Ford Rainey Filmography

ER: Power

Synopsis: During a power outage at the ER, Greene (Anthony Edwards) is forced to improvise to treat an injured utilities repairman. Elsewhere, a helpful neighbor brings in an elderly couple suffering from suspicious injuries. Carol (Julianna Margulies) tries to send word to Ross about her pregnancy, despite Read More

Ned and Stacey: Season 02

Actors: Thomas Haden Church, Debra Messing, Greg Germann, Nadia Dajani, Dori Brenner, Harry Goz, Ford Rainey

Synopsis: Season one of Ned and Stacey concluded as selfish ad executive Ned (Thomas Haden Church) and abrasive left-wing journalist Stacey (Debra Messing) were on the brink of divorcing, thus breaking up the "marriage of convenience" that had been brokered by Stacey's sister Amanda (Nadia Dajani) so that Read More

Bed and Breakfast

Actors: Roger Moore, Talia Shire, Colleen Dewhurst, Nina Siemaszko, Ford Rainey

Synopsis: A mysterious stranger has a surprising effect on three generations of women in this romantic comedy-drama. Ruth (Colleen Dewhurst) is a widow who runs a bed and breakfast in a small New England tourist community. Ruth shares her home with Claire (Talia Shire), who recently lost her husband, a Read More

Moonlighting: In 'N Outlaws

Synopsis: This episode focuses on Blue Moon employees Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) and Agnes Dipesto (Allyce Beasley). Bert wants to attend a Viola family reunion, but Agnes has been sequestered with the jury for the murder trial of one John Gibson--and of course, Agnes is the sole holdout who believes in Read More

The Cellar

Synopsis: This passable monster chiller is actually aimed at a slightly younger audience, featuring a young hero whose family relocates to an old ranch house in the Southwestern desert in which resides an ancient Comanche monster known as a "Quagway" -- which has a sweet tooth for bite-sized human morsels. Read More

J. Edgar Hoover

Actors: Treat Williams

Synopsis: Based on the book My 30 Years in Hoover's FBI by William G. Sullivan and William S. Brown, this made-for-cable biopic stars Treat Williams as the infamous Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Coming of Age

Synopsis: In this drama, a poor family used to living on a quiet and remote farm, find their lives disrupted when a freeway is slated to run through their property. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Halloween II

Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer, Lance Guest

Synopsis: While John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween irrevocably changed the style of horror cinema with its simple but relentlessly tense story, it triggered more than a decade's worth of uninspired, exploitative knock-offs, and one could easily list Halloween II among these failures. As with its Read More

M*A*S*H: Dreams

Synopsis: In this near-surrealist episode, everyone at the 4077th is suffering from the fatigue of a medical crisis. Unable to go to sleep for any great length of time, the staff begins taking little cat-naps. The result is a series of dreams and nightmares that are as bizarre as anything out of a Luis Read More

Gideon's Trumpet

Actors: Henry Fonda, John Houseman, José Ferrer, Fay Wray

Synopsis: In the tradition of his earlier work in Grapes of Wrath and Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda played another social-protest role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV presentation Gideon's Trumpet. Clarence Earl Gideon (Fonda) is a poor, ill-tempered Florida handyman who is arrested for petty larceny in Read More

Strangers: The Story of a Mother and a Daughter

Synopsis: The made-for-television movie Strangers: The Story of a Mother and a Daughter concerns a bitter widow (Bette Davis) who is upset about the unexpected return of her estranged daughter (Gena Rowlands). Davis won an Emmy for her performance. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Backstairs at the White House

Actors: Leslie Uggams, Olivia Cole, Louis Gossett, Jr., Robert Hooks, Leslie Nielsen

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling memoirs of Lillian Rogers Parks, the NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House traces over five decades of American political history as witnessed from the vantage point of the servants' quarters. Played by Tania Johnson as a teenager and by Leslie Uggams as an adult, Lillian Rogers Parks Read More

Friendly Fire

Actors: Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, Dennis Erdman, Timothy Hutton

Synopsis: The Emmy-winning TV movie Friendly Fire was adapted by Fay Kanin from the fact-based book by C.D.B. Bryan. Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty play Peg and Gene Mullen, the parents of a young soldier who is killed in Vietnam. Dissatisfied with the "official" version of their son's death, Peg and Gene Read More

The Waltons: The Moonshiner

Synopsis: Jason (Jon Walmsley) takes it upon himself to reform his cousin Boone Walton (Morgan Woodward), who is a bit too fond of moonshine liquor. This proves difficult when Bonne befriends the Baldwin sisters, who of course have been brewing up their own special family "recipe" for years. Meanwhile Read More

