''Space'' (also known as ''James A. Michener's Space'') is a 1985 American

television miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

starring

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...

as Sen. Norman Grant. It is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

that aired on

CBS 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 ...

. Like the novel, the miniseries is a fictionalised history of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

. ''Space'' won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, for film sound mixing. It originally aired from April 14 through 18, 1985, and consisted of five parts running a total of 13 hours. In subsequent showings, it was cut to nine hours.Most of this page, including summary and plot description, is primarily fro

/ref>

Characters

Norman Grant (

) is a former war hero turned senator who tirelessly promotes the American space program despite almost insurmountable opposition. Other principal players include John Pope (

Harry Hamlin Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'' and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series ''L.A. Law'' ...

), who, after failing to win his way to Annapolis, matriculates from a Navy recruit to a naval officer, Naval Aviator, test pilot and pioneering astronaut in the company of fellow space-traveler Randy Claggett (

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...

); Penny Hardesty Pope (

Blair Brown Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play ''Copenhagen'' on Broadway, the leading actress in the films ''Altered States'' ( ...

), an ambitious and beautiful counsel to Senator Grant since his election and wife of John Pope; Leopold Strabismus (

David Dukes David Coleman Dukes (June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000) was an American character actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in 35. Dukes starred in the miniseries ''The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'', and he was a frequent telev ...

), a hedonistic wheeler-dealer who hopes to capitalize on the 1947 UFO scare; German rocket scientist Dieter Kolff (

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

), whose ideals (or lack thereof) are put to the test when he shifts his allegiance from the Nazis to the Americans; and Stanley Mott (

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...

), an aeronautical engineer whose secret assignment is to make certain that men like Kolff aren't snatched up by the Soviets after the fall of Germany.

Cast and crew

Cast

as Senator Norman Grant *

as Astronaut Randy Claggett *

as Penny Hardesty Pope *

as Dr. Stanley Mott *

as Astronaut John Pope *

as Rocket Scientist Dieter Kolff *

Barbara Sukowa Barbara Sukowa (; born 2 February 1950) is a German actress of screen and stage and singer. She has received three German Film Awards for Best Actress, three Bavarian Film Awards, Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, Venice Film Festival ...

as Liesel Kolff *

Susan Anspach Susan Florence Anspach (; November 23, 1942 – April 2, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actress, who was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s and 1980s such as ''Five Easy Pieces'' (1970), '' Play It Again, Sa ...

as Elinor Grant *

as Leopold Strabismus

Production credits

Lee Philips Lee Philips (born Leon Friedman; January 10, 1927 – March 3, 1999) was an American actor, film director and television director. Life and career Philips was born in New York. His acting career started on Broadway, and peaked with a starring ...

(Director) *

Joseph Sargent Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 – December 22, 2014) was an American film director. Though he directed many television movies, his best known feature-length works were arguably the action movie '' White Ligh ...

(Director) * Allan Marcil (Producer) *

Martin Manulis Martin Ellyot Manulis (May 30, 1915 – September 28, 2007) was an American television, film, and theatre producer. Manulis was best known for his work in the 1950s producing the CBS Television programs ''Suspense'', '' Studio One Summer Theatre' ...

(Producer) *

Dick Berg Richard Berg (February 16, 1922 – September 1, 2009) was an American screenwriter as well as a film and television producer. Among his credits is the 1985 miniseries ''Space'' and ''Wallenberg: A Hero's Story''. Biography Berg was born in ...

(Executive Producer, Screenwriter) *

Stirling Silliphant Stirling Dale Silliphant (January 16, 1918 – April 26, 1996) was an American screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He is best remembered for his screenplay for ''In the Heat of the Night (film), In the Heat of the Night'', for which he w ...

(Screenwriter) * Hector R. Figueroa (Cinematographer) *

Gayne Rescher Jay Gayne Rescher, A.S.C., (December 19, 1924 – February 29, 2008) was an American cinematographer. Early life Rescher was born in New York City. His father Jay Rescher was a cinematographer and union organizer, and his mother Jean Tolley was ...

(Cinematographer * Donald R. Rode (Editor) * Patrick Kennedy (Editor) * George Jay Nicholson (Editor) *

Lionel Couch Lionel Couch (1913–1989) was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. Selected filmography Couch was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction: * ''Sons and Lovers'' ( ...

(Art Director) *

Tony Berg Anthony Rains "Tony" Berg (born October 21, 1954) is an American musician, record producer, and A&R representative, in which role he has been described as an "industry guru". Berg's music career began in the late 1970s as a session guitarist who ...

(Composer - Music Score) *

Miles Goodman Elliott Miles Goodman (August 27, 1948 – August 16, 1996) was an American composer for television and film. He is best remembered for his frequent collaboration with film director Frank Oz, for whom Goodman scored such films as '' Dirty Rott ...

(Composer - Music Score) *

Joseph Jennings Joseph R. Jennings is an American art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The award ...

(Production Designer) *

Paul Corbould Paul Corbould () is a British special effects supervisor best known for his work on major blockbuster films such as '' Children of Men'' (2006), '' Captain America: The First Avenger'' (2011), '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013), and most recently ...

(Special Effects)

Awards

*1985:

, Outstanding Film Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or a Special *1985: Emmy Award nominee, Outstanding Limited Series *1986:

Artios Award The Casting Society, formerly known as Casting Society of America (CSA), was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1982 as a professional society of about 1,200 casting directors and associate casting directors for film, television, theatre, and ...

nominee, Best Casting for TV Miniseries

References

External links

* {{JamesAMichener 1980s American television miniseries Television shows based on American novels Emmy Award-winning programs CBS original programming Television series about space programs Adaptations of works by James A. Michener Films directed by Lee Philips Films directed by Joseph Sargent Films with screenplays by Stirling Silliphant