Barnard Hughes Filmography

Born:: July 16, 1915 in Bedford Hills, NY
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Character actor of stage, screen, and television, Barnard Hughes specializes in playing authoritarians and lovable old curmudgeons. During the 1970s, Hughes won a Tony for his portrayal of a dead but still intrusive Irish father whose memory bedevils his son in the drama Da. He reprised the role...Read More

Sort By:
Title
Release Date

The Fantasticks

Actors: Joel Grey, Barnard Hughes, Jean Louisa Kelly, Joseph McIntyre, Jonathon Morris

Synopsis: The longest-running show in the history of the American theater (it opened at an off-Broadway theater in the spring of 1960, where it remained until the production finally closed in early 2002) finally arrives onscreen. Hucklebee (Brad Sullivan) and Bellamy (Joel Grey) are a pair of small town Read More

9/22/00
Cradle Will Rock

Actors: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Cherry Jones, Angus MacFadyen

Synopsis: The sometimes rocky relationship between art and politics in America in the 1930s -- as well as the gulf between the wealthy and the struggling -- sets the stage for Tim Robbins' ambitious comedy-drama Cradle Will Rock. Pulling together a variety of threads from actual events, Robbins examines the Read More

12/8/99
The Odd Couple II

Actors: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Christine Baranski, Barnard Hughes, Jonathan Silverman

Synopsis: Howard Deutch directed this sequel to the The Odd Couple (1968), originally adapted from the 1965 Broadway comedy by Neil Simon. Thirty years later, Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) and retired sportswriter Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) meet at LAX and drive a rental car across the desert to attend the Read More

1998
Homicide: Life on the Street - In Search of Crimes Past

Actors: Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Isabella Hoffman

Synopsis: When an aging convicted murderer is slated to be executed after 16 years on death row, the condemned man's daughter takes Col. Barnfather (Clayton LeBouef) hostage, demanding that her father's case be reopened. While Bolander (Ned Beatty) races against time to find any shred of evidence that might Read More

1995
Past the Bleachers

Actors: Richard Dean Anderson, Grayson Fricke

Synopsis: A coach develops an unlikely friendship with a member of his Little League team in this made-for-television movie. Richard Dean Anderson stars as Bill Parish, a father grieving over the loss his 11-year-old son. He is coaxed into coaching an underdog baseball team to help him work his way through Read More

1995
Primal Secrets

Synopsis: Faith Crowell (Meg Tilly) is a starving artist who is commissioned to paint a mural for socialite Frances Griffiin (Ellen Burstyn). The subject of the mural is to be Frances' daughter, Cassandra, who died accidentally on the night of her coming-out ball. As Faith works on the mural, she begins to Read More

1994
Trick of the Eye

Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Meg Tilly, Barnard Hughes, Paxton Whitehead

Synopsis: Contracted to paint a ballroom to memorialize a young woman's tragic death, an artist starts discovering little tidbits that lead her to believe that the death was no accident. Jane Stanton Hitchcock penned the novel on which this drama is based. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1994
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, Barnard Hughes, Mary Wickes, James Coburn, Michael Jeter

Synopsis: In the sequel to the hit comedy Sister Act, Whoopie Goldberg reprises her role of Deloris Van Cartier, a Las Vegas entertainer who hid out with in a convent of nuns to avoid a nasty bunch of gangsters. In Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Deloris is persuaded to return to the convent by the Mother Read More

1993
Lincoln: I Want to Finish This Job, 1864

Synopsis: By the third year of the Civil War, personal and national tragedy had worn down President Lincoln. However, he focused on his job tenaciously, having a strong sense of history. This is the third of four programs in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter Read More

1992
Lincoln: Now He Belongs to the Ages, 1865

Synopsis: This video is the fourth installment of the Lincoln series, originally aired on PBS. This volume focuses on the last days and hours of Abraham Lincoln's life. Viewers watch as Lincoln's enemies plot their final revenge on the man they believed had dishonored their heritage. The video also reveals Read More

1992
Lincoln: The Pivotal Year, 1863

Synopsis: President Abraham Lincoln leads the Union in the fight to end the awful bloodshed of the Civil War. The year is 1863. The president had a continuous struggle with the commanders of his army, and the bloodshed from the fighting at Antietam and Fredericksburg distressed him greatly. 1863 was the Read More

1992
Lincoln: The Making of a President, 1860-1862

Synopsis: A shrewd politician, Abraham Lincoln had the intelligence, ambition, and principles to grow into his job as president. This is the first of four videos in the Lincoln series, which originally aired on PBS. Produced and directed by Peter W. Kunhardt, this program is narrated by renowned actor James Read More

1992
Doc Hollywood

Actors: Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Barnard Hughes, Woody Harrelson, David Ogden Stiers

Synopsis: A big city doctor is stranded in a small rural town, where he finds love, professional challenges, and a pet pig, in this comedy. Fresh out of residence at a Washington D.C. hospital, hot-shot plastic surgeon Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) hops in his Porsche and is headed for California, where a Read More

8/2/91
What's Under My Bed?

