Ian Bannen
Birthday: Born in 1928-06-29 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Deathday: 1999-11-03
Ian Bannen (29 June 1928 – 3 November 1999) was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ian Bannen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Thriller
Character: Frank Dean
Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits....
Hart to Hart
Character:
Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives....
The Ray Bradbury Theater
Character: Self - Introduction (uncredited)
A Canadian-produced fantastic anthology series scripted by famed science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. Many of the teleplays were based upon Bradbury's novels and short stories....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Macduff
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
The Count of Monte Cristo
Character:
The Count of Monte Cristo was a 1956 ITC Entertainment/TPA television series adapted very loosely from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, adapted by Sidney Marshall. It premiered in the UK in early 1956 and ran for 39 thirty-minute episodes. The first twelve episodes were filmed in the United States, at the Hal Roach studios, with the rest being filmed at ITC's traditional home of Elstree. A 5-disc DVD set containing all thirty-nine episodes was released by Network Studio on 12 April 2010. ITC prod...
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Character: Sir Walter
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers....
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Character: Gregory Dean
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries was a British television series The series was an anthology of different tales. Each episode was introduced by Orson Welles, who was the only regular actor in the series. In the opening titles, Welles would be shown in silhouette as he walked through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak, the outfit itself being a nod to his having provided the voice of The Shadow in the radio program. When he actually ...
Jesus of Nazareth
Character: Amos
Dramatizes the Birth, Life, Ministry, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, largely according to the Holy Bible's New Testament Gospels....
Shadows of Fear
Character: Robert
Anthology series in which characters find themselves in weird and scary situations. Not evoked by the supernatural but by other people....
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Character: Jim Prideaux
George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears....
The Human Jungle
Character: Mike Barclay
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965....
Thriller
Character: Doonan
Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits....
Spooner's Patch
Character: Inspector Spooner
Comedy set in a small Police Station filled with self serving corrupt coppers!...
Original Sin
Character: Gabriel Dauntsey
Commander Adam Dalgliesh is consulted by one of his literary heroes when Peverell Press staff fall victim to a rash of hate mail. When the body of an editor is discovered and another member of the venerable firm is found dead soon after, Dalgliesh and his team—Detective Inspectors Kate Miskin and Daniel Aron—turn to the past to track down a murderer who seems prepared to kill and kill again....
Doctor Finlay
Character: Dr. Alexander Cameron
Following his service in World War II, Doctor Finlay returns to the practice at Arden House. This is at a time when the National Health Service is about to be instituted....
The Politician's Wife
Character: Sir Donald Frazier
The Politician's Wife is a British television political drama written by Paula Milne, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1995 and starring Trevor Eve and Juliet Stevenson. The story centres around high-flying politician Duncan Matlock, Families Minister for the UK Government, who becomes embroiled in tabloid scandal as it is discovered that he has been having an affair with a former escort turned parliamentary researcher. Duncan's wife Flora becomes the focus of media attention as her reactions to the r...
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Hitler
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
Performance
Character: Serebryakov
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances....
Screen Two
Character: Hubert Stout
Series of single made-for-television dramas....
Movie Credits
Braveheart
Character: Robert Bruce Sr.
Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule....
The Long Arm
Character: The Young Workman - Stanley James
Scotland Yard detectives attempt to solve a spate of safe robberies across England beginning with clues found at the latest burglary in London. The film is notable for using a police procedural style made popular by Ealing in their 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It is known in the US as The Third Key....
Waking Ned
Character: Jackie O'Shea
When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money....
The Flight of the Phoenix
Character: Crow
A cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for a replacement aircraft they need to build before their food and water run out....
Ring of Darkness
Character: Professor
Once a Satanist who surrendered her soul and body to the devil himself, Carlotta Rhodes begins to regret her tryst with Lucifer when her teenage daughter, Daria, starts showing the evil influence of dear old Dad. Convinced that she can stop the devil's power on earth, Carlotta calls upon an exorcist for help....