Quincy, M.E.: Accomplice to Murder

Synopsis: An autopsy performed by Quincy (Jack Klugman) determines that Mrs. Martha Steele (Karen Philipp) died of a cerebral hemmorhage, supposedly caused by an encounter with a burglar. But Quincy is certain that the brain damage occurred long before the burglary--and he suspects that Mrs. Steele was the Read More

Little House on the Prairie: I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away, Part 1

Actors: Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson

Synopsis: In this first episode of Little House on the Prairie's two-part season four finale, Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) is diverted from her blossoming romance with Seth (Robert Kenneally) by her rapidly failing eyesight. What Mary doesn't yet know, but her father Charles does, is that she will Read More

A Family Upside Down

Synopsis: A Family Upside Down stars Fred Astaire and Helen Hayes as a retired married couple. Always proud of his independence and resilience, Astaire suffers a sudden heart attack. Though he recovers, Hayes is unable to care for Astaire herself, so she and her husband are compelled to move in with son Efrem Zimbalist Jr Read More

Mountain Man

Actors: Denver Pyle, John Dehner, Ken Berry, Cheryl Miller, Don Shanks

Synopsis: This family adventure chronicles the adventures and exploits of George Clark (Denver Pyle), one of the early naturalists. Clark was a friend and peer of John Muir, the man whose writings did so much to encourage the development of the national park system in the U.S. The two men attempt to save Read More

Captains and the Kings

Synopsis: One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Read More

The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe

Synopsis: The third and final TV-movie in the "Joshua Cabe" saga, this ABC effort stars John McIntire as rascally rancher-turned-sheriff Joshua Cabe, a role played by Buddy Ebsen in the original The Daughters of Joshua Cabe) and by Dan Dailey in The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return. This time out, Cabe is Read More

Little House on the Prairie: Four Eyes

Actors: Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson

Synopsis: The Ingalls family cannot understand why the hard-working Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson) is falling behind in school. In turns out that Mary's eyesight is failing and she needs glasses. When she is teased as "four-eyes" by the other students, Mary contrives to lose her new spectacles, but then learns Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Trail of Terror

Synopsis: A gang of scurrilous sailors go into the smuggling business, bringing some valuable jade into the country by illegal means. When a jewelry-store owner balks at the sailors' monetary demands for the contraband jade, the sailors kill the man and begin stalking the only witness, the victim's daughter Read More

The Rockford Files: Counter Gambit

Synopsis: Though there's no love lost between Jim Rockford (James Garner) and fellow ex-con Moss Williams (Eddie Fontaine), Jim agrees to help Moss locate his missing girlfriend Maria Heller (Mary Frann). What Williams doesn't tell Jim is that he isn't interested in Maria but in the girl's pearl Read More

Babe

Actors: Susan Clark, Alex Karras

Synopsis: Susan Clark won an Emmy for her performance as legendary woman athlete Babe Didrickson (1916-1956). The film starts in Port Arthur, Texas, with teenaged Babe depriving herself of a social life in order to excel at track and field. Her well-honed skills and fierce competitive spirit win Babe a slot Read More

Strange New World

Synopsis: Originally made to be a television pilot, this sci-fi thriller is set in the future and chronicles the exploits of a trio of space travellers who thaw out after having spent nearly two centuries in suspended animation, return to earth and find it inhabited by clones. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

Medical Story

Synopsis: In this pilot film for the NBC TV series Medical Story, idealistic young intern Dr. Steve Drucker (Beau Bridges) clashes with three of his superiors over whether a prominent actress should have a hysterectomy. The woman in question is played by Harriet Karr, who had undergone a similar experience Read More

The Parallax View

Actors: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, Paula Prentiss, Anthony Zerbe

Synopsis: While the Watergate scandal filled the headlines, Alan J. Pakula's 1974 thriller took its inspiration from the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Journalist Joe Frady (Warren Beatty) misses witnessing the assassination of a senator at Seattle's Space Needle, but his Read More

The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd

Synopsis: Clyde Ware both scripted and directed this made-for-TV biopic. Martin Sheen stars as Floyd, a depression-era farmboy who (it says here) turns to crime to avoid starving to death. Sheen's real-life brother Joseph Estevez plays Floyd's younger brother in this 73-minute film. As an added fillip, the Read More