Synopsis: This story discusses children's bedtime fears when Mary Anne and Louie are afraid after Grandpa tells them a scary bedtime story. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1990
Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North, Part 1

Actors: David Keith, Barnard Hughes, Annette O'Toole

Synopsis: Follow the military career of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North beginning with his Naval Academy days through to his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1989
Day One

Actors: Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn, Michael Tucker, Hume Cronyn, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: This WW II-set drama follows the creation of the first atomic bomb. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1989
Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North, Part 2

Actors: David Keith, Barnard Hughes, Annette O'Toole

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North was heralded by the following ad copy: "Patriot. Zealot. Husband. Soldier. Honored. Accused." Add to that "Pedantic" and "Plodding" and you've summed up the film. Presented in two parts, the film traces the career of Oliver North (David Keith Read More

1989
The Incident

Actors: Barnard Hughes, Walter Matthau

Synopsis: Joseph Sargent's made-for-TV drama, set during World War II, stars Walter Matthau as an attorney coerced into defending a German POW who is accused of murdering the town physician (Barnard Hughes), Matthau's best friend. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

1989
Home Fires Burning

Synopsis: In this drama, set in a small town in Georgia, a curmudgeonly, strongly opinionated local editor is upset by the changes wrought by the end of WW II. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1989
Da

Actors: Barnard Hughes, Martin Sheen, William Hickey, Karl Hayden, Doreen Hepburn

Synopsis: Irish author Hugh Leonard's play Home Before Night was the basis of Da. Martin Sheen plays an Irish/ American playright living in New York. No matter how much he's assimilated himself, Sheen cannot escape the influence of his deceased adoptive father (Barnard Hughes). The writer has several heated Read More

4/29/88
The Lost Boys

Actors: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Dianne Wiest, Barnard Hughes, Kiefer Sutherland, Edward Herrmann

Synopsis: In this hit '80s hybrid of the horror movie and the teen flick, a single mom and her two sons become involved with a pack of vampires when they move into an offbeat Northern California town. Lucy (Dianne Wiest) and her sons, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to Santa Carla to live Read More

7/31/87
Night of Courage

Actors: Barnard Hughes, David Hernandez

Synopsis: Barnard Hughes stars in this compelling TV movie as an elderly urbanite who allegedly refuses to shelter a young Hispanic (David Hernandez) from a marauding gang. The youth is killed right before the old man's eyes. Branded a "Bad Samaritan," the man is raked over the coals of adverse public Read More

1987
A Hobo's Christmas

Synopsis: The hobo in the made-for-TV A Hobo's Christmas is played by Barnard Hughes. Drifting from place to place, Hughes finds himself in his hometown of Salt Lake City at Christmastime. Here he hopes to close old wounds and be reunited with his unforgiving son Gerald McRaney, and get to know the Read More

1987
Where Are the Children?

Actors: Jill Clayburgh, Max Gail, Harley Cross, Elisabeth Harnois, Barnard Hughes, Elizabeth Wilson

Synopsis: In this melodrama that emphasizes emotion and a convoluted plot, Nancy Eldridge (Jill Clayburgh) has remarried after her divorce and is trying to recuperate from the tragedy of the deaths of her two children during her previous marriage. That means when her children by current husband Clay (Max Gail Read More

1/24/86
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Actors: Sam Williams, Patrick Day, Frederic Forrest

Synopsis: 1985's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the only filmed version of the Mark Twain classic to cover every episode in the original novel and not merely such familiar vignettes as the "King and the Duke" business. Presented in four parts, Finn opens in 1844, with young Huck (Patrick Day) Read More

1985
Maxie

Actors: Glenn Close, Mandy Patinkin, Ruth Gordon, Barnard Hughes, Valerie Curtin

Synopsis: In this comedy, an ordinary woman finds herself sharing both her home and her body with a ghost who has a pronounced wild streak. Jan (Glenn Close) and Nick (Mandy Patinkin) are a couple moving into an apartment in an old Victorian house in San Francisco. Jan is a straight-laced secretary working Read More