Ghost Dad
Character: Sir Edith Moser
Elliot Hopper, a widower with three children, is working on a business deal to get his family out of financial straits when he is suddenly killed in a taxi accident. With the aid of a paranormal researcher, Elliott attempts to complete the deal from the beyond, ensuring his family will be taken care of....
A Tale of Two Cities
Character: Gabelle
British barrister Sydney Carton lives an insubstantial and unhappy life. He falls under the spell of Lucie Manette, but Lucie marries Charles Darnay. When Darnay goes to Paris to rescue an imprisoned family retainer, he becomes entangled in the snares of the brutal French Revolution and is himself jailed and condemned to the guillotine. But Sydney Carton, in love with a woman he cannot have, comes up with a daring plan to save her husband....
Eye of the Needle
Character: Godliman
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland....
Damage
Character: Edward Lloyd
The life of a respected British politician at the height of his career crumbles when he becomes obsessed with his son's lover....
The Watcher in the Woods
Character: John Keller
After an American family moves to an old country manor in rural England, one of the daughters is tormented by the spirit of the owner's long lost daughter, who mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago during a solar eclipse....
The Inglorious Bastards
Character: Col. Charles Thomas Buckner
Set in Europe during WWII, a group of American soldiers on their way to military prison are beset upon by a German artillery attack, escaping with Switzerland in their sights. Before making it any farther, they volunteer to steal a V2 warhead for the French Underground - taking them deep into the heart of German territory....
Speaking of the Devil
Character: Luzifer
Bull Webster is a taxi driver with some work problems on his hands: the Spider Corporation, a giant financial holding company, has decided to buy out his taxi co-operative in order to make it go bankrupt and purchase its land at a low cost....
The Hill
Character: Harris
North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a manmade instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. And the troops' tormentors are not the enemy, but their own comrades-at-arms....
Too Late the Hero
Character: Pvt. Jock Thornton
A WWII film set on a Pacific island. Japanese and allied forces occupy different parts of the island. When a group of British soldiers are sent on a mission behind enemy lines, things don't go exactly to plan. This film differs in that some of the 'heroes' are very reluctant, but they come good when they are pursued by the Japanese who are determined to prevent them returning to base....
Hope and Glory
Character: Grandfather George
A middle-aged man recalls his childhood growing up in and around London during World War II....
The Offence
Character: Kenneth Baxter
A burned-out British police detective finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester....
Bite the Bullet
Character: Sir Harry Norfolk
At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes an endurance horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days. 9 adventurers are competing, among them a woman, Miss Jones, a Mexican, an Englishman, a young cow-boy, an old one and two friends, Sam Clayton and Luke Matthews. All those individualists will learn to respect each other....
The MacKintosh Man
Character: Slade
A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor; only, someone finds him out and exposes him to the gang......
Fright
Character: Brian
Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution....
Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
Character: Young King Loris
Great Britain has had an international agreement for the last 50 years with a small pacific island. It has been ignored until the death of their king brings it to the attention of the Foreign Office in Whitehall. They decide to send Cadogan de Vere Carlton-Browne to re-establish friendly relations....
Defence of the Realm
Character: Dennis Markham
A reporter named Mullen 'stumbles' onto a story linking a prominent Member of Parliament to a KGB agent and a near-nuclear disaster involving a teenage runaway and a U.S. Air Force base. Has there been a Government cover-up? Mullen teams up with Vernon Bayliss, an old hack, and Nina Beckam, the MP's assistant, to find out the truth....
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
Character: Able Seaman Bannister
While sailing lawfully up the Yangste in 1949, the British warship Amethyst found its return to the open sea blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries that unexpectedly opened fire. In charge, Lietenant Commander Kerans was not however prepared for his crew and his ship to remain as a hostage for the Chinese to use as an international pawn....
From Beyond the Grave
Character: Christopher Lowe
Four customers purchase (or take) items from Temptations Limited, an antiques shop whose motto is "Offers You Cannot Resist". A nasty fate awaits all of them—particularly those who cheat the shop's Proprietor....
