Jason Robards
Birthday: Born in 1922-07-26 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Deathday: 2000-12-26
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He is one of 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jason Robards, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Omnibus
Character:
Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series....
Studio One
Character: Frank Cameron
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
General Electric Theater
Character: Col. Carter
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Dr. Rank
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, ...
Play of the Week
Character:
This syndicated anthology series staged a different play every week covering all genres, dramas, comedies, musicals, fantasies, mysteries, et al, utilizing some of the best talent appearing on Broadway....
The Civil War
Character: Ulysses S. Grant
A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
The Alcoa Hour
Character: Bert Palmer
The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955 to 1957. The series was sponsored by Alcoa....
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: Joe Grant
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956....
ABC Stage 67
Character: Royal Earle Thompson
ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries, and original musicals. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 14, 1966 with Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinksi, directed by Stanley Prager and starring Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An...
The Oscars
Character: Self
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar....
Washington: Behind Closed Doors
Character: President Richard Monckton
CIA director Bill Martin knows that an incoming president means a new direction for the country—and another set of eyes on the top secret Primula Report. Martin tries to build a rapport with his new boss, but President Richard Monckton is more interested in settling old scores and cleaning house with the help of the FBI....
The Kennedy Center Honors
Character: Self
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture....
Ghost Story
Character: Elliot Brent
Ghost Story is an American television anthology series that aired for one season on NBC from 1972 to 1973. Executive-produced by William Castle, it initially featured supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, and witches. By mid-season, low ratings led to a shift -- for the most part -- away from paranormal themes and a title change to Circle of Fear....
The West
Character: Self - Brigham Young
The West, sometimes marketed as Ken Burns Presents: The West, is a documentary film about the American Old West. It was directed by Stephen Ives and the executive producer was Ken Burns. The film originally aired on PBS in September 1996....
An Inconvenient Woman
Character: Jules Mendelson
A rich man's mistress gets in the middle of a high-society murder in Beverly Hills....
The Long Hot Summer
Character: Will Varner
When drifter Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town, Will Varner, a family patriarch, sees Ben as a better choice to inherit the family business than his only son, Jody. Will therefore tries to push Ben and his daughter Clara into marriage. Clara is initially reluctant to court Ben, and Jody senses that Ben threatens his position....
The Magic of David Copperfield
Character:
The annual specials of magic featuring the world's leading illusionist. David Copperfield weaves a narrative with exceptional music in each of his stage illusions, often recorded before a live audience....
Broadway on Showtime
Character: Erie Smith
Theatrical performances from Broadway are presented for TV....
Reading Rainbow
Character: Himself - Narrator (voice)
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories....
The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
American Experience
Character: Narrator (voice)
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today....
Heidi
Character: Grandfather
After charming her reclusive grandfather and falling in love with the beautiful mountain he calls home, Heidi is uprooted and sent to Frankfurt where she befriends Klara, a young girl confined to a wheelchair....
The Last Frontier
Character: Ed Stenning
Following a whirlwind courtship, a single mother from Los Angeles marries an Australian cattle rancher. He returns to Australia ahead of her and her two children but dies before they arrive, leaving his widow to deal with a debt-ridden ranch and land-grabbing neighbors....
The Atlanta Child Murders
Character: Alvin Binder
The Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS. Inspired by true events, the miniseries examines the so-called "Atlanta child murders" of the late 1970s and early 1980s....
What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
Baseball
Character: Various (voice)
The history of the sport of baseball in America, told through archival photos, film footage, and the words of those who contributed to the game in each era. Writers, historians, players, baseball personnel, and fans review key events and the significance of the game in America's history....
Studio One
Character: Prisoner
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Marcus
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, ...
Studio One
Character: Walter Osgood
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Studio One
Character: Leonard O'Brien
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Abe Lincoln
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, ...
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Frank Elgin
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, ...
Playhouse 90
Character: Robert Jordan
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinki...
Tony Awards
Character: Self - Host
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre....
