Richard Dysart Filmography

L.A. Law: The Movie

Actors: Corbin Bernsen

Synopsis: This two-hour TV movie served as a reunion for the cast of L.A. Law, a popular NBC legal series which originally aired from 1987 to 1994. Virtually all of the series' regulars were back on the job, with the noteworthy exception of Jimmy Smits. Most of the story takes place within the walls of the Read More

Spawn: Season 03

Actors: Keith David, Richard Dysart, Michael Nicolosi, Robert Forster, Dominique Jennings, John Rafter Lee, Victor Love

Hard Rain

Actors: Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver, Ed Asner

Synopsis: A natural disaster breeds man-made treachery in this suspense thriller. Severe flooding threatens an Indiana town after a massive rainstorm taxes dams to the breaking point. As part of an emergency evacuation effort, armored car driver Tom (Christian Slater) and his uncle Charlie (Edward Asner) Read More

Spawn: Season 02

Actors: Keith David, Richard Dysart, Michael Nicolosi, Robert Forster, Dominique Jennings, John Rafter Lee, Victor Love

Spawn: Season 01

Actors: Keith David, Richard Dysart, Michael Nicolosi, Robert Forster, Dominique Jennings, John Rafter Lee, Victor Love

Truman

Actors: Diana Scarwid

Synopsis: This award winning made-for-cable movie tells the story of American President Harry S.Truman and his role in the second World War. Gary Sinese stars in the title role of this biographical account, which is based on Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCullough's book. The film chronicles Truman's rise Read More

Panther

Actors: Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, Joe Don Baker, Courtney Vance, Tyrin Turner

Synopsis: This controversial political drama semi-fictionalizes the history of the radical Black Panther Party, an African-American organization that polarized America from 1966-70. Huey Newton (Marcus Chong) and Bobby Seale (Courtney B. Vance) are a pair of Oakland, California, men who form a new political Read More

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

Back to the Future Part III

Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson

Synopsis: The final installment in the Back to the Future trilogy picks up where the second film left off, but it casts off the dizzying time travel of the first two films for mostly routine comedy set in the Old West. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) receives a 70-year-old letter from his inventor friend, Doc Read More

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

Moving Target

Synopsis: Made for television, Moving Target bears a few faint echoes of the 1986 theatrical feature Out of Bounds. Jason Bateman plays a teenaged musician returning home from summer camp. He is hardly greeted with open arms; as a matter of fact, his family has moved out in his absence. Compounding this Read More

Your Alcohol IQ: Celebrities Challenge the Moderation Generation

Wall Street

Actors: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, Terence Stamp

Synopsis: "Greed is Good." This is the credo of the aptly named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the antihero of Oliver Stone's Wall Street. Gekko, a high-rolling corporate raider, is idolized by young-and-hungry broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). Inveigling himself into Gekko's inner circle, Fox quickly learns Read More

Six Against the Rock

Actors: Richard Dysart, Dennis Farina, Howard Hesseman, David Morse, Jan-Michael Vincent, David Carradine, Charles Haid

Synopsis: The "six" are played by David Carradine, Howard Hesseman, David Morse, Charles Haid, Jan-Michael Vincent and Richard Dysart. The "rock" is, of course, escape-proof Alcatraz Island. This TV movie dramatizes an actual 1946 breakout attempt--which was meticulously preplanned for eight years. And what Read More

L.A. Law [TV Series]

Synopsis: Though the series proper debuted on Friday, October 3, 1986, L.A. Law was heralded by a two-hour TV movie, which aired Monday, September 15. The Steven Bochco production gets off to a good start, with no fewer than three cases resolved within the first installment. We first meet law-firm partner Read More

Castle in the Sky

Actors: James Van Der Beek, Anna Paquin, Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman

Synopsis: Hayao Miyazaki's fantasy adventure Castle in the Sky begins with a chase scene through a flying ship, where all the passengers are after the young girl, Sheeta (voice of Anna Paquin). Going overboard to avoid capture, Sheeta is rescued by her powerful crystal necklace which floats her down to Read More

The Last Days of Patton

Actors: George C. Scott, Eva Marie Saint, Ed Lauter, Richard Dysart, Murray Hamilton

Synopsis: In this 1986 made-for-television sequel to the 1971 film that won George C. Scott his only Academy Award, the acclaimed actor once again portrays General George S. Patton. While the original film dealt exclusively with the legendary military man's life during World War II, this follow-up picks up Read More

Blood and Orchids

Actors: Jane Alexander, William Russ, Matt Salinger, Sean Young, Kris Kristofferson

Synopsis: Blood and Orchids was adapted from Norman Katkov from his own fact-based book. The scene is Hawaii, 1937. The wife (Madeline Stowe) of a naval officer (William Russ) is beaten nearly to death by her lover (Matt Salinger)--her husband's best friend. Four native Hawaiians find the woman and take her Read More

Malice in Wonderland

Actors: Jane Alexander, Denise Crosby, Elizabeth Taylor, Jason Wingreen, Tim Robbins