The Stranger Who Looks Like Me

Actors: Patrick Duffy

Synopsis: In this 1974 TV movie, Meredith Baxter and Beau Bridges portray adult adoptees, desirous of meeting their natural parents. Through the auspices of a tracing agency, Baxter, Bridges and several others (including future TV luminary Patrick Duffy) locate their actual mothers and fathers, with results Read More

The F.B.I.: A Gathering of Sharks

Synopsis: One suspects that this episode was a case of combining business with pleasure for F.B.I star Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) On assignment for the FBI, Inspector Lew Erskine (Zimbalist) grabs his clubs and heads to an expensive golf course. The purpose: to trap a group of affluent thieves who have stolen a Read More

Bonanza: Fallen Woman

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Susan Tyrrell, Arthur O'Connell

Synopsis: Hoss Cartwright's testimony results in a prison term for the husband of alcoholic dance-hall girl Jill Conway (Susan Tyrell). Motivated by a combination of resentment and desperation, Jill leaves her son Petey (Johnny Lee) in Hoss' care. At first prepared to adopt the abandoned boy, Hoss opts Read More

My Old Man's Place

Actors: William Devane, Michael Moriarty, Mitchell Ryan

Synopsis: Adjustment to civilian life after participating in the Vietnam War does not prove easy for an old rancher's son. The boy (Michael Moriarty) returns to his father's ranch in the Pacific Northwest and brings along two of his war-time buddies to help out. One of them is a little slow on the uptake (William Devane Read More

Bonanza: A Home for Jamie

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Mitch Vogel, Will Geer

Synopsis: Having unofficially adopted Jamie, Ben is poised to make it official in court. His plans are scuttled by the arrival of Jamie's actual grandfather Callahan (Will Geer, who wants to take the boy back with him to Boston. Written by Jean Holloway, this Bonanza episode served as a reunion for Will Read More

Ironside: Ring of Prayer

Synopsis: Chief Ironside (Raymond Burr) wants to find out why a terminally ill convict named Walter Butler (Ray Walston) has been denied parole. The trail of clues leads to Madame Jabez (Barbara Rush), a woman who claims to have supernatural powers. Many strange and inexplicable occurences follow as Read More

The F.B.I.: The Architect

Synopsis: The titular "architect" in this episode is Arthur McBride (Monte Markham), so named for his brilliant execution of complex crimes. Escaping from a federal prison with two cohorts named Borden (Billy Dee Williams) and Deal (Dabbs Greer), the brash McBride laughs at the fact that he's "graducated" Read More

My Sweet Charlie

Synopsis: Having tried and failed to produce the David Westheimer novel and play My Sweet Charlie as a theatrical film, Richard Levinson and William Link had to be content with making the property as a TV movie-which turned out to be one of the very best of its kind. Al Freeman, Jr. plays Charlie, a black Read More

The Traveling Executioner

Actors: Stacy Keach, Marianna Hill, Bud Cort, Graham Jarvis, James J. Sloyan

Synopsis: In this unusual black comedy, Stacy Keach plays Jonas Candide, a former carnival showman who roams the southern U.S. in 1918 with a portable electric chair. He offers his services as a freelance executioner for $100 a pop. He takes a job in a prison in Alabama, where he is supposed to execute a Read More

The Naked Zoo

Synopsis: Rita Hayworth's once bright star fell a little closer to Earth after she appeared in this sleazy exploitation crime drama as a seductive matron living in Miami with her wheel-chair bound, wealthy husband. Frustrated, she beds a young author and then becomes his sugar momma. The writer uses her Read More

Bonanza: The Deserter

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, Ben Johnson

Synopsis: Ben Johnson guest-stars as Sgt. Samuel Bellis, accused of desertion, murder, and selling guns to the Indians. Bellis insists that he's innocent, and Candy believes him-but before he can clear Bellis' name, he must elude the Army patrol that is hot on the fugitive sergeant's heels. In a further Read More

The F.B.I.: The Swindler

Synopsis: Embezzler Robert Pollard (Peter Donat) uses his considerable charm to persuade lonely women to assist him in his criminal activities. The FBI is alerted to Pollard's presence when his most recent "dupe", a female bank cashier, turns up murdered. Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) must now race against Read More

The Gypsy Moths

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Gene Hackman, Scott Wilson

Synopsis: John Frankenheimer directed this low-key drama about three men who stage a sky-diving thrill show and what happens when they roll into a small town in Kansas. Mike Rettig (Burt Lancaster) is the oldest of the group and more than a bit jaded; Joe Browdy (Gene Hackman) is the fast-talking MC who Read More

