TV Movies About Celebrities

[ClassyCo]

Several celebrities have gotten "their" stories told on the small screen over the years.

I've been thinking about these:

Catherine Hicks in MARILYN: THE UNTOLD STORY (1980)
Ann Jillian in MAE WEST (1982)
Lynda Carter in RITA HAYWORTH: THE LOVE GODDESS (1983)
Cheryl Ladd in GRACE KELLY (1983)

There were more during this period, of course, but these are the ones I think about most often. TV movies in this era seemed cluttered with half-baked movies-of-the-week about one celebrity or the other.

Have you seen any of these movies? Sometimes you can find them on YouTube or on apps like Tubi.



Ann Jillian as Mae West.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I’ve a few on my watchlist, some about movie stars, but more about tabloid celebrities of the time, including:

The Jayne Mansfield Story - starring Loni Anderson & Arnold Schwarzenegger

Onassis: The Richest Man in the World - starring Raul Julia as Onassis and Jane Seymour as Maria Call

Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean - starring Suzanne Pleshette as the notorious hotel mogul.

Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer - starring Chynna Phillips and Perry King about the messy divorce scandal that played out in the tabloids.

There is of course the ultimate in celebrity TV movie, Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story where Deidre plays herself.

 

[lost-in-time]

Wasn’t there a new Roseanne TV movie every week in the 90s?

 

[Willie Oleson]

The Woman He Loved (1988) starring Jane Seymour as Wallis Simpson
James Dean (1967)
The Blonde Bombshell (1999) - TV mini series about Diana Dors

 

[Crimson]

There is of course the ultimate in celebrity TV movie, Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story where Deidre plays herself.

Sophia Loren also played her own mother and herself in a TV-movie biography.

Not technically biographies, but there was MOVIOLA a trio of TV-movies from 1980 about Greta Garbo & John Gilbert ("The Silent Lovers"), Marilyn Monroe's early days ("This Year's Blonde"), and the numerous actresses who competed for the lead in GONE WITH THE WIND ("The Scarlett O'Hara War").

 

[ClassyCo]

The Jayne Mansfield Story - starring Loni Anderson & Arnold Schwarzenegger

We've discussed this movie elsewhere, but I think it is well-cast. Anderson and Schwarzenegger were really like an early-80s counterpart to Jayne and her muscleman hubby Mickey Hargitay.

Loni giggles and twists her way into an over-the-top version of Mansfield, if that's even possible considering the real-life Jayne was indeed quite over-the-top herself.

The movie is, as one should expect, full of inaccuracies. Names are changed and events are rearranged in many spots. Overall, though, I'd say the movie is a semi-good representation of Jayne, her brief splash with mainstream celebrity, and her slow descendant into irrelevant self-parody.

 

[ClassyCo]

The Blonde Bombshell (1999) - TV mini series about Diana Dors

I watched this a few weeks ago. I am not terribly well-versed on Diana Dors and her life, whether professionally or personally.

I did find the movie interesting, though, and if what is in it is true, then Dors ran an eventful and colorful life.

I've yet to see Dors in anything, and I'm mostly familiar with her as a blowsy character actress later in her career.

 

[ClassyCo]

Greta Garbo & John Gilbert ("The Silent Lovers")

and the numerous actresses who competed for the lead in GONE WITH THE WIND ("The Scarlett O'Hara War").

 

[Monzo]

There's a TV movie about Karen Carpenter which had a massive 26.3 rating:

There is another movie about Karen Carpenter that never aired on television:

 

[DallasFanForever]

Two of my favorites were Gleason (2002) and Martin & Lewis (2002). I didn’t think Brad Garrett necessarily made for the best Jackie Gleason but I enjoyed the movie nonetheless. Martin & Lewis was sensational in my opinion. As is always the case with these movies, I’m not sure how much of it was completely true but both movies were highly entertaining to watch.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I loved Feud: Bette and Joan and thought Susan Sarandon was fab as Bette Davis.
Wish it was on DVD

 

[Monzo]

Does anyone remember “A Woman Named Jackie”? Young Jackie was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar, the older one by Roma Downey. William Devane portrayed Jackie's father.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Does anyone remember “A Woman Named Jackie”? Young Jackie was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar, the older one by Roma Downey. William Devane portrayed Jackie's father.

I remember this, another called Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (with Jaclyn Smith) and one called Women of Camelot but I’m sure there’s more.

There’s two from Lifetime that I’d somehow forgotten - House of Versace and Liz & Dick. Both are pretty bad although Gina Gershon provides some campy moments as Donatella Versace and Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor is worth seeing for the car crash value.

 

[Daniel Avery]

There is of course the ultimate in celebrity TV movie, Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story where Deidre plays herself.

Sophia Loren also played her own mother and herself in a TV-movie biography.

There is also Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story which re-enacts the tragedies of Joan's husband/Melissa's dad committing suicide...with Joan and Melissa playing themselves. Joan was a brilliant writer, so it always mystified me that she got someone else to write this for them to play.