Tony Awards
Character: Self - Presenter
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre....
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: Mason
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956....
The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks....
The Danny Kaye Show
Character: Self
The Danny Kaye Show is an American variety show hosted by Danny Kaye that aired on CBS from 1963 to 1967 on Wednesday nights. Directed by Robert Scheerer, the show premiered in black-and-white, but later switched to color broadcasts. At the time, Kaye was at the height of his popularity, having starred in a string of successful films in the 1940s and '50's, made successful personal appearances at such venues as the London Palladium, and appeared many times on television. His most recent films ha...
Movie Credits
Magnolia
Character: Earl Partridge
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story....
All the President's Men
Character: Ben Bradlee
During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post....
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Character: Robert Jordan
During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge....
Parenthood
Character: Frank Buckman
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers....
Max Dugan Returns
Character: Max Dugan
An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life....
Arthur Miller: Writer
Character: Self (archive footage)
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which continue to move audiences around the world today. He also made headlines for being targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of the McCarthy Era and entering into a tumultuous marriage with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Told from the unique perspective of his daughter, filmmaker Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller: Writer is an ill...
Quick Change
Character: Chief Rotzinger
With the aid of his girlfriend, Phyllis Potter, and best friend, Loomis, Grimm enters a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, creates a hostage situation and executes a flawless robbery. The only thing left for the trio to do is make their getaway out of the city and to the airport. It sounds simple enough, but it seems that fate deserts them immediately after the bank heist. One mishap after another conspires to keep these robbers from reaching freedom....
A Boy and His Dog
Character: Lou Craddock
Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic America, 18-year old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, are scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War IV, where survivors must battle for food and shelter in the desert-like wasteland. Vic and Blood eke out a meager existence, foraging for food and fighting gangs of cutthroats....
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Character: General Walter C. Short
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War....
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Character: Governor Wallace
Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid....
Cabo Blanco
Character: Gunther Beckdorff
Giff Hoyt, a cafe owner in Cabo Blanco, Peru after World War II is caught between refuge-seeking Nazis and their enemies. After the murder of a sea explorer is passed off as accidental death by the corrupt local police, Giff becomes suspicious. The police chief also intimidates a new arrival Marie, and Giff intervenes to help her. Giff suspects Beckdorff, a Nazi refugee living in the area. Beckdorff, it emerges, is seeking to uncover sunken treasure....
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Character: Cable Hogue
Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach....
Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone
Character: Self (archive footage)
A short documentary based on Sergio Leone's life and career, and the making of the film "Once Upon a Time in America."...
The Day After
Character: Dr. Russell Oakes
In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter....
Hour of the Gun
Character: Doc Holliday
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday....
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Character: Charles Halloway
In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?...
My Best Fiend
Character: Self (archive footage)
A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another....
Raise the Titanic
Character: Admiral James Sandecker
To obtain a supply of a rare mineral, a ship raising operation is conducted for the only known source, the Titanic....
The Paper
Character: Graham Keighley
Henry Hackett is the workaholic editor of a New York City tabloid. He loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Bernie White faces financial straits, and has hatchet-man Alicia Clark—Henry's nemesis—impose unpopular cutbacks....
The Adventures of Huck Finn
Character: The King
Mischievous Huck Finn is unnerved when his father, reemerging after years away, kidnaps him in an attempt to take away a $600 inheritance from his late mother. Fearing for his life, Huck fakes his own death and escapes. He soon runs into his friend, Jim, a slave fleeing his master. Together, the pair embarks on a raft journey down the Mississippi River, staying ahead of pursuers who blame the slave for Huck's alleged murder....
Burden of Dreams
Character: Fitzcarraldo (archive footage)
The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true....
Comes a Horseman
Character: Jacob 'J.W.' Ewing
Ella Connors is a single woman who gets pressured to sell her failing cattle farm to her corrupt ex-suitor, Jacob Ewing. She asks for help from her neighbor, Frank Athearn. As Ella and Frank fight back through stampedes, jealousy, betrayal, and sabotage... they eventually find love....