1985
Under the Biltmore Clock

Actors: Sean Young, Lenny Von Dohlen, Barnard Hughes

Synopsis: In this light-weight romantic story, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Myra Meets His Family and set in the 1920s, a young woman is out for a carefree time until one day she decides she needs to marry, and then her life changes more than she could have imagined. When Myra (Sean Young) picks out a Read More

1985
Little Gloria... Happy at Last

Actors: Lucy Gutteridge, Angela Lansbury, Christopher Plummer

Synopsis: Little Gloria...Happy at Last is the two-part TV adaptation of Barbara Goldsmith's 1980 best-seller. The film concerns the true-life custody battle over the daughter of millionaire Reggie Vanderbilt (Christopher Plummer) and his "child bride," Gloria Morgan (Lucy Gutteridge). When the Read More

1984
A Caribbean Mystery

Actors: Maurice Evans, Helen Hayes

Synopsis: Helen Hayes plays Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple in A Caribbean Mystery. Recuperating from an illness at a resort in the Bahamas, Miss Marple makes the acquaintance of a genial British major (Maurice Evans). When her new friend is murdered, Miss M takes on the case herself. She Read More

1983
The Sky's No Limit

Synopsis: This drama chronicles the experiences of three women as they endure the rigors of NASA training and compete with each other to become the first female astronaut in US history. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1983
Tron

Actors: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes

Synopsis: One of the earliest feature films to reflect the video-game craze of the 1980s, Disney's Tron stars Jeff Bridges as computer programmer Kevin Flynn, who becomes part of the very game that he's programming. Flynn's principal antagonist is his glory-grabbing boss, Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who Read More

1982
Best Friends

Actors: Burt Reynolds, Goldie Hawn, Jessica Tandy, Barnard Hughes, Audra Lindley

Synopsis: We'd rather not speculate over how much of Best Friends is autobiographical. We'll just note that this story of a male-female screenwriting team was written by real-life married scenarists Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin. Lovers as well as collaborators, scriveners Richard Babson (Burt Reynolds) Read More

1982
First Monday in October

Actors: Walter Matthau, Jill Clayburgh, Barnard Hughes, Jan Sterling, James Stephens

Synopsis: The election of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court rendered the premise of First Monday in October anachronistic before the picture was even released; ignoring this, however, the film is supremely entertaining (no pun intended). Jill Clayburgh stars as Ruth Loomis, the first lady justice Read More

1981
Homeward Bound

Synopsis: Homeward Bound is the story of a dying teenager who spends the summer with his divorced father, who has been estranged from his own father for many a year. All three spend the summer at the grandfather's vineyard, learning about love and life. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

1980
The Sanctuary of Fear

Synopsis: A Manhattan priest with a fondness for dabbling in detective work investigates a series of unnerving, mysterious attacks, seemingly designed to terrify a young actress. This made-for-television film, retitled for its video release, is inspired by the books of mystery author G.K. Chesterton. ~ Judd Read More

1979
Father Brown, Detective

Synopsis: Barnard Hughes plays Father Brown, the crimesolving cleric created by G. K. Chesterson. In this made for TV movie, Father Brown tends to a parish in the heart of Manhattan--and delights in using his intellectual resources to solve baffling mysteries. He tackles the case of a frightened young Read More

1979
The Bob Newhart Show: Grizzly Emily

Actors: Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace

Synopsis: Emily intends to "bond" with Bob and his father, Herb (Barnard Hughes), by accompanying them on a fishing trip. But before long, the old rules are set in place: Bob and Herb get to do all the rugged "men's stuff," while Emily is saddled with the cooking and cleaning. Laura Levine's teleplay is so Read More

1978
See How She Runs

Actors: Lissy Newman, Joanne Woodward

Synopsis: The made-for-television See How She Runs is the story of a 40-year-old divorced teacher (Joanne Woodward) whose life is changed by her decision to enter the Boston Marathon. Woodward won an Emmy for her performance, while her daughter Lissy Newman made her acting debut in the film. ~ Stephen Read More

1978
Oh, God!

Actors: George Burns, John Denver, Teri Garr, Donald Pleasence, Ralph Bellamy

Synopsis: Adapted by Larry Gelbart from the novel by Avery Corman, the film stars John Denver as Jerry Landers, the assistant manager of a grocery store who is chosen by God (George Burns) to spread the Word to the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, Jerry is soon labelled a basket case: even his loving Read More

