Richard Crenna Filmography

Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents

Actors: Alan Gansberg, Ray Huggins, Richard Fleischer, James Q. Wilson, Kirk Douglas

Synopsis: The purpose of this PBS documentary is to show that the true villains of the Hollywood Blacklist were not always "evil" politicians and fat-cat studio moguls. Filmmaker Lionel Chetwynd (ironically a lifelong staunch conservative) has chosen his mentor, screenwriter Carl Foreman, as the hero of the Read More

By Dawn's Early Light

Actors: Richard Crenna, Chris Olivero, Stella Stevens

Synopsis: This made-for-cable Western stars Richard Crenna as an aging rancher whose daughter has a son she can no longer control. The boy is sent to live with his grandfather, and as the youngster learns the importance of discipline and hard work, the rancher learns the importance of the bonds of family. Read More

The Day Reagan Was Shot

Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Oliver Stone served as executive producer for this made-for-cable drama that looks back at the events of March 30, 1981, when John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate then-president Ronald Reagan. Richard Crenna stars as Reagan, Christian Lloyd plays Hinckley, Richard Dreyfuss portrays Read More

Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For

Actors: Angela Lansbury, Richard Crenna, Santiago Douglas, Kathryn Morris, Daniel Dae Kim

Synopsis: In this feature-length follow-up to the long-running TV series Murder, She Wrote, homespun mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) leaves her Cabot Cove residence to attend a big-city writer's conference. As generally happens wherever Jessica shows up, a murder takes place; in this Read More

To Serve and Protect

Actors: Richard Crenna, Craig T. Nelson, Joanna Cassidy, Amanda Detmer

Synopsis: Jean de Segonzac directs Richard Crenna and Craig T. Nelson in the police thriller To Serve and Protect. Police officer Tom Carr begins to look into the death of a woman, but his suspicions that his perp is a serial killer become more pronounced after the death of a judge. Although Carr is able to Read More

Wrongfully Accused

Actors: Leslie Nielsen, Richard Crenna, Kelly LeBrock, Melinda McGraw, Michael York

Synopsis: Pat Proft directed this satire on The Fugitive with a plot parody of the 1993 Harrison Ford movie, which in turn was inspired by the 1963-67 ABC television series with David Janssen. Violinist Ryan Harrison (Leslie Nielsen) romances the wife (Kelly Le Brock) of his benefactor (Michael York), a man Read More

Heart Full of Rain

Synopsis: A modern-day prodigal son, Isaiah Dockett (Rick Schroder) returns to his family farm in Nebraska after a six-year absence. Although he is welcomed back by his ailing mother Edith (Carroll Baker) and younger brother Jacob (Gabriel Mann), and is even able to platonically reconnect with his Read More

The Real Las Vegas: The Complete Story of America's Neon Oasis, Vol. 1 - Boomtown

Synopsis: This installment of the series The Real Las Vegas covers the early days of the city. The city started out as a Mormon settlement, but mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel had other plans. They changed the city into a gambling oasis. Learn the early history of this fabled city with the help of actor and Read More

The Real Las Vegas: The Complete Story of America's Neon Oasis, Vol. 4 - House of Cards

Synopsis: This installment of the series The Real Las Vegas reports on the city of today. See a profile of present-day mogul Steve Wynn, who controls many businesses in the city, although some resorts are now family-owned. Learn about today's Las Vegas with the help of actor and narrator Richard Crenna. Read More

Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah

Actors: Richard Crenna, Patty Duke, Katy Boyer, Missy Crider, Jon Gries

Synopsis: Telemovie mainstays Richard Crenna and Patty Duke (who co-starred in the 1982 sitcom It Takes Two) reteamed for this 1996 prime-time docudrama. Crenna is John Porter, a husband and father whose emotional isolation from his wife (Duke) and children springs from his own ingrained fear of mortality. Read More

The Real Las Vegas: The Complete Story of America's Neon Oasis, Vol. 2 - Gamble in the Desert

Synopsis: This installment of the series The Real Las Vegas covers the early gambling life of the city. Bugsy Siegel is noted for starting this present-day gambling oasis. He eventually fell from grace with the mob and after he was gone they moved in. Learn about this part of the history of Las Vegas with Read More