Synopsis: When the made-for-TV The Rumor Mill first aired on May 12, 1985, it bore the title Malice in Wonderland. This joyously inaccurate biopic concerns itself with Hollywood's two foremost gossipmongers of the 1930s and 1940s: Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Long involved in the film industry, Parsons Read More

Warning Sign

Actors: Sam Waterston, Kathleen Quinlan, Yaphet Kotto, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: In yet another ostensible thriller about deadly germs wreaking havoc on human life and psyches, this is a frenetic, uneven story about germs going berserk in a sealed-off lab, giving rise to infected humans more berserk than the germs. The lab is secretly developing weapons of biological warfare Read More

Pale Rider

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Michael Moriarty, Carrie Snodgress, Chris Penn, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: A mysterious and possibly otherworldly stranger comes to the rescue of a frontier town in this Western, which was strongly influenced by the George Stevens classic, Shane. The peace of a small mining community is shattered when Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart), the ruthless proprietor of a powerful Read More

Mask

Actors: Cher, Sam Elliott, Eric Stoltz, Estelle Getty, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: This is the true story of Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), a personable young man suffering from "lionitis," a fatal disease which causes hideous facial disfigurement. The son of freewheeling biker Rusty Dennis (Cher), Rocky is accepted without question by his mom's boyfriends and cycle buddies, but Read More

The Falcon and the Snowman

Actors: Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, David Suchet, Lori Singer, Pat Hingle

Synopsis: John Schlesinger directed this fact-based drama - adapted from Robert Lindsay's bestseller of the same title -- about two Californians, friends since boyhood, who are caught selling government secrets to the Soviet Union. Christopher Boyce (Timothy Hutton) is an all-American boy, studying for the Read More

Missing Children: A Mother's Story

Synopsis: Deserted by her no-good husband, Kate Bradshaw (Mare Winningham), an illiterate, unemployed mother of three, proves to be easy prey for a smooth-talking older woman, Mary Gertrude (Polly Holliday). Persuaded to enroll her kids in Mary Gertrude's "child care center," Kate soon realizes to her Read More

The Thing

Actors: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David

Synopsis: John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also substantially more reliant on Read More

Churchill and the Generals

Synopsis: This film is based on Winston Churchill's memoirs of his leadership of England from Dunkirk to D-Day. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

The People vs. Jean Harris

Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Martin Balsam, Richard Dysart, Peter Coyote, Priscilla Morrill

Synopsis: The videotaped TV movie The People vs. Jean Harris premiered May 7, 1981-five weeks after the outcome of Jean Harris' trial. Ellen Burstyn plays Jean, the 57-year old headmistress of a Virginia girl's school. Jean was also the longtime lover of Scarsdale Diet author Dr. Herman Tarnower. On March Read More

Bitter Harvest

Actors: Ron Howard, Art Carney, Tarah Nutter, David Knell, Barry Corbin

Synopsis: Ron Howard plays a young farmer and family man whose dairy herd is being decimated by illness. As if this weren't enough, Howard's young son falls seriously ill. The state's agricultural officials could do something about Howard's plight, but red tape and bureaucracy rules the day. Based on a book Read More

The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd

Actors: Dennis Weaver, Susan Sullivan

Synopsis: The tragic story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who in 1865 was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor at the American penal colony of Fort Jefferson, was previously filmed as Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) and Hellgate (1957). Made for television, The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd stars Dennis Weaver as the Read More

Bogie

Synopsis: Vincent Sherman, who back in Hollywood's heyday directed Humphrey Bogart in The Return of Dr. X and All Through the Night, helmed the TV biopic Bogie. Unfortunately, Sherman was unable to overcome a cliched, bowdlerized screenplay, nor could he cover up the fact that star Kevin O'Connor had none Read More

Prophecy

Actors: Talia Shire, Robert Foxworth, Armand Assante, Richard Dysart, Victoria Racimo

Synopsis: This schlock horror classic from the 1970s is a product of the career ebb experienced by director John Frankenheimer. Robert Foxworth stars as Dr. Robert Verne, an inner-city physician renowned for his compassion and fairness. So he's asked by the EPA to mediate a dispute between Native American Read More

Meteor

Actors: Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau

Synopsis: The Soviets and Americans combine forces to save the world from a meteor in this science fiction disaster adventure. Bradley (Sean Connery) is an American scientist who teams up with Dubov (Brian Keith), and his translator-assistant Tatiana (Natalie Wood) later falls in love with Bradley. Hong Read More

Being There

Actors: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Basehart, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the streets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley Read More

An Enemy of the People

Actors: Steve McQueen, Charles Durning, Bibi Andersson, Eric Christmas, Michael Cristofer

Synopsis: Steve McQueen served as both star and executive producer for this film version of the drama by Henrik Ibsen, which was adapted by Arthur Miller. When Dr. Thomas Stockmann (McQueen) discovers that a tannery has dangerously polluted a hot spring in his community, he feels that it is his duty to Read More