1977
Kill Me If You Can

Actors: Alan Alda, Talia Shire, Walter McGinn

Synopsis: The story of "red light bandit" Caryl Chessman, previously dramatized in the 1955 film Cell 2455, Death Row (based on Chessman's own book), was adapted for television as Kill Me If You Can. In a radical departure from his usual duties as MASH's Hawkeye Pierce, Alan Alda plays Chessman, who in 1948 Read More

1977
Ransom for Alice

Synopsis: Ransom for Alice was the pilot film for the unsold series The Busters. The protagonists are not narcotics agents as might be assumed, but instead a male-female team of government undercover agents (Gil Gerard, Yvette Mimieux) operating in Seattle in the 1890s. Their current assignment is to Read More

1977
Tell Me My Name

Synopsis: Valerie Mahaffey plays a 19-year-old girl who nervously knocks at the door of middle-aged housewife Barbara Barrie. Barrie had given Valerie up for adoption at birth, and the girl wants to know why. By her mere presence, Mahffey threatens to tear apart Barrie's family, most of whom have no Read More

1977
The Bob Newhart Show: Making Up Is the Thing to Do

Actors: Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace

Synopsis: In the conclusion of a two-part story arc, Bob is still fretting over the breakup of his parents' marriage. Counting on the holiday spirit to heal old wounds, Bob invites both his mother and father to Christmas dinner at the Hartley apartment, hoping to bring them back together (provided, of Read More

1976
The UFO Incident

Synopsis: The UFO Incident is a TV movie based on the true-life story of Betty and Barney Hill, the biracial married couple whose alleged abduction by extraterrestrials made headlines. The film is careful not to present the Hills' reminiscences as cold facts; both "remember" the ordeal only when probed Read More

1975
Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case

Synopsis: Long before Dr. Richard Kimble's one-armed man, there was Dr. Sam Sheppard's "curly-headed man." On July 4, 1954, Dr. Sheppard's wife was found murdered in their Cleveland home. Sheppard, the prime suspect, insisted that he'd seen a man with curly hair fleeing from his home. No matter: he was Read More

1975
Much Ado About Nothing

Synopsis: Set in early 20th century America, this production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing was originally performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival. It was also broadcast on CBS during the '70s. Television actress Kathleen Widdoes plays proto-feminist Beatrice and Sam Waterston plays her Read More

1974
The Bob Newhart Show: An American Family

Actors: Bob Newhart, Suzanne Pleshette, Bill Daily, Peter Bonerz, Marcia Wallace

Synopsis: Bob and Emily's parents converge at a Thanksgiving dinner at the Hartley apartment. Though Emily is certain that the oldsters will get along, Bob does not share her confidence. True to Bob's predictions, a war of words breaks out between Bob's intractable mother (Martha Scott) and Emily's Read More

1974
The Thanksgiving Treasure

Synopsis: Set in 1947, The Thanksgiving Treasure takes place on the small Nebraska farm of the Mills family. 11-year-old Addie Mills (Lisa Lucas) is of the opinion that the purpose of Thanksgiving is to turn an enemy into a friend--just as the Pilgrims and the Indians did back in 1620. Addie hopes to mend Read More

1973
The Borrowers

Actors: Eddie Albert, Tammy Grimes

Synopsis: Fans of the 1970s cartoon series The Littles may enjoy its live-action spiritual ancestor The Borrowers. Dennis Larson plays an eight-year-old boy living in Victorian England. While exploring his aunt's (Dame Judith Anderson) mansion, Larson peeks under the floorboards...and what should he see but Read More

1973
All in the Family: Edith's Conversion

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Betty Garrett

Synopsis: Archie is uncomfortable with Edith's new friend, a peppery Catholic nun named Theresa (Phyllis Avery). When Edith begins attending mass -- mainly to hear the music -- Archie worries that his wife is planning to convert to Catholicism. In his usual roundabout manner, Arch holds next-door neighbor Read More

1973
Pueblo

Actors: Hal Holbrook

Synopsis: Pueblo is a 2-hour videotaped special, originally telecast March 29, 1973 on ABC Theatre. Hal Holbrook stars as commander Lloyd M. Bucher, who in January of 1968 was forced to surrender the USS Pueblo to North Korea. The drama is staged in an impressionistic manner, with dramatized Read More