Julia
Character: Dashiell Hammett
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany....
Metallica: The Videos 1989-2004
Character: Joe's Father (video "One")
This is a collection of Metallica's videos ending with those shot for St. Anger....
Julius Caesar
Character: Marcus Brutus
All-star cast glamorizes this lavish 1970 remake of the classic William Shakespeare play, which portrays the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, and the resulting war between the faction led by the assassins and the faction led by Mark Anthony....
Isadora
Character: Paris Singer
A biography of the dancer Isadora Duncan, the 1920s dancer who forever changed people's ideas of ballet. Her nude, semi-nude, and pro-Soviet dance projects as well as her attitudes on free love, debt, dress, and lifestyle shocked the public of her time....
The Night They Raided Minsky's
Character: Raymond Paine
Rachel arrives in New York from her Amish community intent on becoming a dancer. Unfortunately Billy Minsky's Burlesque is hardly the place for her Dances From The Bible. But the show's comedian Raymond sees a way of wrong-footing the local do-gooders by announcing the new Paris sensation "Mme Fifi" and putting on Rachel's performance as the place is raided. All too complicated, the more so since her father is scouring the town for her and both Raymond and his straight-man Chick are falling for ...
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Character: Al Capone
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it....
A Thousand Clowns
Character: Murray
Twelve-year-old Nick lives with his Uncle Murray, a Mr.Micawber-like Dickensian character who keeps hoping something won't turn up. What turns up is a social worker, who falls in love with Murray and a bit in love with Nick. As the child welfare people try to force Murray to become a conventional man (as the price they demand for allowing him to keep Nick), the nephew, who until now has gloried in his Uncle's iconoclastic approach to life, tries to play mediator. But when he succeeds, he is alar...
Any Wednesday
Character: John Cleves
Ellen Gordon, a New York executive's mistress falls for the executive's young business associate when the young man is accidentally sent to use the apartment where the executive and his mistress get together every Wednesday. More complications arise when the executive's wife shows up with plans to redecorate the apartment....
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Character: Jamie Tyrone
Over the course of one foggy day in August 1912, a retired Irish theater actor grapples with the morphine addiction of his unbalanced wife, debauchery of his older son, and sickness of the youngest son as past guilts, repressed anger, and deep-seated regrets slowly come boiling out, threatening to destroy the family....
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Character: Henry Drummond
A naive traveler in Laredo gets involved in a poker game between the richest men in the area, jeopardizing all the money he has saved for the purpose of settling with his wife and child in San Antonio....
Dream a Little Dream
Character: Coleman Ettinger
Bobby Kellar has a crush on Lainie Diamond, girlfriend of school jerk Joel. Coleman is working on an experiment which will help him move into a place where Dreams are reality. When an accident occurs Coleman finds himself in Bobby's body and can only contact Bobby in his dreams....
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Character: Cesar Charron
In Paris, in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Cesar Charron owns a theater at the Rue Morgue where he performs the play "Murders in the Rue Morgue" with his wife Madeleine Charron, who has dreadful nightmares. When there are several murders by acid of people connected to Cesar, the prime suspect of Inspector Vidocq would be Cesar's former partner Rene Marot. But Marot murdered Madeleine's mother many years ago and committed suicide immediately after....
Johnny Got His Gun
Character: Joe's Father
A young American soldier, rendered in pseudocoma from an artillery shell from WWI, recalls his life leading up to that point....
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
Character: President Ulysses S. Grant
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage....
Melvin and Howard
Character: Howard Hughes
The story of hard-luck Melvin Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes....
Bright Lights, Big City
Character: Mr. Hardy (uncredited)
A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife....
A Thousand Acres
Character: Larry Cook
The lives of an Iowa farmer's three daughters are shattered when he suddenly decides to bequeath them the family's fertile farm....
The Trial
Character: Doctor Huld
Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement....