Arise and Go Now
Character: Mattie Muldoon
Exploding poets, randy bishops and bungling IRA hoodlums are causing havoc in a small town in Northern Ireland. Kevin, an IRA recruit, and Father Dade, the local priest, try to drive some sanity into their world...
The Courier
Character: McGuigan
When a courier at the D-Day Courier Service mistakenly finds a pile of money in his regular delivery, he does some digging only to discover that the messenger company is a front for a drug ring. A reformed drug user himself, he sets out to crack the lethal ring....
Ultimate Fights from the Movies
Character: Matt Moss (Crossing the Line) (archive footage)
In their second film compilation following their 'Boogeymen:The Killer Compilation' series, FlixMix takes you into the history of action movies from Hollywood to Hong Kong cinema that spans a 20-year period. This one features action scenes from 16 action-packed movies featuring action gurus, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme and many more....
The Big Man
Character: Matt Mason
An unemployed Scottish miner is forced into bare-knuckle boxing to make ends meet....
Private's Progress
Character: Private Horrocks
Stanley Windrush has to interrupt his university education when he is called up towards the end of the war. He quickly proves himself not to be officer material, but befriends wily Private Percival Cox who knows exactly how all the scams work in the confused world of the British Army. And Stanley's brigadier War Office uncle seems to be up to something more than a bit shady too - and they are both soon working for him, behind the enemy lines....
Sweeney!
Character: Charles Baker, MP
When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch....
Best
Character: Sir Matt Busby
...
Identikit
Character: Bill
Lise, a mentally disturbed spinster, experiences a series of bizarre encounters while in Rome as she searches for someone who will murder her....
Witch Story
Character: Father Matthew
A young girl and her brother take some friends on trip to check out a house the pair has just inherited. What they don't know is that the house is haunted by demons and the ghost of a woman who was burned at the stake as a witch, and who now plans to take revenge by killing off the siblings and their friends....
George's Island
Character: Captain Waters
After telling his class about the ghost of Captain Kidd and his buried treasure on George’s Island, George is placed in a foster home. George and another foster child, Bonnie, flee to the island on Halloween but when they’re followed by adults Captain Kidd’s ghost is awakened....
Doomwatch
Character: Dr. Shaw
The waters surrounding an island become contaminated by chemical dumping, and people who eat fish caught in those waters become deformed and violent....
The Gathering Storm
Character: Adolf Hitler
Winston Churchill's life in the years leading up to World War II....
The Voyage
Character: Antonio Braggi
The charming Adriana gets sick after her husband's death. Her brother-in-law takes her on a journey to meet a doctor, while love overwhelms them....
The Fifteen Streets
Character: Peter Bracken
In northern England around 1900, the worker John O'Brien lives near poverty in a small house in the worker's district. He falls in love with Mary, the teacher of his highly intelligent younger sister Kathy and daughter of a rich family. Their love is doomed by the social difference, but the vigorous Mary refuses to allow outer circumstances destroying their love....
Jane Eyre
Character: St. John Rivers
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?...
Suspect
Character: Alan Andrews
A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act....
To Walk with Lions
Character: Terence Adamson
Drama based loosely on the final years of Kenya game warden and lion-raiser George Adamson's life. An unofficial sequel to 'Born Free' (1966) and 'Living Free' (1972), which also dramatized the life of Adamson, this film picks up the life of George on the African wildlife preserve he runs with the help of his brother Terrence. When drifter Tony Fitzjohn arrives to work for the old men he initially takes poorly to the task, almost savaged by a lion on his first day and on the verge of leaving whe...
A French Mistress
Character: Colin Crane The Headmaster's Son
The boys of Melbury Primary School are plunged into turmoil when the new French Master turns out to be a Mistress! Madelin Leforge's (the French Mistress) effect on the boys is swift and amazing. Suddenly everyone wants extra French Lessons just to glimpse the teacher in revealing shorts and bikinis. As discipline crumbles, a scandal explodes when the Head discovers the mademoiselle's mother was an old flame. Madeline must be dismissed to save further embarrassments....
