''How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days'' is a 1984 American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Joan Micklin Silver Joan Micklin Silver (May 24, 1935 – December 31, 2020) was an American director of films and plays. Born in Omaha, Silver moved to New York City in 1967 where she began writing and directing films. She is best known for ''Hester Street'' (197 ...

and written by Bruce Harmon, based on the 1982 children's book ''Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!'' by

Stephen Manes Stephen Manes (born January 8, 1949) is the author of the 2011 nonfiction book ''Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet.'' Its subject, the workings of a ballet company, marked a significant departure for an author best known f ...

. It stars

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), ...

Ilan Mitchell-Smith Ilan Mitchell-Smith (born June 29, 1969) is an American academic and former actor, best known as a co-star of the film '' Weird Science'' (1985). Acting career Mitchell-Smith's very first passion was ballet. He studied as a child and even won a s ...

, and

Hermione Gingold Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and e ...

, and is about a twelve-year-old boy named Milo, a hopeless klutz who happens upon a mysterious advertisement in the paper for becoming a perfect person. A three-day course devised by a peculiar man, Dr. Silverfish, Milo enrolls and manages to complete the strange tasks. Only after completing the course does Milo realize perfection is not all it's cracked up to be. The film first aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

on October 4, 1984, as part of the series ''

WonderWorks ''WonderWorks'' is an anthology series which ran from 1984 to 1992. Produced by the Public Broadcasting Service, the Walt Disney Company purchased the home video rights to the series in 1987 and was responsible for making the series available t ...

'', and was regularly shown on

The Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...

in the mid-1980s.

Cast

as Professor Silverfish *

as Milo Crimpley *

as Miss Sandwich * Sarah Boyd as Jenny Hillard * Kate McGregor-Stewart as Mrs. Crimpley *

Lenny Von Dohlen Lenny Von Dohlen Jr. (December 22, 1958 – July 5, 2022) was an American television, film, and stage actor. With a 40-year career that primarily featured work in independent films and guest appearances on numerous prominent series, he was prob ...

as Erik Crimpley * Ned Boyd as Frankie Crimpley * B.J. Barie as Norbert Sandhill *

John Rothman John Mahr Rothman (born June 3, 1949) is an American film, television, and stage actor. Life and career Rothman was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Elizabeth D. (née Davidson) and Donald N. Rothman, a lawyer. He is the brother of film ...

as Contest Judge * Joey Ginza as Mr. Yamata *

Jodi Long Jodi Long is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Madama on '' Cafe Americain'' (1993–1994), and Ok Cha on '' Sullivan and Son'' (2012–2014), and her role in ''Patty Hearst'' (1988). She won Best Supporting Actress at the Day ...

as Mrs. Yamata

References

External links

* * * 1984 films 1984 comedy films 1980s children's comedy films 1980s English-language films American children's comedy films American comedy television films Films directed by Joan Micklin Silver Films based on children's books Films scored by David Michael Frank PBS original programming Television films based on books 1980s American films {{1980s-comedy-film-stub