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 ...
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
. Goldberg acquired the film rights after reading the novel while in Toronto starring in Norman Jewison’s film “ Bogus”. Deciding that as a Canadian novel it would be most appropriate to work with a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
film studio, Goldberg produced the film in collaboration with Canadian producer Kevin Sullivan's Sullivan Entertainment.
Plot
A young man must deal with several generations of madness and familial intrigue. Charlie Kilworth is a young man whose mother, Lily, is the daughter of Frederick Wyatt, the owner of a well-known piano manufacturing company. Lily is also a free-spirited and unstable woman, who bore Charlie out of wedlock, has had a number of lovers over the years, and has an unsettling fascination with fire. Lily's mother Ede has put her daughter in a mental hospital on several occasions, and is considering having Lily lobotomized. Charlie, meanwhile, has had affairs with a number of women but has never settled down with anyone; working as an events coordinator at a resort hotel, Charlie becomes infatuated with Alex Lamont, the singer in a dance band Charlie has booked into the ballroom. Lily urges her son to get married and raise a family, but Charlie isn't so sure he's ready for a lifetime commitment, and Alex becomes frustrated by Charlie's inability to take their relationship seriously. Meanwhile, Ede and Frederick have decided that Lily needs to be permanently committed to an institution; Charlie insists that they send her to a comfortable private facility, but then discovers that a mysterious benefactor has been supporting Lily for years, and Ede and Frederick have decided if Lily is to be in a private institution, then the generous stranger must be the one who pays for it.
Cast
*
Wendy Crewson
Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film ''The Doctor (1991 film), The Doctor''.
Crewson has appeared in ma ...
as Ede Kilworth
*
Christian Campbell
Christian Bethune Campbell (born May 12, 1972) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his roles as Gabriel in the film ''Trick'', Greg Ivey in the television series ''Big Love'' and on stage as Jimmy Harper in the musical '' Reefer Madness''.
E ...
as Charlie Kilworth
** Jeffrey Peel and McKenzie Sullivan as Charlie (8 yrs.)
*
Marnie McPhail
Marnie McPhail Diamond is an American actress and musician who is well known for playing Maria Wong in '' Braceface'', Annie Edison in ''The Edison Twins'', and Peaches in ''JoJo's Circus''.
Personal life
McPhail was born and raised in Columbu ...
as Young Lily Kilworth
*
R.H. Thomson
Robert Holmes Thomson (born 1947), known as R. H. Thomson, is a Canadian television, film, and stage actor. With a career spanning five decades he remains a regular presence on Canadian movie screens and television. He has received numerous ...
as Frederick Wyatt
*
Sarah Strange
Sarah Strange is a Canadian actress. She has worked in a variety of American and Canadian television and film projects, including Helen in the Canadian drama ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' and as the voice actor for Ranma Saotome.
Life and career
Strang ...
as Alexandra Lamont
*
Susan Coyne
Susan Coyne (born 16 June 1958) is a Canadian writer and actress, best known as one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning ''Slings & Arrows'', a TV series which ran 2003–06 about a Canadian Shakespearean theatre company. She ...
as Ada Harrison
*
Chris Wiggins
Christopher John Wiggins (January 13, 1931 – February 19, 2017) was an English-born Canadian actor.
Career
He started out as a banker in his home country before he began his acting career in Canada, where he moved in 1952.
Wiggins is probably ...
as James Kilworth
*Joel S. Keller as Neddy Harrison
*Deborah Pollitt as Eleanor Ormond
*
David Hemblen
David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...
as Dr. Warren
*Nuala Fitzgerald as Eliza Kilworth
*
Dixie Seatle
Dixie Seatle is a Canadian actress and faculty member in the Acting for Film and Television program at Humber College's School of Creative and Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario.
Her first film credit was a supporting role in the 1978 production ...
as Eleanor Hess
*
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...