Black Rainbow
Character: Walter Travis
Martha Travis is a medium who makes contact with spirits "on the other side" and connects them with their loved ones still alive, in public performances. Trouble begins when she gives a message to Mary Kuron from her husband, Tom. But Tom isn't dead... yet. And Martha not only knows he will die, she also knows who killed him. And the murderer knows she knows......
The House Without a Christmas Tree
Character: James "Jamie" Mills
A young girl named Addie, living in Nebraska in 1946 wants nothing more for the holidays than a Christmas tree, but her widowed father, is bitter and refuses due to events from the family's past....
Eugene O’Neill: A Documentary Film
Character: Self
Eugene O'Neill tells the haunting story of the life and work of America's greatest and only Nobel Prize-winning playwright -- set within the context of the harrowing family dramas and personal upheavals that shaped him, and that he in turn struggled all his life to give form to in his art....
The Real Macaw
Character: Grandpa Girdis
An ancient talking macaw named Mac becomes the saving grace for an elderly man threatened with a nursing home, when it is discovered that the talking bird knows the whereabouts of a buried treasure from its days with a pirate. His grandson decides to go off on the hunt only to discover that a resort now exists where the treasure is buried....
Reunion
Character: Henry Strauss
Attorney Henry Strauss grew up in Germany, but left the country with his Jewish family during the rise of the Third Reich. Still wondering about what happened to his boyhood friend Konradin Von Lohenburg, Strauss travels back to Germany for the first time since he was a young man, bringing up some painful memories....
The Journey
Character: Paul Kedes
A Communist officer falls hard for a married woman trying to escape from Hungary....
The Enemy Within
Character: General R. Pendleton Lloyd
A officer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff uncovers a planned military coup of the U.S. government and has only one week to prevent the takeover....
Square Dance
Character: Dillard
An awkward 13-year-old leaves her cranky grandfather in rural Texas, to live with her mother in Fort Worth....
Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron
Character: Self
This straight-talking program seeks to understand the enigmatic and controversial Sam Peckinpah, whose violent films such as The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs had a telling effect on the cinema of the 1970s and 80s. Those who knew and worked with him, including actor James Coburn, actress Ali MacGraw, his associate Katherine Haber, his cousin Bob Peckinpah, and several screenwriters and producers, examine his life in an attempt to separate the man from the persona. Clips from key films reinforce thi...
Divorce American Style
Character: Nelson Downes
After 17 years of marriage in American suburbia, Richard and Barbara Harmon step into the new world of divorce....
You Can't Take it With You
Character: Grandpa Martin Vanderhof
A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family....
Mark Twain and Me
Character: Mark Twain
During the final years of his life, the famous writer Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens is befriended by a young girl named Dorothy Quick....
The Good Mother
Character: W. O. Muth
After finding a sexually liberated boyfriend, a divorced woman gets sued over daughter's custody, by her ex, who claims that her lover has a bad influence on the kid....
The Christmas Wife
Character: John Tanner
An aging and recent widower, not wanting to spend his first Christmas alone, responds to an ad in the newspaper which reads: "You are not alone. We make social arrangements of all kinds." When he visits the Social Arranger, he makes it very clear his only interest is in "social company" and is subsequently introduced to a woman who agrees to spend the holiday with him. The woman bids him to not ask any questions about her personal life, which harbors a secret that threatens their developing fri...
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Character: James Tyrone Jr.
A cynical, self-hating, failed actor visits the gruff, earthy daughter of his scheming Irish tenant farmer and passes a soul-baring night of guilt-ridden confessions, tenderness, and absolution....
By Love Possessed
Character: Julius Penrose
An unhappily married woman engages in an affair with her husband's law partner....
Empire City
Character: Self - Narrator (voice)
A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political and cultural figures. Made at a time when the city was experiencing unprecedented real estate development on the one hand and unforeseen displacement of population and deterioration on the other. Empire City is the story of two New Yorks. The film explores the precarious coexistence of the service-based midtown Manhattan corporate headquarters with t...
