. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- NC17
Director John Duigan brings Jean Rhys' difficult 1966 best-selling novel to the screen. It's a story meant to be a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, surmising what drove the first Mrs. Rochester mad in that novel. In Jamaica in the 1840s, slavery has been recently outlawed. Plantation owner Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) has become so poor that she marries a rich, boorish Englishman whom she does not love. Her husband, Paul Mason (Michael York), is a sexist, racist tyrant who mistreats his servants and his wife. Paul flees to England after the servants and their countrymen revolt and burn down the mansion, killing Annette's young son. Annette goes insane and is consigned to the care of a servant. Her daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) is placed in a convent until she is old enough to inherit the property, but the inheritance depends on her marrying a proper husband. By previous arrangement, she marries Edward Rochester (Nathaniel Parker). At first they are lustily in love, but Rochester proves to be as elitist who is as disrespectful as Mason. Rochester has title to all of Antoinette's property, but he despises Jamaica and wants to return to England. He also fears the black magic of Christophene (Claudia Robinson), who mixes up a voodoo potion which ends up driving the couple farther apart. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karina Lombard, Nathaniel Parker, (more)
- 1991
In this WW II espionage drama, a British officer stands wrongfully accused of treason and must find those who framed him. Much to his surprise, a beautiful young woman suddenly appears and offers her assistance causing him to question her motives and alliances. The film was originally broadcast on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Those whose impressions of the Netherlands are dominated by the very hip modern city of Amsterdam may be unaware that for centuries the country was noted for a pervasive bourgeois stodginess that exceeded anything that Henrik Ibsen ever said about the Norwegian middle class of his time. In 1889, Dutch society was set on its ears by the quite long poem Eline Vere by Louis Couperus, published in installments in the newspapers, which minutely described the mores, manners and hypocrisies of the time. To this day, Dutch schoolchildren learn about their past by studying that poem, which boasts a Dickensian richness of description and vivid characterizations. This melodramatic film follows Eline Vere (Marianne Basler), the heroine of the poem, as she attempts to break free from the confines of her narrow existence in Den Haag (the Hague) through three tumultuous and ultimately disastrous courtships. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marianne Basler, Monique Van de Ven, (more)
- 1990
- Add Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends: Ponce de Leon to QueueAdd Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends: Ponce de Leon to top of Queue
This film, hosted by Shelley Duvall, is a spoof, loosely based on the exploits of Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon. The Spaniard laid claim to Florida in 1513, landing near St. Augustine. History has it that he was seeking the Fountain of Youth, a legend that he had learned from native peoples in the Caribbean. He never did find it, but a few years later he was made acquainted with an Indian arrow, which dealt him a mortal blow. The film features photography of the lands that Ponce de Leon conquered throughout the Caribbean, as well as of Florida. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
One of the few American films to deal with the tragic story of the internment of Asian-Americans during World War II, Come See the Paradise opens in the late 1930s, as Jack McGurn (Dennis Quaid) is working as a union organizer in New York City. Jack finds himself on the wrong side of the law after he gets involved in an ill-advised bombing of a scab shop, and he flees to Los Angeles, where Hiroshi Kawamura (Sab Shimono) gives him a job as a projectionist in L.A.'s Little Tokyo. Jack soon meets Hiroshi's beautiful daughter Lily (Tamlyn Tomita) and it's love at first sight. Jack and Lily decide to get married, but Hiroshi opposes the match and California law prevents mixed-race couples from obtaining a marriage license. Jack and Lily move to Seattle, where they are wed and soon have a daughter. Jack, however, begins working with the union again, which puts a strain on their marriage; Lily takes their child and returns to Los Angeles. But before long the United States enters World War II, and the Kawamura family is sent (along with all other Americans of Japanese descent living in California) to an internment camp, as it is believed they will become traitors against America if left to their own devices. Jack, ironically, is drafted into the Army and soon goes AWOL to return to California, where he tries to find his wife in the camps. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita, (more)
- 1989
- PG
