''Murrow'' is a 1986

biographical drama A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a Nonfiction, non-fictional or History, historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. The ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by

Jack Gold Jacob M. "Jack" Gold (28 June 1930 – 9 August 2015) was a British film and television director. He was part of the Kitchen sink realism, British realist tradition which followed the Free Cinema movement. Career Jacob M. Gold was born in ...

, written by

Ernest Kinoy Ernest Kinoy (April 1, 1925 – November 10, 2014) was an American writer, screenwriter and playwright. Early life Kinoy was born in New York City on April 1, 1925; his parents, Albert and Sarah Kinoy (formerly Forstadt), were both high-school ...

, and originally broadcast by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Daniel J. Travanti Daniel J. Travanti (born Danielo Giovanni Travanti; March 7, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for playing police captain List of Hill Street Blues characters#Main characters, Frank Furillo in the television drama series ''Hill Stree ...

played the title role of American broadcast journalist

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe fo ...

, and

Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; the ...

co-starred in the supporting role of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. The cast also featured

Dabney Coleman Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. Coleman's best known films include '' 9 to 5'' (1980), '' On Golden Pond'' (1981), ''Tootsie'' (1982), ''WarGames'' (1983), '' Cloak & Dagger'' (1984), ''The Beverly Hillbillies ...

as CBS President William Paley.

Plot

The movie begins during the early days of World War II when Murrow was a combat correspondent in London broadcasting to the United States. Murrow courageously reports from the front lines and even goes on bombing missions. During a White House visit after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt tells Murrow he is the most influential American in England. After the war, Murrow continues his radio career and eventually expands into television with his popular See It Now show. He eventually makes his most famous broadcast attacking Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his brutal tactics. He is credited with helping topple McCarthy. Throughout all of this, Murrow is a man of unimpeachable honor and integrity. This brings him into conflict with his network superiors who care more about profits and ratings. Murrow eventually leaves television and becomes the Director of the United States Information Agency. A heavy chain-smoker, he contracts lung cancer and dies at the age of 57.

Cast

as CBS Chairman

William S. Paley William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman, primarily involved in the media, and best known as the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into o ...

John McMartin John Francis McMartin (August 21, 1929 – July 6, 2016) was an American actor of stage, film and television. Life and career McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana, on August 21, 1929, and raised in St. Cloud, Minnesota. After graduating fro ...

as CBS President Frank Stanton *

Edward Herrmann Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was perhaps best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries '' Eleanor and Franklin'' (1976) and 1982 film ...

Fred Friendly Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program ''See It Now''. He originated the concept ...

Stephen Churchett Stephen George Churchett (10 April 1947 – 11 January 2022) was an English actor and writer. Life and career One of his most notable roles was as solicitor Marcus Christie in ''EastEnders'', on and off from 1990 to 2004. He reprised the role ...

as BBC Technician *

as President

Kathryn Leigh Scott Kathryn Leigh Scott (born Marlene Kringstad;Biography:Kathryn Leigh Scott". Retrieved on September 28, 2010 January 26, 1943) is an American television and film actress and writer who is best remembered for playing several roles on ''Dark Shadows ...

as Janet Murrow * Martyn Stanbridge as Lancaster Captain *

Philip Voss Philip James Voss (20 August 1936 – 13 November 2020) was a British stage, radio, film and television actor. Early life Voss was born in Leicester, the elder son of James Voss, a pharmacist, and his wife, Viola (née Walmsley). He had a yo ...

as Censor *

Lorelei King Lorelei King is an American actress, screenwriter and development executive who has been based in the United Kingdom since 1981. She has narrated audiobooks, acted in radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and appeared on television. Early life King spe ...

as Waitress

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' described it as "provocative", and ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' described a "storm of protest" concerning its portrayal of

CBS executives CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

References

External links

* {{Edward R. Murrow 1986 television films 1986 films American biographical films Biographical films about journalists Films about McCarthyism Films directed by Jack Gold Films scored by Carl Davis Films set in the 20th century Films set in the United States HBO Films films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films