Today’s movie is a biographical
film with a scene that occurs on April 12. Watch it tonight and enjoy.
ELEANOR AND FRANKLIN: THE EARLY
YEARS
The film starts the day FDR dies
April 12, 1945. [01:40 to 11:33]
Eleanor Roosevelt then recalls incidents of their lives. When she was a
small girl her family traveled to Europe. Her father was an alcoholic and after
her mother dies Eleanor is kept separated from her father, who she dearly
loved. Both her little brother and father die. She meets FDR. Eleanor is sent
to a girls school in England for three years.
When she comes back to the USA, he begins courting her and finally
proposes to her the weekend of the 1904 Harvard-Yale football game. They are married on St. Patrick’s day 1905
with her uncle US President “Teddy’ Roosevelt giving her away. They are happy
for a while, but while Assistant Secretary
of the Nay, FDR begins an affair with Eleanor’s social secretary Lucy Mercer,
which she learns of from some letters in his suitcase when he returns from the
Versailles Peace Conference. His mother tells FDR she will disinherit him if he
divorces and Eleanor agrees to stay with him on condition that he never see
Lucy again. After FDR develops polio Eleanor steps in and tours in his
place. FDR is elected governor of New
York and later President.
A mainly realistic account of the
lives of this famous couple from the early years until 1932. Not too melodramatic. Mainly concentrates on
Eleanor and not Franklin.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom by
Conrad Black (Public Affairs, New York, 2003) at pages 1109-1113 gives the date
of FDR’s death
Awards - The film won the
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction or Scenic Design - Dramatic Special or
Feature Length Film Made for TV; Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for
Entertainment Programming for a Special; Outstanding Achievement in Costume
Design for a Drama Special; Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for
Entertainment Programming for a Special; Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound
Mixing; Outstanding Achievement in Make-Up; Outstanding Directing in a Special
Program - Drama or Comedy; Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of
Creative Technical Crafts; Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting
Actress in Comedy or Drama Special(Murphy); Outstanding Special - Drama or
Comedy; Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Original
Teleplay Emmys. It was also nominated for the Outstanding Achievement in Film
Sound Editing - For a Special Program; Outstanding Achievement in Graphic
Design and Title Sequences; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special
(Hermann); Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special (Alexander);
Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Comedy or Drama
Special (Tedrow) and Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in
Comedy or Drama Special (Skala) Emmys at the 28th Primetime Emmy
Awards.
Producers - David Susskind,
Audrey Maas and Harry R. Sherman
Director - Daniel Petrie
Screenplay -
James Costigan
Released - January 11, 1976
Runtime - 4 hours
Starring -
Edward Herrmann as FDR
Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt
Rosemary Murphy as Sara Delano
Roosevelt
Pamela Franklin as Anna Hall
Roosevelt
David Huffman as Elliott Roosevelt
Irene Tedrow as Mary Ludlow Hall
John Burnett as Hall Roosevelt
Linda Kelsey as Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd
William Phipps as Theodore Roosevelt
Linda Purl as Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Devon Ericson as Corinne Roosevelt Robinson
Teresa Steenhoek as Anna
Roosevelt Halsted
Lilia Skala as Marie Souvestre
Ed Flanders as Louis Howe
Arthur Adams as Arthur Prettyman
Helen Kleeb as Margaret Suckley
Peggy McCay as Grace Tully
Anna Lee as Laura Delano
Harry Holcombe as Steve Early
Ned Wilson as Endicott Peabody
Len Wayland as Admiral Ross McIntire
Lindsay Crouse as Marjorie Bennett
Edward Winter as Joe McCall
Mackenzie Phillips as Eleanor,
age 14
Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015
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