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Actors: Ben Cross, Paul Gross, Julie Cox, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Michael Anderson directed this TV movie version of Jules Verne's oft-adapted science fiction classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Richard Crenna stars as Henry Aronnax, a marine biologist, who, along with his crew, must confront the maniacal genius Captain Nemo (Ben Cross), helmsman of the Read More

Deep Family Secrets

Synopsis: Country-western singer JoAnne Chadway (Molly Gross) is distraught when her mother Renee (Angie Dickinson)--and even more so since the disappearance occurred amidst bitter domestic strife with JoAnne's powerful attorney father Clay Chadway (Richard Crenna). When Clay inevitably becomes a suspect in Read More

Jade

Actors: David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Biehn, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: An investigator seeking the truth behind the death of a noted art dealer uncovers a web of sexual deception in this erotic thriller. David Caruso plays David Corelli, a San Francisco District Attorney who faces a potential conflict of interest when he learns that the prime suspect in the murder is Read More

Driving Passion: America's Love Affair with the Car, Part 2 - America Takes to the Road in Style

Sabrina

Actors: Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear, John Wood, Nancy Marchand

Synopsis: A remake of a 1954 Billy Wilder romance, this updated version of the play Sabrina Fair was directed by Sydney Pollack. Julia Ormond stars as Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of a kindly chauffeur (John Wood) at the Long Island estate of the upper-crust Larrabee family. Sabrina has grown up Read More

Driving Passion: America's Love Affair with the Car, Part 3 - Golden Age of Detroit

Driving Passion: America's Love Affair with the Car, Part 1 - Birth of the Automobile

Synopsis: Modern transportation has come a long way. From the introduction of Henry Ford's quirky invention to the technically sophisticated constructions of modern times, cars have had an interesting history. Richard Crenna hosts this four-part series that follows the automobile's evolution. The Birth of Read More

Driving Passion: America's Love Affair with the Car, Part 4 - Fast Track to the Future

Synopsis: Driving Passion documents America's fascination with the automobile. Beginning with the introduction of the Model T, the documentary traces the history of four-wheeled transportation. Hosted by Richard Crenna, The Fast Track to the Future looks at the modern problems plaguing car owners. From the Read More

A Pyromaniac's Love Story

Actors: William Baldwin, John Leguizamo, Sadie Frost, Erika Eleniak, Michael Lerner

Synopsis: This is an offbeat romantic comedy that's the directorial debut of TV producer Joshua Brand, co-creator of St. Elsewhere (1982-88) and Northern Exposure (1990-95). John Leguizamo stars as Sergio, a Toronto pastry shop worker who faints whenever he sees Hattie (Sadie Frost), a neighborhood girl Read More

In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy

Actors: Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Filmed on location in the Lone Star State, the made-for-TV In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy could be described as a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, except that its perverse plot twists are more reminiscent of Jacobean than Shakespearean tragedy. After being rendered paraplegic in an Read More

The Forget-Me-Not Murders

Actors: Richard Crenna, Helen Shaver, Tyne Daly, Cliff Gorman, Philip Bosco

Synopsis: A serial killer is on the loose. The only clues he leaves are dried "wallflowers" near or on the body. For Police Lieutenant Janek, the need to find the maniac becomes more urgent after he learns that the latest victim is his own beloved goddaughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Dirty Money

Actors: Frederick Deane, Timothy Patrick Cavanaugh, Biff Yeager, Dagmar Stansora, Charmagne Eckert, David Jean Thomas

Synopsis: Like the old B movies it emulates, this mystery focuses on crooks, murder, and revenge. Sam is accidentally present during a robbery and somehow ends up in a scuffle that ends in the death of one of the three robbers. The other two track him down and slay his wife. He goes on the run as the crooks Read More

Threat of Innocence

Actors: Richard Crenna, Beverly D'Angelo

Wild West

Synopsis: A five-volume collection of some 3500 photos, sketches, and paintings of myths of the American West between the end of the Civil War to 1900. Includes first-person narratives, anecdotes, newspaper accounts, journals, and letters covering Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Read More