Storyville
Character: Clifford Fowler
While investigating his own blackmailing, a young politician uncovers his family's deep secrets....
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio
Character: Narrator (voice)
For 50 years radio dominated the airwaves and the American consciousness as the first “mass medium.” In Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Ken Burns examines the lives of three extraordinary men who shared the primary responsibility for this invention and its early success, and whose genius, friendship, rivalry and enmity interacted in tragic ways. This is the story of Lee de Forest, a clergyman’s flamboyant son, who invented the audion tube; Edwin Howard Armstrong, a brilliant, withdraw...
The War Between Men and Women
Character: Stephen Kozlenko
A sarcastic near-sighted cartoonist, averse to commitment, falls for a single mother of three — the only woman who can stand his strong anti-feminist opinions....
Act One
Character: George S. Kaufman
This autobiographical story traces the career of playwright Moss Hart. Moss struggles as a dramatic writer until he concentrates his efforts on writing comedy. He suffers through a series of professional and romantic failures before a meeting with George S. Kaufman which changes his fortunes....
The Belle of 14th Street
Character: Self
Her first television special to feature guest-stars, The Belle of 14th Street celebrates, in ways both comedic and heartfelt, "The Golden Age of Song". A marvelous showcase for such evergreens as Sophie Tucker's "Some Of These Days", "How About Me" (written by "a young new talent" Irving Berlin), the poignant "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", and the sublime "My Buddy" - all classics of the vaudeville era, reinvented by "the greatest star" of our time....
Inherit the Wind
Character: Harry Drummond
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution....
Fools
Character: Matthew South
A horror actor falls in love with the unhappily married young wife of an attorney....
My Antonia
Character: Josea Burden
After the death of his parents, Jimmy uproots his life to live with his grandparents in Black Hawk, Nebraska....
F.D.R.: The Last Year
Character: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Though visibly frail and weary, President Franklin D. Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasion and engages in tempestuous summit meetings with his wartime allies Stalin and Churchill....
Haywire
Character: Leland Hayward
Based on the autobiography of Brooke Hayward, daughter of famous Broadway producer Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, who grows up in the glamorous, cruel and emotionally unstable world of her parents....
Thomas Hart Benton
Character: Narrator (voice)
Thomas Hart Benton's paintings were energetic and uncompromising. Today his works are in museums, but Benton hung them in saloons for ordinary people to appreciate....
Philadelphia
Character: Charles Wheeler
Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries....
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee
Character: Self (archive footage)
An intimate portrait of Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, tracing his remarkable ascent from a young Boston boy stricken with polio to the one of the most pioneering and consequential journalistic figures of the 20th century....
Deceptions
Character: Clay (voice)
A beautiful widow is determined to uncover the facts behind her husband's death....
Operation Snafu
Character: Sam Armstrong
World War II soldiers enter Sicily to seize German arms supply only to discover there is not a gun in sight....
Sakharov
Character: Andrei Sakharov
Biography of Russian physicist & dissident Andrei Sakharov focuses on his first acts in his civil rights....
Heartwood
Character: Logan Reeser
When a large corporation threatens to take over a small town's primary business and put half of the town's population out of work, sawmill owner Logan Reeser is the only one who can stand in their way....
Journey
Character: Marcus
Deserted by their mother, a young boy and his sister discover the true meaning of family while living with their grandfather....
Night of 100 Stars III
Character: Self
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy....
Mr. Sycamore
Character: John Gwilt
Jason Robards is a man who decides he'd rather be a tree....
The Easter Promise
Character: James "Jamie" Mills
Addie and her friends are excited over the visit of a celebrity, a local woman who became a successful Broadway actress and has returned home for a short time following the death of her mother. She brings the woman home for the family Easter celebration, and the little girl's concern and kindness help the woman see the promise of better days ahead....
Noon Wine
Character: Royal Earle Thompson
A dark tragedy about a farmer's futile act of homicide that takes place on a small dairy farm in southern Texas during the 1890s. Sam Peckinpah directed this original adaptation of the Katherine Anne Porter novel for ABC, and the project became an hour-long presentation for ABC Stage 67, premiering on Nov. 23, 1966....
