Waris Hussein Filmography

Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story

Crew: Director

Actors: Ann-Margret, David Dukes, Joan Severance, Susan Ruttan, John de Mita

Synopsis: This film is based on the extraordinary and at times outrageous life of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman (aptly played by Ann-Margret), who arrived in America from her native England. During her 40 years in the U.S. she managed to marry powerful and wealthy men and work her way into the Read More

Supply and Demand

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The weekly, hour-long British cop drama Supply and Demand was an outgrowth of a one-off, two-hour special, which aired over ITV in 1997. In the original, cowritten by Lynda LaPlante, streetwise cop Jake Brown (Eamonn Walker) and desk-bound, by-the-book officer Harrington (Ade Sapara) found Read More

Sixth Happiness

Crew: Director

Actors: Firdaus Kanga, Souad Faress, Khodus Wadia, Ahsen Bhatti, Mahabanoo Modi Kotwal

Synopsis: Disabled activist Firdaus Kanga scripted this autobiographical British drama by adapting his novel, Trying to Grow. Born in 1962 with brittle bone disease, Brit Kotwal (Kanga) grows up with the support of his middle-class Bombay family, but adulthood brings a series of suicides, accidents, and Read More

A Child's Wish

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This fact-based TV movie stars John Ritter as Ed Chandler, whose life is torn asunder when his daughter Missy (Anna Chlumsky) is diagnosed with cancer. The nature of Missy's illness obliges Ed to spend many hours away from his job as a car salesman to commiserate with her daughter's doctors at the Read More

The Face on the Milk Carton

Crew: Director

Actors: Kellie Martin, Jill Clayburgh, Edward Herrmann, Sharon Lawrence, Richard Masur

Synopsis: Director Waris Hussein delivers another made-for-television drama, this one based on the popular young-adult book by Caroline B. Cooney. The movie stars Kellie Martin as Janie, a teen who one day sees her own face on the back of a milk carton in an ad for missing children. The movie follows Janie Read More

Murder Between Friends

Crew: Director

Actors: Timothy Busfield, Stephen Lang, Martin Kemp, Lisa Blount, O'Neal Compton

Synopsis: Another "based on an actual event!" TV movie, Murder Between Friends is set in 1980s New Orleans. Two friends become involved in murder when the wife of one of them begins cheating on her spouse. Constructed along the lines of "Rashomon", the script offers two entirely different accounts of the Read More

Fall from Grace

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The two-part British miniseries Fall From Grace was set in the fifth year of WW II. To mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the invasion of France, Col. Sir Henry Ridley (James Fox) leaves an elaborate trail of false clues, not least of which is the fabrication of an entire "battle Read More

The Summer House

Crew: Director

Actors: Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, Julie Walters, Lena Headey, David Threlfall

Synopsis: Martin Sherman adapted Alice Thomas Ellis' novel for this comedy about a suburban Englishwoman who's about to settle on marriage with her mother-dominated next door neighbor until everyone's comfortable life is disrupted by a visit from her exotic and flamboyant friend Lili (Jeanne Moreau, in a Read More

For the Love of My Child: The Anissa Ayala Story

Crew: Director

Actors: Priscilla Lopez, Teresa Dispina, Tony Perez, Robin Thomas, Danny Nucci

Synopsis: Based on a true story, this drama centers on a mother and father who decide to have another child in hopes of providing a bone-marrow donor for their leukemia-stricken child. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

She Woke Up

Crew: Director

Actors: Lindsay Wagner, David Dukes, Frances Sternhagen, Maureen Mueller, Ronald C. Frazier

Synopsis: Surprisingly good soap opera in which the suspense and thrills are genuinely good revolves around a wealthy woman who awakens from a fourteen-month coma after an attempt is made on her life and now must remember who tried to kill her in order to prevent it from happening again. ~ Tana Hobart, All Read More

Who Will Save My Life? The Anissa Ayala Story

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This drama is based upon the true story of Anissa Ayala, a leukemia patient. To save her, her parents make a new baby so they use it as a bone marrow donor. This creates considerable controversy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Switched at Birth

Crew: Director

Actors: Bonnie Bedelia, Brian Kerwin, Ed Asner, John M. Jackson, Lois Smith

Synopsis: The two-part, four-hour TV movie Switched at Birth is based on an actual event which began unfolding in Wauchula, Florida in 1978. Brian Kerwin and Judith Hoag play the new parents of a baby girl; a few days later, another couple, played by John M. Jackson and Bonnie Bedelia, have a baby at the Read More

