"Blind Ambition" (1979) (mini)TV mini-series

Director:

George Schaefer

Writers:

Taylor Branch (book)
John Dean (book)

Release Date:

20 May 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Television series docu-drama traces the career of John Dean, special counsel of president Nixon.

Plot Keywords:

Nixon | Watergate | Attorney | Government | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Ralph Byers	...	Hugh Sloan
K Callan	...	Mrs. Kleindienst
Michael Callan	...	Charles Colson
Larry Carroll	...	TV Commentator
Lonny Chapman	...	L. Patrick Gray
Al Checco	...	Judge John Sirica
Howard Culver
William Daniels	...	G. Gordon Liddy
Clifford David	...	Fielding
Brian Farrell	...	Kehrli
Ed Flanders	...	Charles Shaffer
Fred Grandy	...	Donald Segretti
James Greene	...	E. Howard Hunt
Christopher Guest	...	Jeb Stuart Magruder
Pamela Hall
Alan Haufrect	...	Robert McCandless
Mitzi Hoag	...	May-Chapin's Secretary
Hettie Lynne Hurtes	...	T.V. Commentator
Graham Jarvis	...	John Ehrlichman
James Karen	...	Earl Silbert
Janice Kent	...	Colson's Secretary
William Kerwin	...	Mr. Dolman
Lee Kessler	...	Jane
Jack Kosslyn	...	Paul
Paul Lukather	...	Neal
Mario Machado	...	TV Commentator
Joe Mantell	...	Joey
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Deputy (as Frank McCarthy)
Larry McCormick	...	TV Commentator
Terence McGovern	...	Jack Garfield
Ray Nikolaison	...	Photographer
Kip Niven	...	Egil Krogh
Jenny O'Hara	...	Liz Garfield
Gerald S. O'Loughlin	...	John J. 'Jack' Caufield
Alan Oppenheimer	...	George Simonson
Carolyn A. Poer	...	Woman, Inaugural #2
Lawrence Pressman	...	H.R. Haldeman
Dan Priest	...	Moore
Anne Ramsey
Logan Ramsey	...	J. Edgar Hoover
John Randolph	...	John Mitchell
Mary Linda Rapelye	...	Senater Baker's Wife
Ron Recasner	...	Marshall
Peter Mark Richman	...	Robert Mardian
Theresa Russell	...	Maureen Dean
William Schallert	...	Herbert Kalmbach
Martin Sheen	...	John Dean
David Sheiner	...	Sam Dash
James Sloyan	...	Ronald Ziegler
Garn Stephens	...	Carol
Rip Torn	...	Richard M. Nixon
William Windom	...	Richard Kleindienst
Darrell Zwerling	...	Frederick LaRue

Also Known As:

The John Dean Story

Runtime:

USA:480 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Talent Associates

Trivia:

Martin Sheen's father, Francisco Estevez, died prior to the series' premiere. Sheen was unable to attend the funeral, so he mourned his father in the scene in which John Dean cries in his jail cell.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Walker (2007)

Riveting and true account of Watergate; 8 hours long, but zooms by.

This mini-series is the quintessence of the entire Watergate story. It lasts 8 hours in 2-hour pieces (with commercials). John Dean was the person who was at the very heart of the cover-up. The movie is based upon his book, also titled "Blind Ambition". The book is seen by most historians as the exhaustive presentation of all the incidents surrounding the break-in and the cover-up. This is riveting, and gives full portraits of the 20 or so characters who were the players in the Watergate story.