Bonanza: Check Rein

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, David Canary, James MacArthur

Synopsis: Future Hawaii 5-0 regular James MacArthur guest-stars as Jase Fredericks, who tries to protect his inheritance, and his life, from his selfish uncle Bingham (Ford Rainey). The Cartwrights become involved when the conflict between Jase and Bingham boils down to Jase's prize stallion. Patricia Read More

Bonanza: Black Friday

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, John Saxon, Ford Rainey

Synopsis: John Saxon makes the first of three Bonanza appearances as Steve Friday, a former Ponderosa ranchhand turned gunfighter. Putting his own life on the line, Joe Cartwright tries to save an ailing Friday from a paid assassin, hired by the powerful and revenge-driven Judge Wyllit (Ford Rainey). Read More

Chuka

Actors: Rod Taylor, Ernest Borgnine, John Mills, Luciana Paluzzi, James Whitmore

Synopsis: The title character (Rod Taylor) is a drifting gunslinger, who enters a Southwestern fort and immediately becomes embroiled with its commander (John Mills). In the end, the wanderer helps the fort guard against attacks from Indians. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The F.B.I.: Passage Into Fear

Synopsis: Erkine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and Rhodes (Stephen Elliott) give chase when Hanna Crandall, a key government witness against a Red spy ring, escapes FBI surveillance and boards a train bound for Canada. A pair of Communist assassins are also trailing Hanna, and are on the verge of silencing her for Read More

The F.B.I.: The Legend of John Rim

Synopsis: This prescient episode costars Tom Skerritt, soon to appear as "Duke Forest" in the movie version of M*A*S*H, with Wayne Rogers, the future "Trapper John" in the M*A*S*H TV series. Skerritt is cast as John Rim, a fugitive from justice who is hiding in a Gulf Coast community where he is regarded as Read More

The Fugitive: Ten Thousand Pieces of Silver

Synopsis: At the request of Lt. Gerard, a newspaper posts a $10,000 reward for the capture of fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen)--who at that moment is working as a farmhand for Jacob Lawrence (Lin McCarthy). While thus employed, Kimble befriends Lawrence's autistic daughter Cathy (June Harding) Read More

The Fugitive: Echo of a Nightmare

Synopsis: After he is robbed and beaten by a gang of punks, Richard Kimble (David Janssen)--or as he is currently identifying himself, "Richard Taylor"--falls under the scrutiny of ambitious policewoman Jane Washburn (Shirley Knight). Her suspicions aroused by the fact that Kimble refuses to report the Read More

The Sand Pebbles

Actors: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Marayat Andriane

Synopsis: Steve McQueen received his only Academy Award nomination for his performance in this epic-scale war drama, based on the novel by Richard McKenna. In 1926, as China teeters on the edge of political revolution in the midst of a civil war, the USS San Pablo, is ordered to patrol the Yangtze Read More

Gunpoint

Actors: Audie Murphy, Joan Staley, Warren Stevens, Edgar Buchanan, Denver Pyle, Morgan Woodward

Synopsis: Gunpoint stars Audie Murphy as a Colorado sheriff -- and never mind that the film was shot in Utah. Sheriff Lucas (Murphy) sets out to bring bad guy Drago (Morgan Woodward) to justice. If the sheriff doesn't succeed, that will be fine and dandy with deputy Hold (Denver Pyle), who's out to get Read More

Johnny Tiger

Actors: Robert Taylor, Geraldine Brooks, Chad Everett, Brenda Scott, Marc Lawrence

Synopsis: George Dean (Robert Taylor) and his three children relocate when he takes a teaching position at a Seminole Indian reservation in Florida. He is overwhelmed by the poverty of the tribe and their ability to interact in society without giving up their treasured tribal customs. Sam (Ford Rainey) is Read More

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Doomsday

Synopsis: The Seaview is crossing the equator, its crew enjoying a light moment or two without a major mission at hand, when a war alert comes through. The sub's failsafe device is unlocked and Nelson (Richard Basehart) and Crane (David Hedison) prepare for a nuclear missile launch, when the ship's missile Read More

Lost in Space: The Reluctant Stowaway

Synopsis: While it is true that Lost in Space officially debuted on September 15, 1965, every true fan of the series knows that it actually begins on October 16, 1997, the date that the Robinson family, along with pilot Don West (Mark Goddard), are to be launched in the space vessel Jupiter 2 on a Read More