Richard Lester returned to his double-barreled successes of the 1970s, The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, with Return of the Musketeers, a film that was inexplicably shelved for several years, making its belated premiere on cable television. Based on Alexandre Dumas's novel Twenty Years Later, the film takes place (appropriately enough) two decades after the death of Milady de Winter. Though Milady may have died, her nefarious schemes have been taken up by her daughter Justine (Kim Cattrall), who maneuvers with the conspiring Cardinal Mazarin (Philippe Noiret) to gain control of the crown through Queen Anne (Geraldine Chaplin). D'Artagnan (Michael York) calls for his old compatriots Porthos (Frank Finlay), Athos (Oliver Reed), and Aramis (Richard Chamberlain) to once again go "one for all and all for one." But complications set in when Athos and Aramis take sides with the crown and Athos' adopted son Raoul (C. Thomas Howell) falls in love in Justine. The film is dedicated to character actor Roy Kinnear who plays Planchet, who died in an equestrian accident during the production. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Oliver Reed, (more)
- 1989
Originally titled Judith Krantz' Till We Meet Again, this two-part soaper covers forty-three years in the lives of three women. In 1913, French chanteuse Lucy Gutteridge embarks upon a successful showbiz career. She marries a champaigne heir and bears two daughters, played by Courtney Cox and Mia Sara. The story follows the trials and tribulations of mother and daughters through three wars and an infinite number of romances. A dash of adventure is provided by Courtney's activities as a stunt pilot, while there's glamour aplenty as Mia becomes a world-renowned movie star. The best scenes take place during World War 2, with the horrors of the battlefield running second place to the ladies' boudoir escapades. Barry Bostwick, who seems to have been in every Judith Krantz movie ever made (at least, that's what TV Guide told us back in 1989), costars as Courtney's erstwhile lover. Partly filmed in England, Till We Meet Again was first telecast November 19 and 21, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by Jack Higgins, this WW-II thriller chronicles the daring rescue of a captured American officer who has vital information concerning the upcoming Normandy invasion. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, Michael York, (more)
Adaptation of Barbara Cartland's novel featuring a 17th century adventure romance between an aristocrat and an endangered noblewoman. ~ All Movie Guide
In this complicated police film, a police detective, who still grieves for the child he accidentally shot during a gun fight, finds distraction when a streetwalker approaches him and asks him to help her get out of the dark world in which she is hopelessly mired. Soon the cop finds himself involved with extortion, drugs and a serial killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, Morgan Fairchild, (more)
- 1988
Richard Huw stars as Roger Bannister in this British TV biopic. Overcoming childhood paralysis, Bannister grows up to be one of the true legends of the athletic world. While holding down a fulltime physician's job in 1954, he finds time to become the first man ever to run the mile in four minutes. His story is fleshed out by numerous subplots and peripheral characters. Michael York does a guest turn as Frank Stampfl, while Nique Needles appears as John Landy, the runner who came in second to Bannister. Originally produced in 1988, The Four Minute Mile was made available to American cable TV in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- R
This Italian production was released directly to video, despite the casting of several well-known stars in leading roles. It is also somewhat remarkable for having no less than five alternate titles. In the story, Robert Domenici (Michael York) is a concert pianist suffering from a rare disease which produces super-rapid aging. On a visit to Venice during festival season he decides to take revenge on the world by killing and dismembering former girlfriends. He is nearly impossible to trace, as any description of his appearance rapidly becomes inaccurate. However, he meets his match in the wily Inspector Downey (Donald Pleasance), who persistently pursues him. This mild horror film also features Edwige Fenech, whose uncertain English has great charm. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Donald Pleasence, (more)
- 1987
- R
Detective Jon Bogdan (Peter Maffay) becomes wheelchair-bound when he is injured in a restaurant bombing perpetrated by the notorious Dr. Proper (Michael York). He rolls into action trying to track down the bomber. When he regains the use of his legs, Jon stays in his chair to give his enemies the illusion he is paralyzed. Elliot Gould has a forgettable role in this equally forgettable film-noir styled crime thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Maffay, Tahnee Welch, (more)
In the made-for-cable thriller Sword of Gideon, a team of anti-terrorist commandos, led by Steven Bauer, sets out to avenge the deaths of Israeli athletes killed during the Munich Olympics of 1972. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Bauer, Michael York, (more)
