Murder by Natural Causes (TV 1979)

Allison, the unfaithful wife of a famous mentalist with a heart problem, together with her lover tries to kill him by scaring him to death, but the whole thing goes downhill when it turns out that he knew about it all along.

Director:

Robert Day

Writers:

Richard Levinson, William Link

Stars:

Hal Holbrook, Katharine Ross, Richard Anderson

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hal Holbrook	...	Arthur Sinclair
Katharine Ross	...	Allison Sinclair
Richard Anderson	...	George Brubaker
Barry Bostwick	...	Gil Weston
Jeff Donnell	...	Mrs. Mathews
Bill Fiore	...	Marty Chambers
Victoria Carroll	...	Television Actress
Phil Leeds	...	Eddie, Private Detective
Judith-Marie Bergan	...	Production Assistant
Vivian Brown	...	Maid
Rosanna Huffman	...	Woman in Play
Dany Marrou	...	Marta
Lloyd McLinn	...	Director
Eve McVeagh	...	Helen Carrington
Margery Nelson	...	Party Guest

Storyline

Allison, the unfaithful wife of a famous mentalist with a heart problem, together with her lover tries to kill him by scaring him to death, but the whole thing goes downhill when it turns out that he knew about it all along.

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Plot Keywords:

mentalist | murder plot | struggling actor | heart attack | inside joke | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 February 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Murha luonnollisista syistä

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Entertainment Production, Richard Levinson / William Link Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The play that "Gil Weston" is appearing in is "Prescription: Murder", an actual play from 1962 written by William Levinson and Richard Link, notable for introducing their most famous creation, Lieutenant Columbo. In the original play, Lt. Columbo was portrayed by the famous character actor, Thomas Mitchellin what would be his last acting role.

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Quotes

Arthur Sinclair: [to Allison] You ignored the first rule of infidelity, darling... never cheat on a man who employs a private detective.

User Reviews

A 2-hour acting role, worth Millions.

A "professional" mind reader post-heart attack: He has recovered enough, but . . .

This man is worth Millions. His dutiful wife would love to divorce him for her boyfriend. But she had signed a pesky pre-nuptual agreement, only giving her a portion of his Millions. Unfortunately, for him, she wants it ALL.

With the scene set, she devises a plot so that her young actor boyfriend can use his acting skills to ramp-up the stress on hubby, so he has another heart attack, this time not bothering to call for medical help (just the coroner, later).

As others have made perfectly clear this movie ends in a torrent of plot twists. This can (and will) cause you dizziness.

A lot of the movie shows (quite interestingly), the behind-the-scenes life of a mentalist, preparing for each performance. Then it shows his performances (seamlessly incorporating his prep work).

I have looked for this movie to re-run for about 20 years (so far). I cannot believe that this hasn't been released onto video. It is a killer.