Will There Really Be a Morning? (TV 1983)

This is the story of actress Frances Farmer.

Director:

Fielder Cook

Writers:

Frances Farmer (book), Dalene Young (teleplay)

Stars:

Susan Blakely, Lee Grant, Royal Dano

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Blakely	...	Frances Farmer
Lee Grant	...	Lillian Farmer
Royal Dano	...	Ernest Farmer
Joe Lambie	...	Bill Anderson
John Heard	...	Clifford Odets
Melanie Mayron	...	Sophie
Leonardo Cimino	...	Adolph Zukor (as Leonard Cimino)
Jack Creley	...	Professor Williams (as Jack Creeley)
James Eckhouse	...	Harold Clurman
Jeannie Elias	...	Lottie (as Jeanne Elias)
Joseph Maher	...	1st Doctor
Bruce Ornstein	...	John Garfield
Paul Perri	...	Luther Adler
Madeleine Sherwood	...	2nd Doctor (as Madeline Thornton-Sherwood)
Ivor Francis	...	Drama Teacher

Storyline

Based on the fast and frantic life of actress Frances Farmer tracing her life from her childhood in Seattle, through her college years, her flirtation with radical politics, her success in films and the theater, her doomed love affair with Clifford Odets, her physical and mental breakdown, and her ultimate emergence from an institution where she spent five years, to her death from cancer.

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Plot Keywords:

actress | frances farmer | theater | clifford odets | playwright | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Credere per vivere

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jaffe-Blakely Films, Orion Television, Sama Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min 180 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Jeanira Ratcliffe', Farmer's ghostwriter, wrote a draft of the screenplay in the early 1970s when the book was being considered for a big screen adaptation.

User Reviews

The awesome story of '30s actress Frances Farmer

Susan Blakely plays '30s actress, Frances Farmer brilliantly in this tragic autobiography which writer Dalene Young has adapted well. Blakely starts when Frances is in her teens and the film tracks her life (of 60+ years) from the budding actress who wins a trip to Moscow and New York and the Group Theatre by writing an essay entitled, "God Is Dead." Her goal was never movies but her mother, played by Lee Grant with great power, pushed her into a career in Hollywood. Frances put up with it but her heart was with the Group (she married Clifford Odets briefly), and her willfulness got her arrested. Then her mother had her committed in an attempt to control her. And Frances wound up in the dark ages of psychiatry in a mental institution in Washington. Her father, played by the great actor,Royal Dano, too meek to stand up to Mrs. Farmer, allowed that Frances remain in the harshest institution even after the docs were ready to let her go home. Blakely's acting won the highest praise. The scenes in the mental institution are fascinating in terms of what the world was like then. This was a three hour special for CBS (the entire prime-time).