Ken Howard Movies
Actor Ken Howard was 6'5" when he was a junior at Manhasset High School (he would later peak at 6'6"), and it was this physical fact, coupled with his remarkable athletic prowess, that assured him a position in Manhasset's "starting five." Offered several athletic scholarships, Howard turned them all down in favor of a liberal arts education at Amherst College, where he developed a taste for theatre. After two years' graduate work at the Yale School of Drama, he dropped out to accept a small role in the Broadway musical Promises Promises. In 1969, Howard graduated to stage stardom as Thomas Jefferson in the popular musical 1776, a role he would repeat in the 1972 film version. He went on to win a Tony Award for his performance in Child's Play, and to spend his summers essaying his two favorite roles, Billy Bigelow in Carousel and Chance Wayne in Sweet Bird of Youth. His first film was the 1970 Otto Preminger production Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. In 1973, Howard and his frequent co-star Blythe Danner were cast in the series-TV version of the Tracy-Hepburn picture Adam's Rib (both stars had previously turned down MacMillan and Wife). Neither this series nor Howard's subsequent Manhunter (1974) clicked with the public. He was far more successful as high school basketball coach Ken Hughes on The White Shadow, which ran from 1976 to 1981 (and which, coincidentally, was produced by Blythe Danner's husband Bruce Paltrow). Howard's later TV projects included the title character in the 1984 American Playhouse production of Mark Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson;" the recurring role of Garret Boydston on both Dynasty and The Colbys (1985-86); his hosting chores on the syndicated 1986 talent show Dream Girl USA; and another hosting stint on the NBC documentary weekly What Happened? (1992). In recent years, Howard has taught college acting classes and worked as a drama coach when not busy elsewhere. Ken Howard was formerly married to actress Louise Sorel--and never married to Blythe Danner, despite the presumptions of many of his fans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The first independent production of former studio mogul Jack Warner, 1776 was adapted from the hit 1969 Broadway musical by Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, Ken Howard, and Howard Da Silva are among the many actors who recreate their Broadway roles. The story is set during the first Continental Congress, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted by such founding fathers as John Adams (Daniels) and Benjamin Franklin (Da Silva). The script attempts to "humanize" these remote historical figures by contemporizing them -- particularly the character of Ben Franklin. Blythe Danner's character of Martha Jefferson is expanded for the film version to allow for an elaborate outdoor production number. After 1776, Warner made only one more film, the 1972 "grunge Western" Dirty Little Billy. On an added note: the picture was originally rated G with its theatrical running time of 141 minutes. It was later expanded to 166 minutes; the added scenes caused the MPAA to re-rate it PG (for language) in 1992. Both versions are available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, (more)
This made-for-TV actioner was designed as the pilot for a series based on the popular Walking Tall films of the 1970s. This time out, a young Brian Dennehy is cast as the stick-wielding, scrupulously honest Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser (played in the films by Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson), with Forrest Tucker repeating his role from Walking Tall: The Final Chapter as Pusser's father. After chasing down a speeding car, Pusser is disgusted to find that its teenaged occupants (two of them dead, two blinded for life) are stoned out of their minds on bad bootleg hooch. Bypassing due process and other such legal niceties, Pusser goes on a one-man rampage of destruction in order to square accounts with the evil disco owner-cum-moonshiner responsible for the tragedy. Making things difficult is the fact that one of the villains of the piece is also one of Buford's oldest pals. A Real American Hero made its CBS debut on December 9, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Dennehy
New York architect Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) meets blind masseur Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) and falls in love. As she learns his lifelong blindness may be curable through experimental surgery, she convinces him to undergo the operation. Virgil then learns vision may not quite be what he expected. At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler and also stars Bruce Davison, Nathan Lane, and Kelly McGillis. At First Sight is a romance adapted by writer Steve Levitt based upon the story To See and Not See from noted writer Dr. Oliver Sacks' collection, An Anthropologist on Mars. Dr. Sacks' work is also the basis for the Penny Marshall film Awakenings, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams and the opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman. In his original story, Dr. Sacks tells of receiving a call in October 1991 from a retired minister in the Midwest. His daughter was about to marry a fifty-year old man, Virgil, who had been blind since early childhood. He had thick cataracts and been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease which slowly eats away the retinas. As he could still make the distinction between light and dark, it was found he was misdiagnosed and simple cataract extraction could possibly restore his sight. While surgery was a success, Virgil, like his cinematic counterpart, found he would have to learn to use his vision much like an infant would, even though he was adept at relating to the world through touch. In his A New Theory of Vision, written in 1709, George Berkeley concluded there was no necessary connection between a tactile world and a sight world; a connection between them could be established only on the basis of experience. This same story was also adapted into the play Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino, (more)