 

[tommie]

Well, Gloria Gaynor is getting a Lifetime biopic: https://deadline.com/2024/03/gloria-gaynor-biopic-lifetime-robin-roberts-presents-1235846954/

 

[bmasters9]

The Jessica Savitch Story: a Lifetime outing from 1995 based on the life and tragic death of that NBC News anchorwoman...

 

[ClassyCo]

I've watched two of these TV movies in the past couple of days: THE SILENT LOVERS and MAE WEST. The first I caught on YouTube, the latter on Tubi.

THE SILENT LOVERS focuses on the 1920s love affair between screen stars Greta Garbo (Kristina Wayborn) and John Gilbert (Barry Bostwick). They face numerous hardships and stumbling blocks by Garbo's mentor, Mauritz Stiller (Brian Keith) and their studio boss, MGM's own Louis B. Mayer (Harold Gould).

I know Garbo and Gilbert had a "fiery" off-screen romance, but I'm not studious in the facts enough to determine whether or not this movie is mere salacious fiction.

I think Kristina Wayborn is an awful Garbo. Someone like Garbo is hard to portray, and poor Wayborn just isn't up to the task. I don't like how they give Garbo a strong determination acting, either. From my understanding, she was lazy and lacked any strong ambition to work.

Barry Bostwick is an alright Gilbert, and Brian Keith is a good Stiller. Granted, I don't know much about either of these real-life men. For me, the standout was Harold Gould, who I thought made a very good L.B. Mayer.

Overall, I'd say this movie was entertaining, but I wanted take any of the "facts" presented to the bank.



Then there's MAE WEST, the biopic starring Ann Jillian in the title role.

Again, this movie has a lot of fabrications, weird time jumps, and flat-out inaccuracies presented as genuine reality and factual.

For its purposes, I still think the movie is effective. Mae West is a good, pioneering celebrity to do a biopic on. Has HBO given up on their pitch?

Ann Jillian is good as West. She's got the voice pretty much right (sorta), even if she's a little too lean physically. Piper Laurie is good as Mae's mom, Matilda, and there's other good performances throughout. Roddy McDowall is good as her good pal -- but was that a real person?

Where I think the movie takes most of its liberties is with Mae's personal life. There's so many characters sprinkled in and I'm unsure if they're based on real people or outright fabrications.

 

[ClassyCo]

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (with Jaclyn Smith)

I've got this one saved on YouTube to watch later. I feel Smith will make a good Jackie Kennedy.

Liz & Dick.

Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor is worth seeing for the car crash value.

Lohan is horrid as Elizabeth Taylor. The lack of physical beauty aside, Lohan hadn't the acting chops to tackle this role. Megan Fox, who was another contender, probably would've been better. Larry Thompson said "a lot of people" were shocked by the casting of Lohan. Yeah, I bet.

"I won't live without you..." (as she runs away) and "Elizabeth wants to play..." (when she comes to see Burton) are two lines from the movie that always make me laugh.

LIZ & DICK isn't even good enough to be a guilty pleasure. Awful green screens, bad performances; it's just bad.

 

[ClassyCo]

I loved Feud: Bette and Joan and thought Susan Sarandon was fab as Bette Davis.
Wish it was on DVD

It's on Hulu. But that requires a subscription.

 

[Toni]

Several celebrities have gotten "their" stories told on the small screen over the years.

I've been thinking about these:

Catherine Hicks in MARILYN: THE UNTOLD STORY (1980)
Ann Jillian in MAE WEST (1982)
Lynda Carter in RITA HAYWORTH: THE LOVE GODDESS (1983)
Cheryl Ladd in GRACE KELLY (1983)

There were more during this period, of course, but these are the ones I think about most often. TV movies in this era seemed cluttered with half-baked movies-of-the-week about one celebrity or the other.

Have you seen any of these movies? Sometimes you can find them on YouTube or on apps like Tubi.

View attachment 51452

Ann Jillian as Mae West.

This is one of my favorite subgenres. I did watch Catherine Hicks and Cheryl Ladd movies, and I remember that I was amazed at how good Hicks was as Marilyn, despite her features don´t really remind of MM. I thought she was excellent, as was the actress Kelli Garner in the more recent MM miniseries. Forslund in "Moviola" was absolutely forgettable. However, I love each and every actress in the Moviola chapter of "Scarlett O´Hara", including that last shot of Morgan Brittany.

Cheryl Ladd´s telemovie was frustrating in many levels. I truly think she was a great choice, very different from her Kris Munro. Lloyd Bridges and Diane Ladd are well cast, but the rest is a whole mess. Ian McShane is there to get the check (as with "Dallas") and the actors who play famous stars are just awful. Besides, the photography is the typically early 80s video film that makes the experience even more difficult to watch. Again, I think Ladd was great here.

More opinions soon. Thanks to @ClassyCo for starting just another of his very interesting threads!