Station Six-Sahara
Character: Fletcher
A beautiful blonde joins a small group of men running an oil station in the Sahara Desert and starts the emotions soaring....
Circles in a Forest
Character: MacDonald
Saul Barnard grew up in a family of woodcutters. The woodcutters are scared of the elephants in the forest, but there's one elephant that never seems to threaten Saul. Tired of being exploited by wood buyers, Saul takes a stand and his father chases him away. He goes to work on the wood buyer MacDonald's wood yard, where he gets to know MacDonald's daughter, Kate, and falls in love with her. After a few years he leaves MacDonald and joins the first prospectors in the forest, searching for gold. ...
Behind the Mask
Character: Alan Crabtree
A newly qualified surgeon takes the blame for his drug addict colleague after the death their patient through neglect....
Lock Up Your Daughters
Character: Ramble
Three sailors on leave turn a British town upside down....
Penelope
Character: James B. Elcott
When Penelope gets married to banker James Elcott, she finds him too preoccupied with work to pay much attention to her, so she robs his bank in disguise. After she confesses to her psychiatrist, Greg Mannix, he offers to return the money for her, as he is secretly in love with her. However, he abandons the money when the police approach. Penelope becomes determined to admit to the crime, but neither James nor the police believe her story....
Psyche 59
Character: Paul
An industrialist's wife tries to remember the shocking sight that made her blind....
Mister Moses
Character: Robert
A con man on the run in Africa aids a minister's daughter by helping lead a local tribe to their new homeland....
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
Character: Otto Rosen
Perry Mason ventures to Paris to defend a U.S. Marine Corps Captain accused of murdering a man suspected of being a Nazi SS Officer....
Miracle in Soho
Character: Filippo Gozzi
In London's colourful but seedy Soho, Michael Morgan is working mending the road. He is unhappy, with little hope of finding happiness. Then he meets Julia Gozzi, a barmaid, and "The Miracle" happens....
Measure for Measure
Character: Provost
Modern dress adaptation of Shakespeare's play....
Lamb
Character: Brother Benedict
Michael Lamb is a Father questioning his calling, in a Reform School in Ireland. When young epileptic runaway Eoin is sent to the school, the two recognise kindred spirits and escape to London together. With the police on their tail and the money running out however, Lamb is forced to make some terrible decisions....
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Character: Oliver Utterson
Adaptation of the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson...
The Prodigal
Character: Riley Wyndham
They were a family torn apart by redemption...kept apart by pride...but brought together by a miracle....
Rotten to the Core
Character: Lt. Percy Vine
Rogues Jelly Knight, Scapa Flood, and Lennie the Dip leave prison expecting boss The Duke to have their stash ready to share out. Instead, Duke's girl Sara gives them the news Duke is dead and the money gone on nursing care. They soon discover that Duke is actually running Hope Springs Nature Clinic with the help of most of the local villains. Very strange - and the nearby army camp and Sara's encouragement of Lieutenant Vine would seem to be no coincidence either. Written by Jeremy Perkins...
On Friday at Eleven
Character: Kitson
An enigmatic woman recruits a gang of specialised criminals to rob a US Army payroll armoured truck bound for Marseilles. However, things don't go exactly as planned....
The Gamble
Character: Padre di Francesco
When Francesco returns home with the assumption that his father's wealth will be there to keep him content, he discovers that his father has lost everything to a German countess while gambling....
The Sound and the Silence: The Alexander Graham Bell Story
Character: Melville
True story of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone, inspired by his mother....
Pool of London
Character: Garage attendant (uncredited)
Jewel thieves, murder, and a manhunt swirl around a sailor off a cargo ship in post-war London....
Common Pursuit
Character:
Common Pursuit is a play by Simon Gray which follows the lives of six characters who first meet as undergraduates at Cambridge University when they are involved in setting up a literary magazine called The Common Pursuit....
Gandhi
Character: Senior Police Officer
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed....