First, You Cry

Synopsis: NBC correspondent Betty Rollin's book about her own mastectomy, First You Cry, was adapted for television by Carmen Culver. Mary Tyler Moore plays Ms. Rollins, who discovers after her breast surgery that her "loving" husband (Anthony Perkins) is a cad who can't withstand the pressure of living Read More

It Happened One Christmas

Synopsis: Marlo Thomas' first mistake was optioning the classic It's a Wonderful Life for this TV remake; her second was starring in it herself in the Jimmy Stewart part! This gender switch aside, It Happened One Christmas follows the original virtually to the letter. Thomas is a young woman who dreams of Read More

Gemini Man

Synopsis: Code Name: Minus One is the syndication title for the TV movie The Gemini Man. Ben Murphy stars as a secret agent for an organization called INTERSECT (International Security Technics). When saboteurs blow up an underwater testing lab, Murphy is exposed to radiation; as a result, he finds that he Read More

Riding with Death

Synopsis: The Gemini Man (Ben Murphy) is a guy who was exposed to a laboratory mix-up that gave him the power to become invisible at will. With such a skill he's appointed a dangerous task that brings him into contact with a crazed scientist who's involved in a deadly scheme. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Hindenburg

Actors: George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young

Synopsis: "The German Air Force is not at all what it used to be," says Anne Bancroft's Countess, about 16 minutes into The Hindenburg, pausing and then adding, "But then, nothing is these days." That seems to sum up the ponderous, irony-laden script and plot of Robert Wise's movie, which is posited -- in Read More

The Day of the Locust

Actors: Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page

Synopsis: The Day of the Locust is anything but a cheerful, light look at Hollywood in the '30s. It recreates both the town as well as the filmmaking world around which much of the town revolved with devastating accuracy. The movie tells the twin tales of talentless wannabe actress Faye Greener (Karen Read More

Baretta: Ragtime Billy Peaches

Actors: Robert Blake, Dana Elcar, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams

Synopsis: Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) investigates when the wife of a high-profile attorney is found murdered. It turns out that the dead woman was once a "lady of the evening" -- and that she made several enemies amongst the Syndicate while plying her trade. Hoping to trap the killers, Baretta enlists the Read More

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Actors: Cicely Tyson, Barbara Chaney, Richard Dysart, Katherine Helmond, Michael Murphy

Synopsis: Cicely Tyson ages from 19 to 110 in the role of Jane Pittman, a fictional African-American woman whose life began in slavery and ended at the inception of the Civil Rights Movement. Northern journalist Quentin Lerner (Michael Murphy) travels to the racially polarized south of 1962 to interview Ms. Read More

The Terminal Man

Actors: George Segal

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, Terminal Man is a sci-fi thriller about a scientist who decides to be the lab rat in an experimental surgery to control his violent tendencies. During the surgical procedure, a miniature computer is implanted in his head. Unfortunately, the mechanism Read More

The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder

Actors: Michael Ivan Cristofer

Synopsis: In this drama, a Vietnam vet, living in the psycho ward of a V.A. hospital, has difficulty coping with the crazy world he returned home to. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

All in the Family: Edith Gets a Mink

Actors: Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Richard Dysart

Synopsis: Archie's pride is hurt when Edith is given an expensive mink cape by her cousin Amelia. At first ordering Edith to return the gift, Archie changes his mind when he realizes that he stands to collect 300 dollars by selling the cape. Unfortunately, there's that pesky stain which just won't come out. Rae Allen Read More

The Sporting Club

Actors: Ralph Purdum, Diane Rousseau, John Seymour

Synopsis: This exploitative melodrama is set in northern Michigan where an exclusive private hunting club is located. There some of the country's richest, most powerful men come to relax and get closer to nature. Unfortunately, that means that they become engaged in debauchery and become brutal, amoral Read More

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

The Lost Man

Actors: Joanna Shimkus, Sidney Poitier

Synopsis: Jason Higgs (Sidney Poitier) is an angry black man who plans to rob a factory payroll. With the help of his accomplices Dennis (Al Freeman Jr.) and his white girlfriend Cathy (Joanna Shimkus), a racially motivated demonstration diverts attention from the crooks while they rob the safe. Jason is Read More

Petulia

Actors: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight

Synopsis: Petulia is Richard Lester's ode to the Swinging Sixties: a time of psychedelic instability when neither those who were square, nor those who were hip, really had it right. George C. Scott is Archie Bollen, a divorced San Francisco doctor in the midst of "discovering himself." Julie Christie is Read More

Love with the Proper Stranger

Actors: Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen, Edie Adams, Herschel Bernardi, Tom Bosley

Synopsis: Taken for granted by her Italian family, New Yorker Natalie Wood seeks solace in the arms of irresponsible jazz musician Steve McQueen. She becomes pregnant, but doesn't expect McQueen to marry her; all she wants is enough money to pay for an illegal abortion (this is ten years before Roe v. Read More