Hot Shots! Part Deux

Actors: Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke

Synopsis: Movie references, sight gags, silly puns, and double entendres abound in Hot Shots! Part Deux, Jim Abrahams' sequel to Hot Shots -- only now the object of the skewering is the Stallone Rambo movies instead of Top Gun. Charlie Sheen returns as the lunk-headed Topper Harley, who has retreated to a Read More

Terror on Track 9

Actors: Joan Van Ark, Swoosie Kurtz, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Richard Crenna makes his fifth appearances NYPD detective Frank Janek in Terror on Track 9. The villain this time is a serial killer who preys upon women at Grand Central Station. The murderer's modus operandi is to inject his victims with poison. Janek suspects that the perpetrator is a man with Read More

Intruders

Actors: Richard Crenna, Mare Winningham, Daphne Ashbrook, Susan Blakely, Ben Vereen

Synopsis: Hypnotic regression prompts a pair of sisters to recognize that they've been abducted by aliens. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Intruders, Part 2

Synopsis: Two patients, one with flashbacks and another who remembers the crash of a UFO, lead a well-known Los Angeles psychiatrist into an investigation of UFO abductions in order to help them. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Intruders, Part 1

Synopsis: Two patients, one with flashbacks and another who remembers the crash of a UFO, lead a well-known Los Angeles psychiatrist into an investigation of UFO abductions in order to help them. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

And the Sea Will Tell, Part 2

Synopsis: Based on a true story, And the Sea Will Tell was originally telecast in two parts on February 24 and 26, 1991. The story takes place in 1974, when two couples sail separately to the South Pacific island of Palmyra. Wealthy marrieds Mac and Muff Grant (James Brolin and Diedre Hall) are looking for Read More

And the Sea Will Tell, Part 1

Actors: Hart Bochner, James Brolin, Deidre Hall, Rachel Ward, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Partially filmed in Hawaii and Tahiti, And the Sea Will Tell was a two-part TV movie based on a real murder case. A wealthy couple (James Brolin and Deidre Hall) are killed on their yacht off the coast of a secluded South American island called Palmyra. The suspects are a hippyish pair (Hart Bochner Read More

Last Flight Out

Synopsis: This tension-filled made-for-television drama is set a few hours before the Viet Cong took over Saigon in 1975 and chronicles the struggle of Americans and Vietnamese to be on board the last commercial flight out of the city. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Lifepulse

Murder Times Seven

Actors: Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Richard Crenna returns as New York police detective Frank Janek in Murder Times Seven. This time Janek tackles the case of a mass murder. One of the victims was his ex-partner (an occupational hazard for Janek, who in an earlier film had to turn in his own boss on a murder rap). One of the Read More

Montana

Actors: Gena Rowlands, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Novelist Larry McMurtry scripted this contemporary western, which examines cattle ranchers Hoyce and Bess Guthrie (Richard Crenna and Gena Rowlands) as they struggle to keep their marriage afloat after a power company offers to buy their land. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Murder in Black and White

Actors: Diahann Carroll, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Richard Crenna returns as Lt. Frank Janek of the NYPD in the TV movie Murder in Black and White. As in his previous appearances in Doubletake (85) and Internal Affairs (89), Janek is called upon to solve a bizarre and baffling murder. This time the victim is Janek's own boss, the new commissioner Read More

Leviathan

Actors: Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson

Synopsis: Leviathan, a sci-fi thriller directed by George Pan Cosmatos, is the story of a group of scientists who discover a sunken Russian submarine which contains a monster that is the product of a genetic experiment. This film, a hybrid of both The Abyss and Alien, has a decent cast, including Peter Weller Read More

The Case of the Hillside Stranglers

Actors: Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Fact-based, made-for-television account of the hunt for a pair of serial killers who slaughtered ten women in the hillsides of Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978. (Alternate title: The Case Of The Hillside Stranglers) ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide Read More

Stuck With Each Other

Actors: Tyne Daly, Michael J. Pollard, Bubba Smith, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: The made for TV Stuck With Each Other stars Richard Crenna and Tyne Daly as two luckless New Yorkers, a salesman and a secretary respectively. One morning they come to the office to find that their boss has dropped dead--leaving behind an open safe containing $964,000 he's not supposed to have. Read More