Bonanza: The Debt

Actors: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Tommy Sands, Brooke Bundy

Synopsis: Bonanza entered its seventh season, minus Pernell Roberts but still as popular as ever, with the September 12, 1965 episode "The Debt." Guest stars Tommy Sands and Brooke Bundy are cast as Wiley and Annie Kane, determined to pay off a debt incurred by their no-good father Sam (Ford Rainey) Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fortune

Synopsis: Every prediction made by a fortune teller to Patricia Kean (Julie Adams) has come true, including her marriage to her wealthy boss Max Armstead (Jesse White). This is why Patricia begins worrying when the seer predicts "You'll wear white. . .then widow's black." Sure enough, Max ends up being Read More

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Hot Line

Synopsis: The Soviet Union launches a satellite carrying a nuclear reactor that goes out of control and comes down off the coast of California. The Seaview is assigned to pick up a pair of Russian technicians equipped to deactivate the reactor -- but the distrust between the two sides may doom the mission. Read More

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Hail to the Chief

Synopsis: The President of the United States requires an emergency operation, which must be conducted in secret, after he is injured in a fall. The Seaview is chosen as the safest place for the surgery, but an enemy power has gotten an assassin aboard, as part of the surgical team performing the operation. Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Paper Bullets

Synopsis: The senatorial campaign between Jason Foster (Richard Anderson) and Randolph Cartwell (Stewart Moss) gets down and dirty when political boss Harry Margis (Patrick McVey) tries to set up Foster's sister as a pawn in a fabricated scandal, using her romance with Cardwell's stepson David (Stewart Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Ugly Duckling

Synopsis: A toy manufacturer bequeaths his company, and his fortune, to his unattractive daughter Alice (Anne Whitfield)--on condition that she be married or at least engaged within a year's time. Miraculously, a handsome artist claims to be in love with Alice, proving his ardor by painting her as a beauty. Read More

The Untouchables: Line of Fire

Synopsis: Gangster Marty Pulaski (Ed Nelson) is unable to control the homicidal impulses of his mentally disturbed younger brother Herbie (Sherwood Price). The kid's itchy trigger finger is especially irksome to "overlord" Jake Szabo (Joe De Santis), who thinks that Marty is ordering the murders committed Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Cage at McNaab

Synopsis: Paladin (Richard Boone) is hired to arrange a jailhouse meeting between Nora Larson (Jacqueline Scott) and her husband Brian (Brian Larson), who has been condemned to death. Unfortunately, Nora has hatched a scheme whereby her husband will escape--and Paladin will hang in his place. Lon Chaney Jr. Read More

Kings of the Sun

Actors: Yul Brynner, George Chakiris, Shirley Ann Field, Richard Basehart, Brad Dexter

Synopsis: In this historical adventure saga, Balam (George Chakiris) is the son of the ruler of the Mayan people; when his father is killed in battle, Balam succeeds his father as King and leads his followers out of Mexico to a coastal region. The Mayan's new home, however, is already the province of a Read More

40 Pounds of Trouble

Actors: Tony Curtis, Phil Silvers, Suzanne Pleshette, Claire Wilcox, Larry Storch

Synopsis: Damon Runyon's story "Little Miss Marker" gets a mid-'60s update in this comedy. Steve McCluskey (Tony Curtis) is the manager of a nightspot in Lake Tahoe owned by Bernie Friedman (Phil Silvers). Steve is the kind of guy who has heard every sob story in the book and is not easily impressed, but Read More

Bonanza: Mirror of a Man

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Ron Hayes

Synopsis: Ron Hayes appears in the dual role of virtuous family man Jud Lally and Jud's outlaw twin brother Rube Barnes. Forcing his brother to trade places with him, Rube steals a valuable stallion and commits a murder, crimes for which Jud is held responsible. The Cartwrights try to come to Jud's Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Unsuitable Uncle

Synopsis: Dickie Durham (Liam Sullivan), proverbial black sheep of his wealthy family, returns home after nineteen years at sea and puts the bite on his rich brother Russell (Ford Rainey). Dickie wants enough money to open a pub in Australia--and if he doesn't get it, he will reveal that he is the actual Read More

The Untouchables: Come and Kill Me

Synopsis: Veteran Hollywood song-and-dance man Dan Dailey essays one of his most unusual roles as Karate expert Dexter Lloyd Bayliss. Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is suspicious when Bayliss, who is known to be "tight" with the mob, sets up a martial-arts classroom for teenage kids. As it turns out, Bayliss is Read More