Peter Strauss Filmography

License to Wed

Actors: Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, John Krasinski, Eric Christian Olsen, Christine Taylor

Synopsis: An engaged young couple finds their lifetime of happiness unexpectedly compromised by a pushy minister who insists they successfully complete his comprehensive marriage-prep course before exchanging wedding vows in a matrimonial comedy starring John Krasinski, Mandy Moore, and Robin Williams. Read More

XXX: State of the Union

Actors: Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss, Samuel L. Jackson

Synopsis: A new renegade fighter rises to defend the United States from an internal threat in this action thriller. Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) of the National Security Agency has successfully dealt with a number of threats to America's safety, but he faces a whole new challenge when he discovers a Read More

Hotel

Actors: Franziska Weiss, Birgit Minichmayr, Marlene Steeruwitz, Rosa Waissnix, Christopher Schaerf

Synopsis: A woman discovers that an old hotel hides some unexpected secrets in this psychological thriller. Irene (Franziska Weisz) is hired as a desk clerk at a luxury hotel in Austria following the disappearance of Eva Stein, who had previously held the position. Having moved to the city to take the job Read More

Body and Soul [TV Series]

Actors: Peter Strauss, Larissa Laskin, Currie Graham, Duncan Regehr, Conrad Coates

Synopsis: The battle between "real" and holistic medicine was dramatized on a weekly, 60-minute basis in this PAX Network series. Peter Strauss headed the cast as Dr. Isaac Braun, eminent head surgeon at a prestigious Ohio hospital. Braun's rigid, rules-are-rules approach to medicine is spectacularly Read More

A Father's Choice

Synopsis: Still in their infancy when their parents were divorced, Kelly and Chris McClain (Michelle Trachtenberg) grew up in the city with her mother, while their cowboy father Charlie (Peter Strauss) remained in the wide open spaces. When their mom is murdered, the girls are court-ordered to live with Read More

Joan of Arc

Actors: Leelee Sobieski, Jacqueline Bisset, Powers Boothe, Neil Patrick Harris, Maury Chaykin

Synopsis: A literal interpretation of the oft-produced biography of 15th century historical heroine Joan d'Arc, this four-hour television miniseries version of Joan's story is lavishly produced. In a tiny village during the Hundred Years' War, teenager Joan d'Arc (Leelee Sobieski) has been raised by her Read More

Love on the Land

Crew: Executive Producer

Synopsis: Based on George Dell's 1934 novel The Earth Abideth, the two-part CBS TV movie Seasons of Love covers thirty years (1866-1896) in the lives of Kansas farming couple Thomas and Kate Linthorne (Peter Strauss, Rachel Ward). A dynamic, forceful person who manages to carve a home and livelihood out of Read More

My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story

Actors: Peter Strauss, Henry Czerny, Ralph Small, Lindsay Frost

Synopsis: One of the most sensational crime stories of the 1950s was the murder trial of Cleveland doctor Sam Sheppard, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. Though he protested his innocence and insisted that he'd seen a "curly-haired man" leaving his house on the night of Read More

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: Nemesis

Actors: Quinton Flynn, John deLancie, Robert Foxworth, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker

Synopsis: The title character in this episode is our old "friend" Dr. Zin, who this time around takes over a Malaysian satellite designed by Benton Quest. Rewiring the device, Zin threatens to blow up the world unless he is given a substantial amount of money. Voice actor Clyde Kusatsu makes his first Read More

In the Lake of the Woods

Actors: Peter Strauss, Kathleen Quinlan, Peter Boyle, Nancy Sorel

Synopsis: Based on Tim O'Brien's novel, In the Lake of the Woods is the story of a man driven by demons from his past and a mystery surrounding the disappearance of his wife. John Waylan (Peter Strauss), a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, is leading in pre-election polls when a reporter for a Read More

Texas Justice

Synopsis: It's Reversal of Fortune meets Jerry Springer in this made-for-TV miniseries, which concerns the true-life tale of a Texas oil magnate on trial for conspiring to murder his brassy ex-wife -- and for very successfully doing away with her lover and daughter. Texas Justice stars Peter Strauss as Read More

Nick of Time

Actors: Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken, Charles S. Dutton, Peter Strauss, Roma Maffia

Synopsis: A stranger pulled into a deadly scheme races against time to save his daughter in this thriller. Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) is an accountant who comes to L.A. with his ten-year-old daughter Lynn (Courtney Chase) to attend a funeral. On the street, Gene and Lynn are pulled aside by Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken Read More

Keys to Tulsa

Actors: Eric Stoltz, James Spader, Cameron Diaz, Randy Graff, Joanna Going, Mary Tyler Moore, Michael Rooker, James Coburn

Synopsis: The black sheep son of a wealthy family sinks deeper into corruption the harder he tries to pull himself out in this drama. Richter Boudreau (Eric Stoltz) is a small-time film critic with a checkered past and some bad debts who decides to return to his old home town of Tulsa in hopes of getting Read More

The Yearling

Actors: Peter Strauss, Jean Smart, Wil Horneff, Jarred Blanchard, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Synopsis: This moving made-for-TV movie is a faithful rendition of Marjorie Kinan Rawling's timeless coming-of-age tale in which a boy living a hardscrabble life with his family in a Florida swamp must grow-up and face his responsibilities after he befriends an orphaned fawn. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Read More

Reunion

Actors: Marlo Thomas, Peter Strauss, Frances Sternhagen, Courtney Chase, Matthew Kelly, Leelee Sobieski

Fugitive Among Us

Actors: Peter Strauss, Eric Roberts

Synopsis: Based on a true story, the made-for-TV Fugitive Among Us stars Peter Strauss and Eric Roberts. Strauss plays Max Cole, a police detective obsessed with tracking down a rapist. Cal Harper (Roberts), who is as outgoing and uninhibited as Cole is buttoned-up and repressed, is the number-one suspect. Read More

Men Don't Tell

Synopsis: Unique among the many made-for-TV dramas about spousal abuse--most of which are about women victimized by men--Men Don't Tell dramatizes the true story of a loving husband who is terrorized by the violent behavior of his wife. Ed MacAffrey (Peter Strauss) has long endured the physical and Read More

Trial: The Price of Passion, Part 2

Synopsis: A young lawyer finds himself in control during two major murder cases after his co-counsel suddenly dies in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Trial: The Price of Passion, Part 1

Actors: Jill Clayburgh, Beverly D'Angelo, Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Based on Clifford Irving's novel Trial, this 2-part TV movie is set amongst the Texas elite. Peter Strauss plays Warren Blackburn, a brilliant but discredited trial lawyer. His career seems due for redemption when judge Louise Parker (Jill Clayburgh), formerly Blackburn's bitterest foe, appoints Read More

Flight of Black Angel

Actors: Peter Strauss, William O'Leary

Synopsis: From time to time, U.S. fighter pilots have been known to develop a messianic complex. Trainee Eddie Gordon (William O'Leary) goes a bit farther than that: he begins fantasizing that he's the Angel of Death. Armed with nuclear weaponry, Gordon flies toward Las Vegas, intending to bomb "sin city" Read More

83 Hours 'Til Dawn

Actors: Peter Strauss, Robert Urich

Synopsis: 83 Hours 'Til Dawn utilizes a plot device originally seen on another fact-based TV movie, The Longest Night (1972). Robert Urich stars as a wealthy business executive whose 20-year-old daughter is abducted by sociopathic Peter Strauss. The kidnapper seals his victim in a small box and buries it Read More

Peter Gunn

Actors: Peter Jurasik, Peter Strauss, Pearl Bailey, Barbara Williams, Charles Cioffi

Synopsis: Peter Gunn was a one-shot TV movie revival of the classic detective series (1958-61) created by Blake Edwards. Edwards wrote and directed this pilot for a potential Gunn revival, with Peter Strauss stepping into Craig Stevens' gumshoes as private eye Peter Gunn. Peter Jurasik assumes Herschel Bernardi's Read More

The Brotherhood of the Rose

Actors: Robert Mitchum, David Morse, Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Based on a novel by David Morrell, the made-for-TV Brotherhood of the Rose is unabashedly old-fashioned escapist espionage fare. Peter Strauss and David Morse play polar-opposite CIA agents, code names Romulus and Remus. Their superior-and father figure-is crusty CIA official Robert Mitchum. Read More

Buster

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Phil Collins, Julie Walters, Larry Lamb, Stephanie Lawrence, Ellen Beaven

Synopsis: On August 8, 1963, the Royal Mail train, on its nighttime run from London to Glasgow, was robbed by 15 men who got away with 2.6 million pounds (today the equivalent of $35 million). Buster tells the story of one of the junior robbers, Buster Edwards (played by pop singer Phil Collins), in a crime Read More

Proud Men

Synopsis: Set in modern times, this western drama chronicles the reconciliation between a draft-dodging son and his ultra-conservative rancher father after the son realizes that his father is going to die soon. The film originally aired on cable television. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Thunder Run

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Forrest Tucker, John Ireland, Jill Whitlow, Wally Ward

Synopsis: In this Road Warrior clone, an aging trucker spends his retirement mining an old cobalt mine with the assistance of his devoted grandson. A good friend lures the trucker out of retirement by offering him a quarter of a million dollars to drive some plutonium from Nevada to a high-security Read More

Majdanek 1944

Actors: Bengt von zur Muehlen, Peter Strauss

Synopsis: This somber documentary uses historical film footage to recount the trial of Nazi war criminals for their participation in the genocide at the Majdanek death camp. In July 1944, evidence surfaced of the atrocities that led to a combined inquiry by the Soviet Union and Poland. Camp survivors and Read More

Penalty Phase

Actors: Richard Chaves, Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Tony Richardson, who in his days of prominence directed the Oscar-winning Tom Jones (1963), demonstrated in 1986's Penalty Phase that the intervening years did not dim his talent in the least. Peter Strauss stars as a liberal judge, in the midst of a re-election campaign. Strauss has been under Read More

Under Siege

Actors: Hal Holbrook, Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Under Siege was first telecast in February 1986, a time when the notion of foreign terrorists in America was still speculative fiction. A militant group sets off explosives at US Army bases, then branches out to such civilian targets as crowded shopping centers. FBI director Peter Strauss Read More

Kane & Abel

Actors: Peter Strauss, Sam Neill

Synopsis: Adapted from the phenomenally popular best-seller by Jeffrey Archer, the three-part, seven-hour CBS miniseries Kane & Abel is the tale of two tycoons -- one a self-made man, one born into wealth -- who both came into the world on the very same day. The illegitimate son of a Polish baron, Abel Read More

Heart of Steel

Crew: Executive Producer

Actors: Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Written for television by Gary Devore, Heart of Steel concentrates on a societal dilemma that has only gotten worse since 1983. Second-generation steelworker Peter Strauss loses the job he's held all his life when the mill closes down. Unable to find work, Strauss takes to drink, then vents his Read More

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Actors: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Ironside

Synopsis: In this weakly scripted, dull sci-fi adventure, three women have been shipwrecked somewhere in the galaxy on planet Terra Eleven and now Wolff (Peter Strauss), the pilot of a salvage ship, his friend Washington (Ernie Hudson), and the orphaned Niki (Molly Ringwald) are out to rescue them. Along Read More

The Secret of NIMH

Actors: Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, Hermione Baddeley, Arthur Malet, Peter Strauss, Derek Jacobi

Synopsis: Frustrated with the Walt Disney studio's reluctance to produce full-length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early '80s with the intent of creating movies in the style of Disney's classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving Read More

A Whale for the Killing

Crew: Co-producer

Synopsis: Based on the book by Farley Mowat, this made-for-TV movie follows the struggle of a New York ecologist (Peter Strauss) to stop the whale killing taking place off the coast of Newfoundland. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Angel on My Shoulder

Actors: Peter Strauss, Richard Kiley, Barbara Hershey, Janis Paige, Seymour Cassel

Synopsis: A gangster who was wrongfully executed for a killing is promised leniency from Satan if he returns to earth in the body of a lawman who is trying to stamp out evil. Trouble is, the dead man has a hard time being evil enough to get revenge. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Masada

Actors: Peter Strauss, Peter O'Toole, Anthony Quayle, Barbara Carrera, David Warner

Synopsis: Wits and weapons clash in this 1981 epic chronicling a rebellion by Jewish Zealots against Roman rule. After Jerusalem falls to the Romans in 70 A.D., nearly a thousand Jewish rebels led by Eleazar ben Jair (Peter Strauss) withdraw to a mountaintop fortress 30 miles southeast of Jerusalem. There Read More

The Jericho Mile

Actors: Peter Strauss

Synopsis: Director Michael Mann co-wrote the teleplay for The Jericho Mile with Patrick J. Nolan. Peter Strauss stars as "Rain" Murphy, serving a life sentence in Folsom Prison for first-degree murder. To break up the boredom of prison life, Murphy begins running laps around the prison recreation track. Read More

Young Joe, The Forgotten Kennedy

The Last Tycoon

Actors: Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson

Synopsis: Elia Kazan directed this curiously constipated film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished final novel, about Monroe Starr, a brilliant and efficient studio executive (based upon Fitzgerald's experiences with MGM wunderkind Irving Thalberg). Robert De Niro plays Monroe Starr in a cool and Read More

Rich Man, Poor Man

Actors: Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, Susan Blakely, Steve Allen, Ed Asner, Bill Bixby

Synopsis: More ambitious and expensive than ABC's first "novel for television" miniseries QB VII, the eight-episode, 12-hour Rich Man, Poor Man was the one that truly put the genre on the map, its phenomenal success in the ratings making possible the even more spectacular Roots. Adapted from the mammoth Read More

Attack on Terror: The F.B.I. vs. The Ku Klux Klan

Actors: Ned Beatty, John Beck, George Grizzard, Rip Torn, Dabney Coleman

Synopsis: Attack on Terror: The FBI Versus the Ku Klux Klan is a fact-based, two-part TV movie. The film is a dramatization of the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. The FBI, personified herein by southern operative Wayne Rogers, is brought in to investigate the trio's Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Letters from the Grave

Synopsis: As is customary, Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) are faced with a baffling mystery which they must unravel in the episode's alotted sixty minutes. The game is afoot the moment that the skeleton of a former convict is found during an excavation on Alcatraz Island. There's only one Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: For the Love of God

Synopsis: Stone (Karl Malden)and Keller (Michael Douglas) spring into action when a priest is killed in his Confessional. It turns out that the victim had attended the same seminary as three other priests who were murdered in similar fashion. To root out the killer, Stone goes undercover, donning the collar Read More

The Man without a Country

Actors: Cliff Robertson, Beau Bridges

Synopsis: Though previously filmed several times in one- and two-reel form, Edward Everett Hale's classic 1863 novel The Man Without a Country was not given a full-length treatment until this ABC "Kodak Special" TV presentation. Cliff Robertson stars as young, zealously patriotic American military officer Read More

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine

Actors: Gwen Arner, Ed Flanders, Barton Heyman, Richard Jordan, Nancy Malone

Synopsis: Father Daniel Berrigan, at the height of the Vietnam War, was arrested along with eight other protesters (including his brother Philip) in Baltimore in 1968, for burning draft records. Berrigan later penned a didactic play, based upon the incident, which was the basis for this film. The motives Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Timelock

Synopsis: Several years before achieving stardom in the TV miniseries Rich Man--Poor Man, Peter Strauss is cast in this episode as temporarily paroled convict Bobby Jepson. Ordered to find a job during a 36-hour-pass or return to prison, Jepson runs headlong into a stone wall of prejudice and hostility Read More

Man of Legend

Synopsis: Peter Strauss, six years removed from his Rich Man Poor Man stardom, stars in the Italian-Spanish Man of Legend. Strauss plays a WW I-era German soldier, who barely escapes being wrongly executed as a spy. He escapes to the French Foreign Legion, then enjoys a torrid romance with Tina Aumont Read More

Soldier Blue

Actors: Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence, John Anderson, Jorge Rivero

Synopsis: A cavalry unit in Colorado is conducting two important cargoes to Fort Reunion, home of the 11th Colorado Volunteers: Cresta Marybelle Lee (Candice Bergen), the fiancée of an officer in the unit until two years ago, when she was taken by the Cheyenne, and who just escaped; and Captain Battles (Dana Elcar Read More

Hail, Hero!

Actors: Michael Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Teresa Wright, John Larch, Charles Drake

Synopsis: Hail, Hero! stars Michael Douglas in his screen debut as long-haired college student Carl Dixon. Reversing the usual procedure in late-1960s films, Dixon decides to quit school and enlist in the Army, even though he's already run afoul of the law as a Vietnam protestor. It is our hero's intention Read More