1973
Holiday Treasure

Synopsis: Set during Thanksgiving, this feature stars veteran performers Jason Robards, Sr. and Melvyn Douglas in a touching story of warmth, compassion, and reaching out during the feast of the year. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide Read More

1973
Sisters

Actors: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, William Finley, Lisle Wilson

Synopsis: A reporter gets more than she bargained for when she tries to prove that a murder has occurred in Brian De Palma's disturbing thriller. Danielle (Margot Kidder) meets Phillip (Lisle Wilson) on a "Peeping Tom"-themed game show and, dodging her ex-husband Emil (William Finley), takes him back to her Read More

1973
All in the Family: Edith Flips Her Wig

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, James Gregory

Synopsis: Could Edith Bunker be a kleptomaniac? That's what Edith thinks when she is arrested for shoplifting after accidentally leaving a store with an unpaid-for item. Mike and Gloria advise that Edith visit a psychiatrist, but Archie insist that he handle the matter himself -- and guess what happens Read More

1972
Deadhead Miles

Actors: Alan Arkin, Paul Benedict, Hector Elizondo, Oliver Clark, Charles Durning

Synopsis: One of Terrence Malick's early screenwriting efforts, this loosely-structured road movie finds a questionably sane long-distance trucker named Cooper (Alan Arkin) winding his way through the heart of America. An employee of a questionable hauling outfit who has been assigned to drive a newly Read More

1972
Rage

Actors: George C. Scott, Richard Basehart, Martin Sheen, Barnard Hughes, Nicolas Beauvy

Synopsis: The second of actor George C. Scott's rare directorial efforts (his first being the 1970 television film The Andersonville Trial), this drama, produced at the height of the Vietnam War, was critical of the military's weapons testing. Scott stars as Dan Logan, a single father living with his Read More

1972
The Hospital

Actors: Rehn Scofield, George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Nancy Marchand, Stephen Elliott

Synopsis: Directed by Arthur Hiller from the second of three Academy Award-winning screenplays by Paddy Chayefsky, The Hospital is a black comedy centering on Dr. Herbert Bock (George C. Scott), a bitter, suicidal surgeon. While patients at the hospital die left and right due to the extreme carelessness and Read More

1971
All in the Family: Edith's Accident

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Mike Evans

Synopsis: Accidentally denting the fender of a parked car with a can of peaches, Edith leaves a note on the car's windshield. A furious Archie reprimands Edith for her unrepentant act of honesty, but that's hardly the end of the story, which includes such elements as insurance fraud and an "unfrocked" Read More

1971
Cold Turkey

Actors: Edward Everett Horton, Jean Stapleton, Dick Van Dyke, Pippa Scott, Bob Newhart

Synopsis: This comedy is notable as the final onscreen appearance (non-speaking) of Edward Everett Horton, a staple comic supporting actor from the early '30s onward. Dick Van Dyke plays an ambitious small-town minister who rallies the whole town to meet a challenge bet by a tobacco corporation. Cooked up Read More

1971
A Memory of Two Mondays

Actors: Harvey Keitel

Synopsis: Paul Bogart directed this 1974 televised production of Arthur Miller's classic play, A Memory of Two Mondays. An dramatic and comedic ensemble piece, the one-act traces several years in the lives of a group of characters working in an auto parts warehouse during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Read More

1970
Where's Poppa?

Actors: George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman, Trish VanDevere, Barnard Hughes

Synopsis: Director Carl Reiner, most closely associated with the homey values of situation comedies, shocked, surprised, and (in some cases) delighted his admirers with the jet-black comedy Where's Poppa?. George Segal plays Gordon Hocheiser, a New York attorney whose love life is constantly being sabotaged Read More

1970
Dr. Cook's Garden

Synopsis: An uncharacteristic Bing Crosby plays Dr. Cook, a small town physician with a little something to hide. Outwardly gentle and compassionate, Cook is less politely inclined to those in his Vermont community whom he regards as disposable. When a young man (Frank Converse) whom Cook has raised as a Read More

1970
The Pursuit of Happiness

Actors: Barbara Hershey, Michael Sarrazin, Ruth White

Synopsis: William Popper (Michael Sarrazin) is the son of a stockbroker and is thoroughly disenchanted with "the system." So much so that even though he can prove that he ran over a woman in his car entirely by accident, he accepts a sentence for manslaughter. His participation in some prison violence Read More

1970
Midnight Cowboy

Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro