''Laura'' is a 1968 American TV film, a remake of the 1944 film of the same name. It was directed by

John Llewellyn Moxey John Llewellyn Moxey (26 February 1925 – 29 April 2019) was an Argentinian-born British film and television director. He was known for directing the horror film '' The City of the Dead'' (also known as ''Horror Hotel'', 1960) and directing epi ...

and written by

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

and Thomas Phipps.

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

produced. The film had previously been adapted for television in 1955.

Cast

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

as Waldo Lydecker *

Robert Stack Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC tele ...

as Mark McPherson *

Arlene Francis Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian; October 20, 1907 – May 31, 2001) was an American actress, radio and television talk show host, and game show panelist. She is known for her long-running role as a panelist on the television game s ...

as Mrs. Ann Treadwell *

Farley Granger Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: ''Rope'' in 1948 and '' Strangers on a Train'' in 1951. Granger was first noticed in a small ...

as Shelby Carpenter *

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Bouvier ( ), later Canfield, Radziwiłł (), and Ross (March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), usually known as Princess Lee Radziwill, was an American socialite, public-relations executive, and interior decorator. She was the y ...

(billed as "Lee Bouvier") as Laura Hunt

Production

Truman Capote was friends with

who wanted to act and had made her stage debut in a revival of '' The Philadelphia Story''. He met up with

and told him, "Lee Radiziwill is going to be an actress and I think we should all put something together for her. I'm sure that she'll be so good I'll write it for her myself."Laura' -- In Blue Blood New York Times 14 Jan 1968: D17. Susskind thought Radziwill "wasn't very good" in her stage performance "but I thought maybe I saw a glimmer of something in her performance. The television companies had noticed the publicity, so it looked like we could set something up." Capote wrote an adaptation of '' The Voice of the Turtle'' for her but Susskind worried it would be too difficult. So he suggested they do ''Laura''. Michael Dyne reportedly rewrote Capote's script. The show was taped in London in October 1967. Robert Stack and George Sanders reprised roles they had performed on TV in the 1955 version. Stack recalled in his memoirs that "the production resembled a junior high school effort."

Reception

Critical reception to Radziwill's performance was hostile. The ''Chicago Tribune'' called it the "worst drama" of the season in which Radziwill was "unbelievably bad". Another review in ''The Washington Post'' said it was "disappointing all round." The ''New York Times'' called it "so laboured and so dull that the occasion was just a laboured walk through."TV: Theme Song Is Still the Best Asset of 'Laura' By JACK GOULD. New York Times 25 Jan 1968: 75.

References

External links

''Laura''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Laura''
at BFI {{Truman Capote 1968 television films 1968 films Films directed by John Llewellyn Moxey