''Gleason'' is a 2002 television film directed by Howard Deutch and starring

Brad Garrett Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

Plot

Cast

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as George "Bullets" Durgom *

Gretchen Egolf Gretchen Egolf (born September 9, 1973) is an American theater, film and television actress. Early life and education Egolf was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of artist Paula Egolf and stepfather Gary Egolf. Her ...

as Genevieve Halford * Kristen Dalton as

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows ( Cotter, February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy ''The Honeymooners''. She was the younger sister of ...

*Michael Chieffo as

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the si ...

Danny Wells Jack Westelman (April 7, 1941 – November 28, 2013), known as Danny Wells, was a Canadian actor. He was best known for his role as Charlie, the bartender on ''The Jeffersons'', as well as his role as Luigi in the live-action/animated series '' ...

as Jack L. Warner *

Mark Camacho Mark Camacho (born April 12, 1964) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor. Career He has starred in live-action films, but is best known for his voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in ''Arthur'', Lyle in '' Animal Crackers'', Dad ...

as Sammy Birch * Jason Blicker as Sol Friedman *

Vlasta Vrána Vlasta Vrána (born 1950), is a Canadian actor of Czech descent. Life and career Vrána, born to Czech parents in Norway, moved to Canada at age four. He made his feature-film debut in Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's '' Shivers''. Vrána ...

Toots Shor Bernard "Toots" Shor (May 6, 1903 – January 23, 1977) was best known as the proprietor of a legendary saloon and restaurant, Toots Shor's Restaurant, in Manhattan. He ran three establishments under that name, but his first – and most ren ...

*Shawn Lawrence as William S. Paley * Kevin Dunn as Jack Philbin * Terry Farrell as Marilyn Taylor *Johanna Nutter as

Joyce Randolph Joyce Randolph ( Sirola; October 21, 1924) is an American actress, best known for playing Trixie Norton on the television sitcom ''The Honeymooners''. Early life and career Randolph was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 21, 1924. As a teena ...

* Lisa Bronwyn Moore as Pert Kelton

Production

Back in 1997, Garrett was set to portray Gleason in a television biopic for

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 Entertainm ...

, with the script written by ''

Everybody Loves Raymond ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American sitcom television series created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch an ...

'' creator Philip Rosenthal, but it never came to fruition. When he learned that CBS acquired the rights to Gleason's life story, Garrett personally lobbied to the network to portray the role. Initially, CBS offered the part of Gleason to

Mark Addy Mark Ian Addy (born 14 January 1964) is an English actor. His roles in British television include Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the sitcom '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–1996) and Hercules in the fantasy drama series ''Atlantis'' (2013–2 ...

. However, Addy dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, thus Garrett was officially cast as Gleason. Garrett reportedly disapproved of the script written by Rick Podell and Michael Preminger. With assistance from Deutch, Garrett and his writer friend Dave Boone wrote an uncredited rewrite of the script. Garrett and Deutch paid Greg Cannom with their own money for him to apply for the makeup needed for Garrett to look like Gleason. It took Garrett three hours to put on the makeup and an hour and a half to take it off. Unlike Gleason, who was 5 feet 11 in real life, Garrett was 6 feet 8 at the time of filming; in order for Garrett to appear as if he were 5 feet 11, the other cast members wore boots with seven-inch lifts and the doorways on the set were built at 8 feet rather than the usual 6 feet 9. The film was shot in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Accolades

For his performance, Garrett was nominated for both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and the

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in Miniseries or Television Movie. Winners and ...

. Deutch was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film.

References

External links

* * {{Howard Deutch 2002 television films 2002 films 2000s English-language films Films shot in Montreal Films directed by Howard Deutch CBS network films American biographical films Films set in the 20th century 2000s biographical films Canadian drama television films English-language Canadian films American drama television films 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films