Forbidden Nights

Crew: Director

Actors: Melissa Gilbert, Robin Shou

Synopsis: Forbidden Nights is set in the Red China of 1979. Robin Shou plays a Chinese radical, working on behalf of bringing political reform to his homeland. Melissa Gilbert costars as an American teacher who falls in love with Shou. The dramatic thrust of the story is Ms. Gilbert's willingness to put her Read More

Cult People

Synopsis: This documentary presents interviews and clips with some of cinema's best loved cult figures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Shell Seekers

Crew: Director

Actors: Angela Lansbury

Synopsis: The made-for-TV The Shell Seekers was based on the best-selling novel by Rosamunde Pincher. Heading the cast is Angela Lansbury as Penelope Keeling, a reclusive British matron of comfortable means who suffers a near-fatal heart attack. While recovering, Penelope determines that her attack was a Read More

Those She Left Behind

Crew: Director

Actors: Gary Cole, Joanna Kerns, Mary Page Keller, Colleen Dewhurst, George Coe

Synopsis: The ordeal of young husband Scott Grimes (Gary Cole) begins when his wife Sue (Mary Page Keller) unexpectedly dies in childbirth. Unprepared to be a single parent, Scott seeks out help from his mother-in-law (Colleen Dewhurst) and from professional caregivers. Still, he is overwhelmed by the Read More

Onassis

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Part One of this four-hour TV movie adaptation of Peter Evans' biography suggested that Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis spent every waking hour commiserating in bed with lovers of all sexes. Part Two of Onassis: The Richest Man in the World hunkers down to the Main Event: The showdown Read More

Killer Instinct

Crew: Director

Synopsis: When an institutionalized patient who is forcibly released commits murder, the treating psychiatrist's career is in jeopardy. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Shoulder to Shoulder

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The elaborate British miniseries Shoulder to Shoulder was an anecdotal dramatization of the women's suffrage movement in England. Covering the period from the 1890s to the end of WWI, the series focused on the movement's most vocal proponent, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst (Sian Phillips). As Emmeline's Read More

Intimate Contact

Crew: Director

Actors: Claire Bloom, Daniel Massey

Synopsis: After a brief business-trip fling, a white-collar executive (Daniel Massey) learns he has contracted AIDS, and he and his wife (Claire Bloom) are forced to come to grips with his mortality. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Downpayment on Murder

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Down payment on Murder is a fact-based TV movie starring Connie Sellecca as a battered wife. For ten years she has been the punching bag of her real-estate agent husband, played with brilliant repugnance by Ben Gazzara. When Connie moves out, Gazzara is convinced that it's because of another man; Read More

When the Bough Breaks

Crew: Director

Actors: Ted Danson, Richard Masur, Rachel Ticotin, David Huddleston, James Noble

Synopsis: Jonathan Kellerman's Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning novel When the Bough Breaks was evocatively adapted for the TV screen in 1986. Ted Danson plays a clinical psychologist, brought in to tend to an emotionally withdrawn little girl (Rachel Ticotin). There's a possibility that the child may have Read More

Arch of Triumph

Crew: Director

Actors: Lesley-Anne Down, Donald Pleasence, Anthony Hopkins

Synopsis: Erich Maria Remarque's novel Arch of Triumph was originally adapted to film in 1948 with stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Lewis Milestone. This TV-movie remake aired May 29, 1985. Anthony Hopkins and Lesley-Anne Down play the star-crossed lovers whose prewar romance in Read More

Surviving

Crew: Director

Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Len Cariou, Zach Galligan, Marsha Mason

Synopsis: Originally telecast in a three-hour network slot, Surviving is virtually two films in one. In the first 90 minutes, we see the identity crises and outside pressures that propel a "normal" teenaged boy (Zach Galligan) and a "disturbed" teenaged girl (Mollie Ringwald) into committing suicide Read More

Copacabana

Crew: Director

Synopsis: This campy drama, set in the 1940s, was inspired by a hit song by Barry Manilow. It tells the tale of an aspiring songwriter, Lola, a showgirl, and the sleazy owner of the Copa. Tragedy ensues as the two men duel over Lola's love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Little Gloria... Happy at Last

Crew: Director

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

The Winter of Our Discontent

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Michael de Guzman scripted this prettified TV-movie adaptation of John Steinbeck's gloomy 1961 novel The Winter of Our Discontent. Donald Sutherland stars as Ethan Hawkley, a solid citizen loved and respected by his family and by the citizens of his town. Ethan's loyalty and ethics will be tested Read More