- 1972
Humorist Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, makes his third Bonanza appearance, this time in the person of actor Ken Howard (fresh from his Broadway and Hollywood triumph in the musical 1776). As editor of the Virginia City Enterprise, Clemens is determined to prove that a government assayer is guilty of fraud and murder. Because he won't reveal his source in court, Clemens loses a libel suit, whereupon he enlists the aid of Ben and Joe Cartwright to bring the villain (who in the interim has committed another killing) to justice. The episode's closing scene, involving an outraged lady stagecoach passenger, is priceless. The supporting cast includes Dana Elcar as Merrick, Phil Kenneally as McNabb, Walter Burke as Campbell, Staats Cotsworth as Judge Hale, Richard Bull as Goodman, and Stacy Keach Sr. as Lawyer Prentiss. Written by Stanley Roberts, "The 26th Grave" was the first Bonanza episode to be filmed for the series' fourteenth season, but was shown as the eighth installment on October 31, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1990
Relive the triumphs, heroics, and tragedies of the men and women of the United States Army from 1776 to the Vietnam War and more. This program is part of a five-tape series profiling each branch of America's military. Ken Howard hosts the visually rich documentary and unfolds the Army's story through rare and restored footage, archival photos, artists' renditions, and compelling commentary. Film highlights include a look at the War of 1812, the Civil War, and Indian War. Other videos in the series include Anchors Aweigh: The United States Navy Story, The Wild Blue Yonder: The United States Air Force Story, Heritage of Glory: The United States Marine Corps Story, and Always Ready: The United States Coast Guard Story. ~ Sally Barber, All Movie Guide
This is the third film based on Tom Clancy's high-tech espionage potboilers starring CIA deputy director Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford, returning to the Ryan role after his first go-round in 1992's Patriot Games, is assigned to a delicate anti-drug investigation after a close friend of the President (a Reaganesque Donald Moffat) is murdered by a Colombian drug cartel. When Ryan discovers that the President's wealthy friend was in league with the cartel, the President's devious national security adviser (Harris Yulin) and an ambitious CIA deputy director (Henry Czerny) send a secret paramilitary force into Colombia to wipe out the drug lords. The force is captured and then abandoned by the President's lackeys. It falls to Ryan to enter Colombia and rescue them, aided only by a renegade operative named Clark (Willem Dafoe), with both his life and career on the line. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, (more)
- 2004
During rehearsals with David Schwimmer for The Producers, Larry (Larry David) finds out that Schwimmer's father runs the Health-Glo mixed nut company. Larry has some ideas for the company, but Schwimmer advises him to "stay in your element." Later, Larry goes out to get some snacks with Steve (Patrick Bristow), the choreographer, and comes across some Health-Glo cashew-raisin packages that are pretty skimpy with the cashews. Naturally, he has to say something to Schwimmer about it. When Larry describes an attractive woman as "fierce," Jeff (Jeff Garlin) suggests that Larry has been spending so much time working on the show that he's turned into Steve, the gay choreographer. Larry's dirty locker, his mistaking a Norwegian club employee, Sven (Erik Stolhanske) for a Swede, and some truly questionable behavior at Leo Funkhouser's funeral combine to get him and Jeff ousted from their country club. Larry and Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) pretend to be right-wing Republican WASPs in order to get into a new country club, with Larry claiming that his hobbies are sailing and polo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 1980
More formally known as Father Damien: The Leper Priest, this made-for-TV biopic stars a heavily-wigged Ken Howard in the title role. Father Damien was a Belgian priest who, in 1873, was assigned a far-from-desirable congregation: the leper colony of Molokai in the Hawaiian islands. At first appalled by the colony and its denizens, Damien devoted his life to administering to their needs and improving their living conditions. He died in 1889 at the age of 49, having long earlier contacted leprosy himself. When originally telecast October 27, 1980, Damien: The Leper Priest was dedicated to the memory of David Janssen, who before his death was slated to portray Father Damien. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell are two women who get hurt for a living -- they're Hollywood stuntwomen, who take the falls and dodge the punches while taking the place of glamorous stars. Epper's big break came when she was hired to stand in for Lynda Carter on the Wonder Woman television series in the 1970s, while Bell made a name for herself doing Lucy Lawless' stunt work for Xena: Warrior Princess. Double Dare is a documentary which looks at the lives and careers of these two women, as well as their friendship. Epper, in her early sixties, finds herself dealing with ageism in the entertainment industry, just as she's dealt with sexism much of her life, as she struggles to stay in the game, while Bell learns from her older friend not only the nuts and bolts of stunt work but the trails Epper and her compatriots had to blaze to be respected in their profession. Double Dare also features appearances by Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeannie Epper, Zoe Bell, (more)
- 2005
- PG
- Add Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story to QueueAdd Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story to top of Queue
