Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Encyclopedia
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) is a made-for-television movie
that was a sequel to the previous year's Eleanor and Franklin
. Originally airing on March 13, 1977, it was part of a two-part biopic directed by Daniel Petrie
based on Joseph P. Lash
's Pulitzer prize
-winning biography chronicling the lives of the 32nd U.S. President
and the First Lady
. Joseph Lash was a secretary and confidant of Eleanor and wrote other books on the couple.
Eleanor and Franklin focussed on their respective childhoods, school years, courtship and the lead up to his election. Seven members of the original cast returned for the sequel, including the two main characters portrayed by Jane Alexander
and Edward Herrmann
. It also won 2 Emmys including outstanding special of the year. Daniel Petrie
, who won an Emmy for the first movie, won again for best director. Both films were acclaimed and noted for historical accuracy.
Cast
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
that was a sequel to the previous year's Eleanor and Franklin
Eleanor and Franklin
Eleanor and Franklin is a television movie released on January 11, 1976, starring Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt. It is the first part in a two-part biopic based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling biography with the same...
. Originally airing on March 13, 1977, it was part of a two-part biopic directed by Daniel Petrie
Daniel Petrie
Daniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...
based on Joseph P. Lash
Joseph P. Lash
Joseph P. Lash was an American radical political activist, journalist, and author. A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lash won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Award in 1972 for Eleanor and Franklin, the first of two volumes he wrote about the former First Lady.-Early...
's Pulitzer prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning biography chronicling the lives of the 32nd U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and the First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
. Joseph Lash was a secretary and confidant of Eleanor and wrote other books on the couple.
Eleanor and Franklin focussed on their respective childhoods, school years, courtship and the lead up to his election. Seven members of the original cast returned for the sequel, including the two main characters portrayed by Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
and Edward Herrmann
Edward Herrmann
Edward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
. It also won 2 Emmys including outstanding special of the year. Daniel Petrie
Daniel Petrie
Daniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...
, who won an Emmy for the first movie, won again for best director. Both films were acclaimed and noted for historical accuracy.
Cast
- Edward HerrmannEdward HerrmannEdward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
-- Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(FDR) 32nd President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.... - Jane AlexanderJane AlexanderJane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
-- 34th First Lady of the United StatesFirst Lady of the United StatesFirst Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The... - Priscilla PointerPriscilla PointerPriscilla Pointer is an American stage, film and television character actress. She began her career in the theater, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood to act in films and on television...
-- Marguerite Missy LeHand. Long-time secretary to Franklin and considered part of the family. - Walter McGinn -- Louis Howe, intimate friend to both Roosevelts and political advisor to Franklin
- Rosemary MurphyRosemary MurphyRosemary Murphy is an American actress of stage, film, and television.Murphy was born in Munich, Germany, the daughter of American parents Mildred and Robert D. Murphy, a diplomat...
-- Sara Delano Roosevelt, Franklin's mother - Blair BrownBlair BrownBonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
-- Anna Roosevelt, Eleanor and Franklin's eldest child - David HealyDavid Healy (actor)David Healy was an American-born actor who starred in many British and American television shows. His credits include voices for the Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, as well as parts in UFO, The Troubleshooters, Randall and Hopkirk , Space...
-- Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, 26th President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, uncle to Eleanor and 5th cousin to Franklin - Peggy McCayPeggy McCayPeggy McCay is a long-time American actress with a career lasting over sixty years in film and television...
-- Grace TullyGrace TullyGrace Tully was private secretary to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt .Grace Tully was born on 9 August 1900 in Bayonne, New Jersey. Her father was a businessman and a loyalist to the Democratic Party. He died when she was young, and Tully and her two sisters and brother were raised by their...
, long time friend/secretary to Eleanor and became Franklin's top secretary after Missy died. - Donald MoffatDonald MoffatDonald Moffat is an English-born actor, now a naturalized American citizen.-Early life:Moffat was born in Plymouth, Devon, the only child of Kathleen Mary and Walter George Moffat, who was an insurance agent. His parents ran a boarding house in Totnes...
-- Harry HopkinsHarry HopkinsHarry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
, one of Franklin's closest advisors and architect of the New DealNew DealThe New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. He was an important liaison between FDR, Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, and StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
meeting personally with the leaders and setting up negotiations during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. - Toni Darnay -- Malvina ThompsonMalvina ThompsonMalvina "Tommy" Thompson was a private secretary and personal aide to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a pioneer of the East Wing staff, being the first staffer for a First Lady of the United States who was not a social secretary.-Career:Thompson began her adult life as an office secretary,...
