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''Malice in Wonderland'' is a 1985 American made-for-television
biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docu ...
based on the 1972 novel ''Hedda and Louella: A Dual Biography of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons'' by George Eells. Starring
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
and
Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, ...
, it tells the based-on-real-life stories of powerful
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, once friends and later rivals. The film premiered on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
on 12 May 1985. The film was a ratings success gaining an 18.3 rating equaling to 15,536,700 households tuning in its original air date.


Cast

*
Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
as Louella Parsons *
Jane Alexander Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, ...
as Hedda Hopper *
Richard Dysart Richard Allen Dysart (March 30, 1929 – April 5, 2015) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Leland McKenzie in the television series ''L.A. Law'' (1986–1994), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award from four consecutive nom ...
as
Louis B. Mayer Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industr ...
*
Joyce Van Patten Joyce Benignia Van Patten (born March 9, 1934) is an American film and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in films like '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''St. Elmo's Fire'' (1985) (as Mrs. Beamish), and as Rob Schneider's septuagenari ...
as
Dema Harshbarger Dema Harshbarger (September 8, 1884 — February 20, 1964) was an American businesswoman, concert promoter, and talent manager. Early life Dema E. Harshbarger was born in Knox, Illinois, one of the seven children of Richard Henry Harshbarger and ...
*
Jon Cypher Jon Cypher (born January 13, 1932) is an American actor and singer. He is best known as playing Chief of Police Fletcher Daniels in ''Hill Street Blues'' throughout the series' run. He is also known for his work in ''Cinderella'', ''As the World Tu ...
as Dr. Harry 'Docky' Martin *
Leslie Ackerman Leslie Ackerman (born August 2, 1956) is an American actress. Ackerman is from Springfield, New Jersey. Her father progressed from being an attorney to serving on the Federal District Court in Trenton, New Jersey. She became interested in the ...
as
Harriet Parsons Harriet Oettinger Parsons (1906 – 1983) was an American film producer, actress, director, and magazine writer; one of the few female producers in the United States at the time. Her mother was famed gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Biography ...
*
Bonnie Bartlett Bonnie Bartlett (born June 20, 1929) is an American actress. Her career spans seven decades, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, ''Love of Life''. Bartlett is known for her role as Grace Snider Edwards on the Michael Lando ...
as
Ida Koverman Ida Brockway "Kay" Koverman (May 15, 1876 – November 24, 1954) was an American film executive. She is best known as the woman who "ran MGM" as Louis B. Mayer's executive secretary and, later, director of public relations for the studio. Early l ...
* Thomas Byrd as
William Hopper William DeWolf Hopper Jr. (January 26, 1915 – March 6, 1970) was an American stage, film, and television actor. The only child of actor DeWolf Hopper and actress and Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, he appeared in predominantly minor ro ...
* Joel Colodner as Andy Kenderson * Rick Lenz as Iceman * Mary McCusker as Dot *
John Pleshette John Pleshette (born July 27, 1942) is an American actor and screenwriter, best known for his role as Richard Avery on the television drama ''Knots Landing'', and for portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in the TV movie '' The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald ...
as Tommy Gallep * Eric Purcell as Orson Welles * Tim Robbins as
Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and ''Sab ...
* Mark L. Taylor as
Howard Strickling Howard Strickling (September 25, 1896 – July 16, 1982) served as head of publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures from the late 1920s into the late 1960s. Biography He was born in West Virginia; Strickling was in charge of the publicity surr ...
* Nancy Travis as Ann * B.J. Ward as June *
Vernon Weddle Vernon Weddle Jr. (born August 23, 1935) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing "General Washburne" in the 1986 film ''Short Circuit''. Life and career Weddle was born in Hattiesburg, Mississipp ...
as Sam Goldwyn * Allen Williams as Joel *
Theodore Wilson Theodore Rosevelt "Teddy" Wilson (December 10, 1943 – July 21, 1991) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his recurring roles as Earl the Postman on the ABC sitcom ''That's My Mama'', and Sweet Daddy Will ...
as Collins *
Jason Wingreen Jason Wingreen (October 9, 1920 – December 25, 2015) was an American actor. He portrayed bartender Harry Snowden on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1977–1979), a role he reprised on the continuation series '' Archie Bunker's Place'' ...
as
Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...
* Helen Baron as Ellen * Thomas Bellin as Hotel Clerk *
Denise Crosby Denise Michelle Crosby is an American actress and model known for portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar mainly in season one of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and Yar's daughter, the half-Romulan Commander Sela, in subsequent seasons. Sh ...
as
Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (born Jane Alice Peters; October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress, particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in screwball comedies. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard ...
* Robert Darnell as Heiner * Christine Dickinson as Betty * Douglas Emerson as Young Bill Harper * Edith Fields as Mrs. Washburn * Lyla Graham as Mrs. Clayton *
Anne Haney Anne Ryan Haney ( Thomas; March 4, 1934 – May 26, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress. She was best known for her roles in ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' and ''Liar Liar'', as well as Alberta Meechum on the sitcom ''Mama's Family''. Early yea ...
as Dema's Secretary * Mindi Iden as Starlet * Leigh Kavanaugh as 2nd Journalist * Amelia Laurenson as
Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, ...
* Galen Thompson as Hal *
Jan Tříska Jan Tříska (; 4 November 1936 – 25 September 2017) was a Czech actor who played over 160 roles across stage, film, and television. He worked in the United States after emigrating there in the 1970s, but later returned to his native country fo ...
as Mike Romanoff * Keith Walker as Albert *
Gary Wayne Gary Anthony Wayne (born November 30, 1962) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played for the Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, and Los Angeles Dodgers between 1989 and 1994. Early life Wayne graduated from Cr ...
as
Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
*
Noni White Noni White is an American writer and actress. White is best known for co-creating and writing the screenplay for ''Newsies'' along with her husband Bob Tzudiker, which was based on the real-life Newsboys' strike of 1899. Newsies began as a "cla ...
as 1st Journalist * Craig Richard Nelson as Radio Producer


Crew

* Director as Gus Trikonis * Producer as
Jay Benson A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackd ...
* Music as Charles Bernstein *
Cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
as Philip H. Lathrop * Film Editing as
Allan Jacobs Allan B. Jacobs (born 29 December 1928) is an urban designer, renowned for his publications and research on urban design. His well-known paper ''"Toward an Urban Design Manifesto"'', written with Donald Appleyard, describes how cities should be ...
* Production Designer as John D. Jefferies Sr. *
Costume design Costume design is the creation of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume may refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. In many cases, it may contribute to the fullness of the art ...
er as
Nolan Miller Nolan Bertrandoff Miller (January 8, 1933 – June 7, 2012) was an American fashion and jewelry designer on QVC and a television costume designer best known for his work on the long-running 1980s series ''Dynasty'', its spin-off series ''The Colb ...


Home media

''Malice in Wonderland'' was released on Region 1
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
on June 28, 2004 with a running time of 94 minutes.


External links

* 1985 films 1980s historical comedy-drama films 1985 television films American biographical films American comedy-drama films American historical comedy-drama films CBS network films Films set in the 20th century Biographical films about journalists American drama television films Films directed by Gus Trikonis 1980s English-language films 1980s American films {{US-tv-film-stub