Princess Daisy

Crew: Director

Actors: Lindsay Wagner, Paul Michael Glaser, Robert Urich, Claudia Cardinale

Synopsis: This melodrama is the second of a two part story based on a novel by Judith Krantz. In this episode, Daisy, the daughter of a Russian prince and an American movie star, must leave college and begin looking for a job in New York so that she can pay her sister's enormous medical bills. ~ Sandra Read More

Coming Out of the Ice

Crew: Director

Actors: John Savage

Synopsis: Coming Out of the Ice stars John Savage as the real-life Victor Herman, an American athlete born to Ukrainian immigrants. In 1931, when Herman was sixteen, he and his family moved to the Soviet Union when his father was transferred there for his job with Ford Motor Company. Four years later Read More

Callie and Son

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Lindsay Wagner stars as Callie, who battles her way up the ladder from waitress to fabulously wealthy Texas socialite. The price for her success is her son Randy, played by Jameson Parker. Though wielding great power, Callie is nearly powerless in her efforts to keep Randy away from beautiful Read More

The Henderson Monster

Crew: Director

Synopsis: The made-for-television movie The Henderson Monster is about a genetic scientist who experiments with the creation of new life in a small university town. After he is discovered by the community, the town is gripped by an ethical debate. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Edward and Mrs. Simpson

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Edward and Mrs. Simpson was the six-part TV follow-up to the syndicated miniseries Edward the King. Produced in England, this elaborately crafted historical drama stars Edward Fox as King Edward VII, who gives up the throne for "the woman I love," American divorcee Wallis Warfield (Cynthia Read More

Baby Comes Home

Crew: Director

Actors: Colleen Dewhurst, Warren Oates

Synopsis: The sequel to the popular 1979 TV movie And Baby Makes Six, Baby Comes Home reteams Colleen Dewhurst and Warren Oates as middle-agers who find themselves the parents of a newborn child. The first film dealt with the impact of the 47-year-old mother's unexpected pregnancy on her three grown Read More

Death Penalty

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Colleen Dewhurst stars as psychologist Elaine Lipton in the made-for-TV Death Penalty. A strong opponent of the eponymous punishment, Dr. Lipton struggles valiantly to rehabilitate street gang member Carlos Rivera (David Labiosa). Convicted of murdering two rival gang members, Carlos faces the gas Read More

And Baby Makes Six

Crew: Director

Actors: Colleen Dewhurst, Timothy Hutton

Synopsis: Middle-aged Colleen Dewhurst shocks her family-and herself-when she announces she is pregnant. Partly out of concern for her health, and partly out of selfishness, the family argues over whether or not she should go to term. Husband Pat Hingle is indecisive until he witness the baby's development Read More

Moths

Crew: Director

Three Weeks

Crew: Director

The Glittering Prizes [TV Series]

Crew: Director

Actors: Tom Conti, Barbara Kellerman

Synopsis: A hit with the critics when it first premiered on PBS back in the late 1970s, Frederic Raphael's six-part miniseries details the hopes and fears of an entire generation by following a group of friends who first meet while studying at the esteemed Cambridge University in the 1950s. Later, as the Read More

Notorious Woman

Crew: Director

Actors: Rosemary Harris, George Chakiris, Alan Howard, Jeremy Irons

Synopsis: The title character in this British historical miniseries was 19th century French novelist Aurore Dupin (1804-1876), who wrote under the nom de plume of George Sand. Audaciously adopting male clothing and scandalizing her contemporaries by talking and behaving in a mannish fashion, George Sand Read More

Henry VIII and His Six Wives

Crew: Director

Actors: David Baillie, Peter Clay, Sarah Long, Mark York, Keith Michell, Donald Pleasence, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Asher, Frances Cuka

Synopsis: Henry VIII and His Six Wives is a feature film based upon the 1971 BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Keith Michell weathers several makeup changes as the much-married titular monarch. While the miniseries was able to explore the political and personal reasons for the selection (and Read More

The Possession of Joel Delaney

Crew: Director

Actors: Jose Fernandez, Aukie Herger, Paulita Iglesias, Marita Lindholm, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Hordern, Perry King, Lisa Kohane, Edmundo Rivera Alvarez, Robert Burr

Synopsis: In this supernatural thriller, Norah Benson (Shirley MacLaine) is a wealthy woman living in Manhattan who keeps a close and protective eye on her brother Joel (Perry King), who has a flat in a rough section of the East Village. Joel is a frequent guest at Norah's home and loves her two children Read More