Rambo III

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith, Spiros Focas

Synopsis: The third entry in the ultra-macho Rambo action movie series finds muscle-bound warrior John Rambo (co-writer and star Sylvester Stallone) refusing a request from his former Vietnam superior, Green Beret Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna). Trautman is to lead a mission to aid the mujahedeen rebels Read More

Internal Affairs

Actors: Lee Richardson, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Internal Affairs is the second TV-movie based on the works of detective novelist William Bayer. Richard Crenna, who first played NYPD detective Richard Janek in 1985's Doubletake, is back, now as a functionary of Internal Affairs. He has been assigned to solve the murder of a woman who may have Read More

Kids Like These

Synopsis: Kids Like These was cowritten by Emily Perl Kingsley, the mother of a Down's Syndrome child. Basing the script for this TV movie on her own experiences, Ms. Kingsley relates the story of Tyne Daly and Richard Crenna, the parents of a Down's baby. Refusing to accept the doctor's grim prognosis and Read More

Police Story: The Freeway Killings

Synopsis: Much of the original cast from the popular television series Police Story reunited for this edgy drama, in which the detectives search for a killer loose on the roads. This entry was one of several TV-movies in the late 1980s to feature the familiar cast in the Police Story format. ~ Bernadette Read More

The High Price of Passion

Actors: Richard Crenna, Karen Young

Synopsis: The fact-based NBC movie The High Price of Passion was adapted by Mel Frohman from the book by Russell M. Glitman. Set in and around Tufts University, this is a sad story of obsession and murder, focusing on middle-aged anatomy professor Williams Douglas (Richard Crenna) and greedy 21-year-old Read More

A Case of Deadly Force

Synopsis: This gripping made-for-TV courtroom drama centers on a pair of hard-working lawyers who become obsessed with proving that the tactical division of the Boston Police Force made a fatal mistake when they shot the wrong man following a robbery. The plot is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Read More

On Wings of Eagles

Synopsis: On Wings of Eagles was adapted for television from the best-selling book by Ken Follett. Inspired by fact, the story involves the daring rescue of two American business executives, held captive in Tehran during the US Embassy takeover of 1979. Retired Special Forces colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons Read More

Doubletake

Actors: Beverly D'Angelo, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Based on William Bayer's novel Switch, the made-for-TV Doubletake introduced Richard Crenna to his oft-played role of detective Frank Janek. As always, Janek is assigned to a particularly gruesome and profoundly puzzling murder case. A prim lady schoolteacher and a hooker are both killed on the Read More

Deadly Justice

Actors: Richard Crenna

Synopsis: Made for television, Broken Badge originally aired as The Rape of Richard Beck. Richard Crenna plays Beck, a hard-bitten cop who has little patience for female rape victims. Then he himself is sexually assaulted by two assailants. Crenna's excellent performance notwithstanding, the teleplay by James G. Hirsch Read More

Summer Rental

Actors: John Candy, Rip Torn, Richard Crenna, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, Aubrey Jene, Joey Lawrence

Synopsis: This routine comedy is about a series of misadventures during a family vacation at the beach and stars John Candy (who died of a heart attack while filming in Mexico in 1994) as John Chester and Karen Austin as his long-suffering wife Sandy. When the family leave for what turns out to be a pretty Read More

Rambo: First Blood Part II

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier, Julia Nickson, Steven Berkoff

Synopsis: The dark-horse box-office hit First Blood spawned this even more successful sequel in which Sylvester Stallone, reprising his role as ex-Green Beret loner John Rambo, is extricated from prison by his former superior Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) for a top-secret operation to bring back POWs Read More

Passions

Synopsis: When wealthy businessman Richard Kennerly (Richard Crenna) dies, he leaves behind a great many unresolved issues. More specifically, he leaves behind a wife named Catherine (Joanne Woodward) a mistress named Nina (Lindsay Wagner)--and the children from both liasons. Upon learning of Nina's Read More

The Flamingo Kid

Actors: Matt Dillon, Richard Crenna, Hector Elizondo, Jessica Walter, Fisher Stevens, Janet Jones

