''Andre's Mother'' is a 1990 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written by

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...

, adapted from his 1988 stage play, directed by Deborah Reinisch and starring

Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), America ...

Sada Thompson Sada Carolyn Thompson (September 27, 1927 – May 4, 2011) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Though best known to television audiences as Kate Lawrence in ''Family'' (1976–1980), for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstan ...

, and

Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy ...

. It was broadcast on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television program ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever and direc ...

'' on March 7, 1990.

Plot

The play is set at the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

memorial service for Andre Gerard, who died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

and was buried in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

several weeks earlier. Andre's mother Katharine cannot come to terms with his death or share her grief with Cal, Andre's lover. Her rage is directed not only at Cal and her own mother, who was less judgmental of her grandson's life, but at Andre himself as well.

Cast

as Katharine Gerard, Andre's mother *

as Cal Porter, Andre's surviving lover *

as Mrs. Downs, Katharine's mother''Andre's Mother''
paleycenter.org, accessed March 1, 2016

Production

The screenplay by

is an expansion of his eight-minute play written for an anthology titled ''Urban Blight'' that was produced by the

Manhattan Theater Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Lynne Meadow has been the company’s Artistic Director and visionary since 1972. Barry Grove joined the company in 19 ...

in 1988.Brown, Patricia Lee
"Twenty Playwrights Survey Urban Life"
''The New York Times'', June 19, 1988 The film was produced by WGBH Boston and was broadcast on March 14, 1990, by

stations nationwide as part of the ''

'' series. It was released on Region 1 DVD on April 25, 2006.

Critical reception

John O'Connor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it one of those

Awards

McNally won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, and the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

named it Outstanding Television Movie of the Year.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0099037 1990 drama films 1990 television films American LGBTQ-related television films American films based on plays Films with screenplays by Terrence McNally Films set in New York City Gay-related films HIV/AIDS in American films HIV/AIDS in television American Playhouse American drama television films 1990 LGBTQ-related films 1990s English-language films