Divorce His, Divorce Hers

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Originally made for television, this production features divorce from two perspectives: in the first half, the husband (Richard Burton) explains his perspective of his failed marriage, while the second includes that of his wife (Elizabeth Taylor). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

Melody

Crew: Director

Actors: Camille Davies, Billy Franks, Craig Marriott, Kay Skinner, William Vanderpuye, Peter Walton, Tim Wylton, Jack Wild, Mark Lester, Tracy Hyde, Sheila Steafel, Roy Kinnear

Synopsis: An excellent musical score by the Bee Gees adds appeal to this curious little movie about two ten-year olds, Daniel and Melody (Mark Lester and Tracy Hyde) who are completely taken with each other and announce to their parents, in all seriousness, that they plan to get married. This marriage is Read More

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx

Crew: Director

Actors: Gene Wilder, Margot Kidder, Eileen Colgan, Seamus Ford, May Ollis

Synopsis: Quackser Fortune (Gene Wilder) is a carefree fertilizer merchant in Dublin. Something of a local "character," Quackser becomes the object of fascination for wealthy American visitor Zazel Pierce (Margot Kidder). At first, the radical differences in their stations in life make little difference to Read More

Thank You All Very Much

Crew: Director

Actors: Sandy Dennis, Ian McKellen, Michael Coles, John Standing, Peggy Thorpe-Bates, Eleanor Bron

Synopsis: Also titled A Touch of Love, this British drama concerns a woman who decides to keep and raise a baby born out of wedlock. Sandy Dennis stars as Rosamund Stacey, a graduate student who has an affair with a television broadcaster, George (Ian McKellen). When she learns that she is pregnant, her Read More

Doctor Who: Marco Polo, Episode 3

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Mark Eden

Synopsis: In the third episode of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the treacherous Tegana (Derren Nesbitt) intends to leave Marco Polo (Mark Eden), the Doctor (William Hartnell), and their traveling companions to die of thirst in the desert. Seeking shelter not only from the elements but also from the Read More

Doctor Who: Marco Polo, Episode 1

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Mark Eden

Synopsis: The current unavailability of the entire first-season Dr. Who story arc "Marco Polo" is perhaps the most frustrating of the many gaps in the series' chronology. Written by John Lucarotti, this seven-part adventure began on February 22, 1964, with the episode titled "The Roof of the World." The Read More

Doctor Who: Marco Polo, Episode 2

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Mark Eden

Synopsis: In the second episode of the seven-part story arc "Marco Polo," the Doctor and his companions reluctantly accompany Marco Polo (Mark Eden) on a long journey to the Peking stronghold of Kublai Khan. The first leg of their journey requires them to cross the Gobi Desert, known as "the singing sands" Read More

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Episode 3

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Eileen Way

Synopsis: In the third episode of the four-part story arc "An Unearthly Child," Doctor Who (William Hartnell) and his companions, Ian and Barbara (William Russell, Jacqueline Hill), have managed to escape the Cave of Skulls. But they have not yet managed to escape the prehistoric-earth surroundings -- and Read More

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Episode 2

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Derek Newmark

Synopsis: In this second episode of the four-part story arc "An Unearthly Child," Doctor Who (William Hartnell) and schoolteachers Ian and Barbara (William Russell, Jacqueline Hill) have journeyed some 100,000 years back time. Captured by a pre-civilized race, the Doctor and his companions are thrown into Read More

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Episode 1

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford

Synopsis: The Doctor Who saga began on November 23, 1963, with the first episode of the four-part story arc known variously as "An Unearthly Child," "100,000 BC," and "The Tribe of Gum." Curious about their secretive pupil Susan (Carole Ann Ford), schoolteachers Ian Chesterson (William Russell) and Barbara Read More

Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Episode 4

Crew: Director

Actors: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Howard Lang

Synopsis: In the conclusion of the four-part story arc "An Unearthly Child," Doctor Who (William Hartnell) and his companions, Ian and Barbara (William Russell, Jacqueline Hill), are still stranded in the era of the Great Cold some 100,000 years ago. Having managed to escape both the Cave of Skulls and the Read More

Daphne Laureola

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Sir Laurence Olivier stars in this film about a group of people in a Soho restaurant who are all invited by a boisterous woman to a tea at her husband's home. Enraptured by the woman is an elderly businessman who may find that things with this enchanting woman may not be what they seem. ~ Cammila Read More