Over Washington D.C.: Our Nation's Capital
Character: Narrator
Over Washington D.C.: Our Nation's Capital, narrated by 2-time Academy Award-winning actor Jason Robards and previously seen on public television, beautifully captures the U.S. capital's grandeur, history and vitality in a way no other film does....
A Christmas to Remember
Character: Daniel Larson
A city-bred grandson moves to his grandparents' farm during the Great Depression and grows up enough under their tough care to help his grandfather deliver a surprise gift on Christmas Eve to their community church with the help of a phantom stranger....
Addie and the King of Hearts
Character: James "Jamie" Mills
Addie becomes jealous when her widowed father starts to woo a beautician....
The Iceman Cometh
Character: Theodore "Hickey" Hickman
Theodore Hickman, a hardware salesman, makes by-yearly visits to Harry Hope's 1910-era waterfront bar for his periodical drinking binges. But on this visit he has decided to try to save the bar's patrons from their "lying pipe dreams."...
Hurricane
Character: Capt. Charles Bruckner
The story of the desperate love affair between a young Samoan chief and a beautiful American painter, against the will of her father, the powerful governor of the island. Amid this man-made tension comes a powerful hurricane so devastating, the lives of the lovers and the entire island are imperiled....
The Spy Who Never Was
Character: Inspector Barkan
A diabolical tale of romance, murder, and mistaken identity as a treacherous terrorist organization hunts an enemy agent with the intention of killing him, but instead they set their sights on the wrong man. Left in the wake of their mistaken pursuit is a trail of broken lives and brutal murders....
Little Big League
Character: Thomas Heywood
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himself manager, causing unrest in an organization that struggles to take orders from a 12-year-old....
The Thanksgiving Treasure
Character: James "Jamie" Mills
Addie tries to invite her father's sworn enemy over for Thanksgiving dinner in the hopes of ending their long-standing feud....
Going Home
Character: Charles Barton
A daughter must choose between her career as a book editor at a high powered New York firm, or return home to care for her aging father whose mental state is deteriorating....
Portrait: Werner Herzog
Character: Self (archive footage)
An autobiographical short film by Werner Herzog made in 1986. Herzog tells stories about his life and career. The film contains excerpts and commentary on several Herzog films, including Signs of Life, Heart of Glass, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, Fitzcarraldo, and the Les Blank documentary Burden of Dreams. Notable is footage of a conversation between Herzog and his mentor Lotte Eisner, a photographer. In another section, he talks with mount...
The Perfect Tribute
Character: President Abraham Lincoln
A boy risks life and limb to travel across the war-torn southern states of America during the height of hostilities in the Civil War, hoping to visit his wounded brother in a field hospital on the other side of the country. His accidental meeting with Abraham Lincoln helps the disheartened president understand just how important the Gettysburg Address really is....
All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone
Character: Ben Bradlee (archive footage)
Vancouver-based filmmaker and TV news veteran Fred Peabody explores the life and legacy of the maverick American journalist I.F. Stone, whose long one-man crusade against government deception lives on in the work of such contemporary filmmakers and journalists as Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, David Corn, and Matt Taibbi....
The Bat
Character: Detective Anderson
A sinister criminal known only as "The Bat" attempts to locate a fortune in stolen securities supposedly hidden in the rambling mansion owned by spinster Cornelia Van Gorde....
Chernobyl: The Final Warning
Character: Dr. Armand Hammer
True story about the tragic nuclear power plant accident in Chernobyl....
That Moment: Magnolia Diary
Character: Self
A very in-depth documentary that follows the very over-worked director Paul Thomas Anderson through a gruelling 80+ days of shooting for the film Magnolia (1999), containing behind-the-scenes footage and interviews....
Laguna Heat
Character: Wade Shephard
Tom Shepard returns to his home town of Laguna Beach to escape his turbulent past. But the tranquility is shattered when he gets involved in the investigation of a series of grisly and bizarre murders....