Synopsis: Set in 1963, The Flamingo Kid finds 18-year-old Brooklynite Matt Dillon, the son of blue-collar Hector Elizondo, getting a taste of the Good Life by joining several of his friends at "El Flamingo", a swank Long Island beach club. Wealthy car salesman Richard Crenna, the uncle of Matt's girl friend Janet Jones Read More

Table for Five

Actors: Jon Voight, Richard Crenna, Marie-Christine Barrault, Millie Perkins, Roxana Zal

Synopsis: Jon Voight stars in this David Seltzer-scripted sentimental tale about a divorced father who tries to achieve an emotional connection with his children. J.P. Tannen (Jon Voight) is a confused and childish man who, five years earlier, was divorced from his wife Kathleen (Millie Perkins). Kathleen Read More

The Day the Bubble Burst

Synopsis: An all-star (or rather, "all-TV star") cast distinguishes this three-hour filmed re-creation of the great stock market crash on October 29, 1929. Though inspired by a fact-based book on "Black Tuesday," the film is chock full of fabricated soap-opera complications involving dozens of fictional Read More

First Blood

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, David Caruso, Jack Starrett

Synopsis: First Blood is the Sylvester Stallone film that unleashed "Rambo" onto an unsuspecting world. Wandering into a small, hostile town, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Stallone) is targeted for persecution and abuse by potbellied Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy). When he can stand no more, Rambo goes Read More

Body Heat

Actors: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston, Mickey Rourke

Synopsis: Lawrence Kasdan's first directorial effort is a throwback to the early days of film noir. The scene is a beastly hot Florida coastal town, where naive attorney Ned (William Hurt) is entranced by the alluring Matty (Kathleen Turner in her film debut). Ned is manipulated into killing Matty's much Read More

The Ordeal of Bill Carney

Actors: Ana Alicia, David Faustino, Jeremy Licht, Ray Sharkey, Richard Crenna

Synopsis: The Ordeal of Bill Carney is a TV movie inspired by a landmark court decision. Ray Sharkey plays Carney, an Army reservist whose spine is damaged in a jeep accident. Left a quadriplegic, Carney loses custody of his two children to ex-wife Betty Buckley. Despite the concerted efforts of the Read More

Death Ship

Actors: George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes, Kate Reid

Synopsis: After a passenger liner is rammed and sunk by a derelict German freighter from World War II, the handful of survivors (which include George Kennedy and Richard Crenna) manage to board the unmanned hulk but soon discover that their perils have just begun. Apparently the freighter served as a kind Read More

1958

Stone Cold Dead

Actors: Richard Crenna, Paul Williams, Linda Sorenson, Belinda Montgomery, Chuck Shamata

Synopsis: This is a fast-paced, standard crime story with Sgt. Boyd (Richard Crenna) as a lone cop out to clean up the neighborhood. Kurtz (Paul Williams) is a wild gangster who manages a ring of prostitutes, and right now he has problems. Someone is shooting his hookers. A few of the undercover cops get Read More

Fugitive Family

Actors: Mel Ferrer, Eli Wallach, Richard Crenna, Don Murray

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Fugitive Family questions the efficacy of the government's witness protection program. After sending syndicate kingpin Anthony Durano (Mel Ferrer) to prison, undercover agent Brian Roberts (Richard Crenna) and his entire family is marked for death by Durano's successor Peter Read More

Better Late Than Never

Crew: Director

Actors: Harold Gould, Strother Martin, Tyne Daly, Harry Morgan, Marjorie Bennett

Synopsis: The elderly residents of a nursing home tire of being oppressed and stage a revolution in this made-for-television comedy. Following the ensuing riot they rush out and commandeer a passing train to go out for a few final adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure

Synopsis: Originally titled The Voyage of the Mayflower, this made-for-TV historical drama was, not surprisingly, first telecast as a CBS Thanksgiving special. In the tradition of the 1952 theatrical feature Plymouth Adventure, the film meticulously recounted the journey in 1620 A.D. of 103 Pilgrim Read More

Wild Horse Hank

Actors: Linda Blair, Michael Wincott, Al Waxman, Pace Bradford

Synopsis: Based on Mel Ellis' novel, The Wild Horse Killers, this Canadian film follows the quest of young Hank Bradford (Linda Blair) as she struggles to save a herd of wild horses that are scheduled to be killed. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More