, Eleanor's personal secretary - Barbara Conrad (Barbara Smith Conrad)Barbara Smith ConradBarbara Smith Conrad is an American operatic mezzo-soprano of international acclaim. Born Barbara Smith, she was raised in Center Point near Pittsburg, Texas. In 1957, Barbara Conrad became the focus of a racial controversy revolving around her role in a student opera at The University of Texas at...
-- Marian AndersonMarian AndersonMarian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
, an American contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
singer. The Daughters of the American RevolutionDaughters of the American RevolutionThe Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
refused to let her sing to an integrated audience, spurring First Lady Eleanor RooseveltEleanor RooseveltAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
to resign from the club and persuade Anderson to sing from the steps of the Lincoln MemorialLincoln MemorialThe Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
. Anderson went on to sing at PresidentsPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
and John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's inaugurations. - Morgan FarleyMorgan FarleyFrancis Morgan Farley was an American actor whose career began in 1918 in the play "Seventeen". Farley played a large number of mostly small parts in movies, television and broadway...
-- William Plog, managed the Roosevelts' Hyde ParkHyde Park, New YorkHyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
estate - Anna LeeAnna LeeAnna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
-- Laura Delano, FDR's cousin - Linda KelseyLinda KelseyLinda Kelsey is an American television actress.Kelsey's professional career began with stage appearances in her home of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her good looks and striking mane of red hair winning her success that ultimately landed her in Los Angeles in 1972, with appearances in small roles...
-- Lucy MercerLucy Page Mercer RutherfurdLucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd was a mistress and long time friend of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was with Roosevelt on the day he died in 1945.-Background:...
, mistress of FDR - Colin Hamilton -- Ike Hoover, Chief Usher of the White House; served both Roosevelt Presidents
- Ray BakerRay BakerRay Baker may refer to:*Ray Stannard Baker , journalist and author*Ray Baker , country-western music producer* Ray Baker , in such films as The Trip , Total Recall and Without a Paddle...
-- James RooseveltJames RooseveltJames Roosevelt was the oldest son of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was a United States Congressman, an officer in the United States Marine Corps, an aide to his father, the official Secretary to the President, a Democratic Party activist, and a businessman.-Early life:Roosevelt was...
, oldest son of the Roosevelts who served as a secretary in his father's White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and went on to become a U.S. Marine serving in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He later became a Congressman from California for 10 years. - Brian Patrick ClarkeBrian Patrick ClarkeBrian Patrick Clarke is an American actor.Clarke was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and graduated from Yale University in 1974...
-- John Aspinwall RooseveltJohn Aspinwall RooseveltJohn Aspinwall Roosevelt was the sixth and last child of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the only Roosevelt son who never sought political office....
, youngest child of the Roosevelts - Don HowardDon HowardDonald L. Howard is a retired American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He is the son of to John and Sandra Howard. Unlike many jockeys, Don did not grow up around the race track. After his father, a veterinarian, purchased a horse trailer from a trainer in Juarez, Mexico, Don was given the...
-- Elliot Roosevelt, son of the Roosevelts who served in WWII - Joseph Hacker -- Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the Roosevelts who also served in the war
- Charles Lampkin -- Irvin McDuffie, FDR's African-American valet during the White House years
- Arthur Gould-Porter -- Sir Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and... - Robert KarnesRobert KarnesRobert A. Karnes was a prolific television actor who also appeared in some films early in his career, including mostly uncredited parts in The Best Years of Our Lives , Miracle on 34th Street , Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye , and From Here to Eternity...
-- United States Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans HughesCharles Evans HughesCharles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
, frequent opponent of FDR in the courts. He also swore him in first 3 of the 4 times he was inaugurated. - David LewisDavid Lewis-Academics:*David Lewis , civil lawyer and first Principal of Jesus College, Oxford*David Lewis , English author and psychologist*David C...
-- United States Supreme Court Justice Melville Weston Fuller, who swore in Teddy Roosevelt. - Gregory Koontz -- Curtis RooseveltCurtis RooseveltCurtis Roosevelt is the second eldest child of Anna Roosevelt and her first husband, Curtis Bean Dall. He is the eldest grandson of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. He is the younger brother of Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves...
, eldest grandson of the Roosevelts; Anna's son from first marriage - Davy Muxlow -- John Roosevelt BoettigerJohn Roosevelt BoettigerJohn Roosevelt Boettiger is the son of Anna Roosevelt Boettiger and her second husband, John Boettiger, and is grandson of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. He lives in Modum, Norway and Massachusetts.As a child, he lived with his mother in the White House...
, Roosevelt's grandson and Anna's son from second marriage