A Doll's House
Character: Dr. Rank
A wealthy woman's attempts to help her financially troubled husband go unrewarded....
Breaking Home Ties
Character: Lloyd Wells
Inspired by a Norman Rockwell painting, this 1950s coming of age drama centers on a young man leaving home to attend college, where he will learn the lessons in becoming a man. While his family must deal with a life threatening illness....
Beloved
Character: Mr. Bodwin
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen......
And the Oscar Goes To...
Character: Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement....
Old Faithful
Character: Himself
A forest ranger is asked by his boss to attract a record-breaking crowd to Yellowstone National Park. Various celebrities are enlisted to help....
La Classe américaine
Character: The Newspaper Director (archive footage)
George Abitbol, the classiest man in the world, dies tragically during a cruise. The director of an American newspaper, wondering about the meaning of these intriguing final words, asks his three best investigators, Dave, Peter and Steven, to solve the mystery. (Sixteen French actors dub scenes from various Warner Bros. films to create a parody of Citizen Kane, 1941.)...
T.R.: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt
Character: Narrator
A champion of the strenuous life, Teddy Roosevelt embodied the notion of an expanded presidency. Stamping the presidency with his own colorful personality, Roosevelt's enormous popularity gave him political clout that matched his celebrity status. "Get action, do things," sums up his attitude toward all endeavors, political and otherwise....
Tender Is the Night
Character: Dick Diver
Against the counsel of his friends, psychiatrist Dick Diver marries Nicole Warren, a beautiful but unstable young woman from a moneyed family. Thoroughly enraptured, he forsakes his career in medicine for life as a playboy, until one day Dick is charmed by Rosemary Hoyt, an American traveling abroad. The thought of Dick possibly being attracted to someone else sends Nicole on an emotional downward spiral that threatens to consume them both....
Once Upon a Time in the West
Character: 'Cheyenne'
As the railroad builders advance unstoppably through the Arizona desert on their way to the sea, Jill arrives in the small town of Flagstone with the intention of starting a new life....
Crimson Tide
Character: Rear Admiral Anderson (uncredited)
After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey signs on a relatively green but highly recommended Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter to the USS Alabama, which may be the only ship able to stop a possible Armageddon. When Ramsay insists that the Alabama must act aggressively, Hunter, fearing they will start rather than stop a disaster, leads a potential mutiny to stop him....
Enemy of the State
Character: Congressman Phillip Hammersley (uncredited)
When the videotape of the murder of a congressman unknowingly ends up in the hands of labor lawyer and dedicated family man Robert Clayton Dean, he is framed for the murder. With the help of the mysterious Brill, Dean attempts to throw the NSA off his trail and prove his innocence....
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
Character: Self (archive footage)
An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western genre forever....
Johnny Bull
Character: Stephan Kovacs
An English girl comes to America to join her American husband in a Pennsylvania coal town in the late 1950's. She faces the ire of her new mother-in-law, a former Hungarian with different ideas about the life and culture that her son should have....
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Character: Abraham Lincoln
The life of Abraham Lincoln is traced from the 1830s when he was a struggling backwoods lawyer to winning the Presidency in 1860....
The Country Girl
Character: Frank Elgin
Frank Elgin's career in the theater is all washed up — but his friend Bernie thinks he can make a comeback, as long as his wife Georgie doesn't interfere....
The World of Tomorrow
Character: Self / Narrator
Documentary featuring original materials from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Includes film images of Jason Robards Jr. as a child at the World's Fair and clips from the promotional film "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair" (1939)....
The Face of Genius
Character: Narrator (voice)
The Face of a Genius is a 1966 American documentary film about Eugene O’Neill, produced by Alfred R. Kelman for WBZ-TV Boston. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the first time that a film originally produced for television was recognized by the Academy as a nominee for Best Documentary Feature....
Night of 100 Stars
Character: Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers paid up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and cost...