Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982)

The story deals with Gloria Vanderbilt's difficult coming-of-age when, at eleven, she was a pawn in a custody battle between her sybaritic mother and her aunt.

Director:

Waris Hussein

Writers:

Barbara Goldsmith (book), William Hanley (teleplay)

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, Christopher Plummer, Maureen Stapleton

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela Lansbury	...	Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Christopher Plummer	...	Reggie Vanderbilt
Maureen Stapleton	...	Nurse Emma Kieslich
Martin Balsam	...	Nathan Burkan
Barnard Hughes	...	Justice John Francis Carew
Glynis Johns	...	Laura Fitzpatrick Morgan
John Hillerman	...	Maury Paul
Michael Gross	...	Gilchrist
Joseph Maher	...	Smythe
Lucy Gutteridge	...	Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt
Bette Davis	...	Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt (as Betty Davis)
Jennifer Dundas	...	Little Gloria
Rosalyn Landor	...	Thelma Morgan Converse
Leueen Willoughby	...	Consuelo Morgan
Ken Pogue	...	Judge James Aloycious Foley (as Kenneth Pogue)

Storyline

The story deals with Gloria Vanderbilt's difficult coming-of-age when, at eleven, she was a pawn in a custody battle between her sybaritic mother and her aunt.

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Plot Keywords:

custody | nanny | false accusation of being a lesbian | scandal | 1920s | 

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Taglines:

Money, glamour, scandal . . . The story of Little Gloria Vanderbilt. [Video] [Australia]

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gloria Vanderbilt

Filming Locations:

Brockville, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cine-Gloria, Edgar J. Scherick Associates, Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film appearance of J.T. Walsh.

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Goofs

In a voiceover exchange of 1933 telegrams Gloria states that she will be returning from Paris on the Lusitania arriving on Thursday September 25. The Lusitania was torpedoed in May 1915 and no subsequent liners were given this name, although her sister ship Mauretania was in her last year of service. September 25 1933 was also a Monday.

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Connections

Referenced in Cheers: Little Carla, Happy at Last: Part 1 (1987)

User Reviews

Miniseries based on Goldsmith book

"Little Gloria...Happy at Last" is a 1982 miniseries and a clear indication that they just don't make TV movies like they used to. For one thing, the miniseries is gone; for another, since no murder was committed, this type of story is no longer of interest to producers. One thing it might have going for it today - it is true.

The miniseries is based on the Barbara Goldsmith book covering the custody battle between Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and Gertrude Hay Whitney for Gloria Vanderbilt, who was 11 at the time. According to Goldsmith's excellent book, the insecure Little Gloria's fears of being kidnapped were fed into by her deeply religious nurse, Dodo, and vengeful grandmother, Laura Fitzpatrick Morgan while her mother traveled and she visited with her Aunt Gertrude. With all the talk done in front of her about the Lindbergh kidnapping and other copycat crimes, Gloria came to fear her own mother would kidnap and kill her. Never asked to explain the origins of her fears or what they exactly were, Gloria was then paraded in front of doctors and prescribed all sorts of things for her upset stomach and night terrors. Gertrude eventually refuses to return Gloria to her mother, starting an enormous court case, scandal and publicity.

This opulent film is wonderfully acted, beautiful to look at and engrossing, with a top cast including Lucy Gutteridge as Gloria's mother, Angela Lansbury as Gertrude Whitney, Christopher Plummer as Reginal Whitney, Gloria's father, Glynis Johns as Laura Morgan, Maureen Stapleton as Dodo, Jennifer Dundas as Little Gloria, John Hillerman, Martin Balsam, Michael Gross and Barnard Hughes. One more star: Bette Davis as Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt, Little Gloria's grandmother. The casting of Lansbury as Davis' daughter is inspired! The entire cast, as one may imagine, is magnificent.

The story of Little Gloria, today mother of Anderson Cooper, is heartbreaking and shows not only how the power of money continues to corrupt the legal system but the pathetic way that children were raised and treated in our society in the 1930s. Much is made of Gloria's mother traveling and living away from her daughter as if she was the only one doing it; in reality, most wealthy people handed their children to nurses and took off for months at a time. Though Gloria was assigned a guardian, no one unbiased ever talked to her, and doctors were too glad to take the Vanderbilt money, prescribe her laxatives and keep her out of school. You can't count the judge (who was a patient at a mental hospital); he was pro-Vanderbilt and concerned only with Gloria's religious upbringing, not the undue influence she had been under because of her nurse. One's sympathy is with Gloria's inept, confused, passive, overwhelmed mother, who was not a mean-spirited woman, just someone who knew only one way to live. Gertrude, perhaps at first well-meaning, emerges as someone who used her money to buy the justice she needed by getting the help of Mrs. Morgan and the nurse.

A really wonderful movie. Don't miss it.