A man and his young daughter face almost impossible odds as they struggle to help an injured horse return to the racetrack in this family-friendly drama. Ben Crane (Kurt Russell) is a horse trainer whose career has gone into a bit of a slump, and after years as his own boss, he's signed on to work for Palmer (David Morse), a breeder whose wealth and success has given him a certain degree of arrogance. While Ben has learned to keep his mouth shut around his boss, he forgets himself when one of his favorite horses, Sonador, breaks its leg during an important race. Palmer insists that the horse should be put down on the spot, but Ben doesn't have the heart to kill the animal, especially since his young daughter, Cale (Dakota Fanning), is in the stands watching. Ben and Palmer have harsh words with one another, and Ben is fired, but is allowed to take Sonador with him when he leaves. Ben has a hard time convincing anyone that the injured horse has any potential, especially his father, Pop (Kris Kristofferson), a fellow trainer who rarely sees eye to eye with his son. But Cale loves the horse, and Ben believes that Sonador can make a comeback with the right care, and together with stable men Balon (Luis Guzman) and Manolin (Freddy Rodriguez), he sets out to put the filly on the road to recovery. As its subtitle suggests, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story was based on the story of Mariah's Storm, a filly who broke a leg during a race in 1993, but a year later came back to win the Arlington Heights Oaks, and in 1995 won the Turfway Breeder's Cup. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, (more)
- 1990
The most distinguished superstar athletes are captured on this captivating historical sports series. ~ All Movie Guide
Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange headline this fact-based drama centered on the two eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy-Onassis who served as the subject of David and Albert Maysles' similarly-titled 1975 documentary. Directed, produced, and co-written (along with Patricia Rozema) by Michael Sucsy, Grey Gardens tells the story of Big Edie (Lange) and Little Edie (Barrymore), the aunt and cousin of Kennedy-Onassis respectively. The reclusive socialites made headlines across the country when the health department threatened to raid their sprawling, flea-and-raccoon-infested twenty-eight room East Hampton, NY mansion in the early-1970s, prompting Kennedy-Onassis herself to intervene in an attempt to save the family name. Jane Tripplehorn stars as former first lady Kennedy-Onassis in a film also featuring Daniel Baldwin, Ken Howard, Malcolm Gets, and Ayre Gross. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, (more)
- 1993
Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner return as the Harts, married private eyes who in this made-for-TV movie interrupt their carefree lives to investigate a group of corrupt government contractors. Lionel Stander also returns as their sidekick Max, with Mike Connors and Ken Howard as guest stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Based on a true story (it says here), He's Not Your Son is another variation on the old "switched at birth" plot device. Donna Mills and Ken Howard play Kathy and Michael Saunders, who are forced to face the possibility that their new baby may not be their new baby. It's a possibility that the hospital made a mistake, and that the Saunders infant was switched with the newborn son of Holly and Ted Barnes (Ann Dusenberry, John James). The ramifications of this error result in emotional disaster for both couples. Twin babies Drew and Preston James play the child in question. Filmed on location in Dallas, the made-for-TV He's Not Your Son debuted October 3, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Kellie Martin stars as a teen wrongly accused of setting a deadly arson fire in this made-for-television drama. Martin plays Billie Calhoun, a girl who has been held in a juvenile detention facility since being accused of killing her mother and sister in a fire. Up for a possible early release on her 18th birthday, Billie is again denied her freedom. Steadfastly denying any involvement and determined to find out the truth on her own, Billie escapes from the center. Out on her own, she disguises herself and befriends a young cop named Matt Samoni (Antonio Sabato Jr), and together they set out to uncover the truth. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
Curtis Hanson's adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's novel In Her Shoes stars Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz as a pair of very close but very different sisters. Free-wheeling irresponsible Maggie Feller (Diaz) gets through her life thanks to her remarkable looks and her lack of scruples. She constantly goes to her straight-laced, plain-Jane successful lawyer sister Rose (Collette) for financial help. The two sisters have been very close to each other in part because their troubled mother died when they were girls. Right about the same time that Maggie discovers hidden letters that reveal she and Rose have a grandmother, Maggie does something to betray Rose's trust. Maggie sets off for Florida to find the grandmother. A failed workplace romance forces Rose to rethink her career, a career that has been the center of her life. As Rose tentatively begins a new relationship and Maggie gets to know her grandmother (played by Shirley MacLaine), the two learn a dark family secret that helps smooth the path toward reconciliation. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, (more)
- 1991
Adaptation of Sidney Sheldon's novel features an amnesiac who works to recover her identity and the Greek billionaire who works to make sure that she never does. ~ All Movie Guide
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow "fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, (more)
