Warm Springs (film)
Encyclopedia
Warm Springs is a 2005 television film about American President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia
spa
resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression
.
Actress Jane Alexander
who plays Sara Delano Roosevelt
, FDR's mother; also played Eleanor Roosevelt in the acclaimed 1976 telefilm Eleanor and Franklin
and its 1977 sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
. Many of the bit part
actors in the film are actually physically challenged, though Branagh and several other of the principal actors are not. The withered look on Branagh's legs was achieved through the use of CGI
.
and directed by Joseph Sargent
. The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia
and its surrounding locations. The producers strove to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible. For example, Kenneth Branagh, as Roosevelt, is seen driving the very same specially-equipped automobile that FDR was taught to drive at Warm Springs. The cottage that Roosevelt stays in during the film is one of the cottages that the real FDR stayed in. And the swimming pool in which the patients swim in is the actual therapeutic swimming pool at Warm Springs, refurbished specifically for the film.
). Joseph Sargent, who was also Emmy-nominated for his direction, did not win. He did, however, receive a Directors Guild of America
award for Warm Springs. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle
won a Writers Guild of America Award
for her script. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not receive any.
was actually caused by Guillain-Barré syndrome
, not polio.
Many people, however, still hold to the idea that it was polio. In either case, the film is accurate in that Roosevelt and everyone around him believed that his symptoms were caused by polio, which was endemic in the U.S. at the time.
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...
's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32 °C...
spa
Spa town
A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from... |
Franklin D. Roosevelt 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... |
| Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award.... |
Eleanor Roosevelt 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... |
| Kathy Bates Kathy Bates Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe... |
Helena Mahoney |
| Tim Blake Nelson Tim Blake Nelson Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father... |
Tom Loyless Tom Loyless Tom W. Loyless is now best known as the managing owner of the Warm Springs spa resort... |
| 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... |
Sara Delano Roosevelt Sara Roosevelt Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt was the 2nd wife of James Roosevelt, Sr. , and the mother of President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her only child.-Childhood:... |
| David Paymer David Paymer David Paymer is an American actor and television director, seen in such films as Quiz Show, Searching for Bobby Fischer, City Slickers, Crazy People, State and Main, Payback, Get Shorty, Carpool, The American President, Ocean's Thirteen, and Drag Me to Hell... |
Louis McHenry Howe |
| Melissa Ponzio | Lucy Mercer Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd Lucy 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:... |
| Marianne Fraulo | Missy LeHand |
| Brian F. Durkin Brian F. Durkin Brian F. Durkin is an American actor. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated from the University of Florida, with a B.S... |
Elliott Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt was a United States Army Air Forces officer and an author. Roosevelt was a son of U.S. President Franklin D... |
| Turner Dixon | James Roosevelt James Roosevelt James 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... |
| Tripp Hennington | Franklin, Jr. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. was an American politician. He was the fifth child of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sr. and his wife Eleanor.-Personal life:... |
| Sam Frihart | John Roosevelt John Aspinwall Roosevelt John 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.... |
| Carrie Adams | Anna Roosevelt |
| Wilbur Fitzgerald Wilbur Fitzgerald Wilbur Fitzgerald is an American television actor. He played the role of Bruce Bennett on the television show Prison Break.Fitzgerald also played District Attorney Darnelle on In the Heat of the Night.... |
Al Smith Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928... |
Actress 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...
who plays Sara Delano Roosevelt
Sara Roosevelt
Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt was the 2nd wife of James Roosevelt, Sr. , and the mother of President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her only child.-Childhood:...
, FDR's mother; also played Eleanor Roosevelt in the acclaimed 1976 telefilm 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...
and its 1977 sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years 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...
. Many of the bit part
Bit part
A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue . In British television, bit parts are referred to as under sixes...
actors in the film are actually physically challenged, though Branagh and several other of the principal actors are not. The withered look on Branagh's legs was achieved through the use of CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
.
Production
The film was produced by HBO FilmsHBO Films
HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. While much of HBO Films' output is created directly for the television market, such as the film Witness Protection and the mini-series Band of Brothers, Pacific, Generation Kill and Angels in...
and directed by Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent is an American film director. He has directed many television movies, but his best known feature film works are probably White Lightning, MacArthur, Nightmares and Jaws: The Revenge, with his most popular film being The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. He has won four Emmy Awards...
. The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32 °C...
and its surrounding locations. The producers strove to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible. For example, Kenneth Branagh, as Roosevelt, is seen driving the very same specially-equipped automobile that FDR was taught to drive at Warm Springs. The cottage that Roosevelt stays in during the film is one of the cottages that the real FDR stayed in. And the swimming pool in which the patients swim in is the actual therapeutic swimming pool at Warm Springs, refurbished specifically for the film.
Reception
The film was nearly unanimously praised by the critics, and won five Emmy Awards out of an astounding sixteen nominations, including Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie, Best Supporting Actress in a Made-For-Television Movie (Jane Alexander), and Best Original Score (Bruce BroughtonBruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
). Joseph Sargent, who was also Emmy-nominated for his direction, did not win. He did, however, receive a Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
award for Warm Springs. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle
Margaret Nagle
Margaret Nagle is a screenwriter and television producer who has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and won two Writer's Guild of America Awards. Her very first script HBO's "Warm Springs" won the 2005 Emmy Award for Best Television Movie. It also won Nagle the 2006 Writers Guild of America Award...
won a Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for her script. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not receive any.
Historical basis
A peer-reviewed study in 2003 determined it was more likely Roosevelt's paralytic illnessFranklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness began in 1921 at age 39, when Roosevelt got a fever after exercising heavily at a vacation in Canada. While his bout with illness was well known during his terms as President of the United States, the extent of his paralysis was kept from public view. After...
was actually caused by Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain-Barré syndrome
Guillain–Barré syndrome , sometimes called Landry's paralysis, is an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy , a disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system. Ascending paralysis, weakness beginning in the feet and hands and migrating towards the trunk, is the most typical symptom...
, not polio.
Many people, however, still hold to the idea that it was polio. In either case, the film is accurate in that Roosevelt and everyone around him believed that his symptoms were caused by polio, which was endemic in the U.S. at the time.
See also
- Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation
- Sunrise at CampobelloSunrise at CampobelloSunrise at Campobello is a 1960 American biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August...