The Birthday Present
Character: Junior Customs Officer
Returning from a business trip, toy salesman Simon Scott is caught attempting to smuggle a wristwatch bought for his wife's birthday through Customs. He is arrested and, due to a bungled defence by his solicitor, obliged to serve a three-month prison sentence. It is only the beginning of his woes; his employer, Colonel Wilson, is understanding, but he is ultimately forced to sack Simon, who discovers that finding another job under such circumstances is extremely difficult. But Colonel Wilson is ...
Macbeth
Character: Macduff
Hallmark Hall of Fame's second version of Shakespeare's classic play, with the same two stars and the same director as its first version, but a different supporting cast....
The Treaty
Character: David Lloyd George
How the Anglo-Irish Treaty between the unrecognised Irish Republic, represented by Michael Collins, and the British government was concluded after high-stakes negotiations in 1921....
The Deserter
Character: Cpt. Crawford
A young cavalry officer finds his woman tortured by the Apaches and blames the Army for not properly protecting the outpost, so becomes a deserter and an avenger, stalking and killing Indians without warning....
Gorky Park
Character: Iamskoy
Police Inspector Renko tries to solve the case of three bodies found in Moscow's Gorky Park but finds his attempts to solve the crime impeded by his superiors. Working on his own, Renko seeks out more information and stumbles across a conspiracy involving the highest levels of the government....
Something to Believe In
Character: Don Pozzi
Reports of a weeping Madonna in Italy reach Las Vegas, where blackjack dealer Maggie has just learnt she has only weeks to live. With a massive leap of faith she convinces herself that seeing the Madonna with her own eyes could lead to her salvation, and travels to Europe to find it. Hitching through Italy, she meets pianist Mike, who is also en route to what he believes could be a life-changing event - a performance at the Barbarina concert in Naples....
The Gamble
Character: Father of Francesco
When Francesco returns home with the assumption that his father's wealth will be there to keep him content, he discovers that his father has lost everything to a German countess while gambling....
The Sailor from Gibraltar
Character: Alan
Alan, after quarreling with his girlfriend Sheila, becomes intrigued by Anna, a mysterious widow who's searching for a sailor she had known many years before. Alan and Anna begin the search on board a yacht bound for Greece, but they don't find the sailor. After a stop in Africa, Louis de Mozambique joins the party and suggests that the sailor may never have existed other than in Anna's mind....
Uncle Vanya
Character: Prof. Serebryakov
Vanya is a bitter, sarcastic man, obsessed with his wasted years and what might have been. He has spent his life toiling for the benefit of the scholar, Serabryakov, who has turned out to be a charlatan. To make matters worse, Vanya has fallen in love with Serabryakov's beautiful, young, new wife, who does not return his ardor....
The Lady and the Highwayman
Character: Christian Drysdale
Set in old England, Hugh Grant ("Four Weddings & a Funeral", "Notting Hill") plays a highwayman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. But during one of his robberies, he falls in love with an aristocratic lady, Emma Samms ("Star Quest", "Delirious"). Now, he is forced to choose between his true love or his true cause. This swash-buckling romantic adventure will have you on the edge of your seat with every swing of Hugh's savage sword....
Johnny Belinda
Character: Dr. Jack Richardson
In post-war Cape Breton, a doctor's efforts to tutor a deaf and mute woman are undermined when she is raped, and the resulting pregnancy causes scandal to swirl....
Won't Write Home, Mom–I'm Dead
Character: Frank Dean
A woman hears her fiancee's ghostly voice telling her to find him....
Death in Deep Water
Character: Doonan
A former hitman hides out in a remote fishing village but his secret soon begins to surface....
She Didn't Say No!
Character: Peter Howard
Bridget Monaghan, a single mother who has had six children by different fathers, shocks the conservative inhabitants of an Irish village....
Jesus of Nazareth
Character: Amos
Robert Powell stars in the epic 1977 drama chronicling the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. With Laurence Olivier, James Earl Jones and Ian McShane. This movie is derived from combining all 4 parts of the original Jesus of Nazareth mini-series from 1977 resulting in a single long feature film....
Night Crossing
Character:
Two men want to escape from East Germany (under Communist rule) but they will only go if they can take their families with them. Based on a true story....