''Andre's Mother'' is a 1990 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written by

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...

, adapted from his 1988 stage play, directed by Deborah Reinisch and starring Richard Thomas,

Sada Thompson Sada Carolyn Thompson (September 27, 1927 – May 4, 2011) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was known to television audiences as Kate Lawrence in '' Family'' (1976-1980). Life and career She was born Sada Carolyn Thomps ...

, and Sylvia Sidney. It was broadcast on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television program ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Overview It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever an ...

'' on March 7, 1990.

Plot

The play is set at the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

memorial service for Andre Gerard, who died of AIDS and was buried in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

several weeks earlier. Andre's mother Katharine cannot come to terms with his death or share her grief with Cal, Andre's lover. Her rage is directed not only at Cal and her own mother, who was less judgmental of her grandson's life, but at Andre himself as well.

Cast

as Katharine Gerard, Andre's mother * Richard Thomas as Cal Porter, Andre's surviving lover * Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Downs, Katharine's mother''Andre's Mother''
paleycenter.org, accessed March 1, 2016

Production

The screenplay by

is an expansion of his eight-minute play written for an anthology titled ''Urban Blight'' that was produced by the

Manhattan Theater Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has ...

in 1988.Brown, Patricia Lee
"Twenty Playwrights Survey Urban Life"
''The New York Times'', June 19, 1988 The film was produced by WGBH Boston and was broadcast on March 14, 1990, by

stations nationwide as part of the ''

'' series. It was released on Region 1 DVD on April 25, 2006.

Critical reception

John O'Connor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' called it one of those

Awards

McNally won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, and the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

named it Outstanding Television Movie of the Year.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0099037 1990 drama films 1990 television films American LGBT-related television films American films based on plays Films with screenplays by Terrence McNally Films set in New York City Gay-related films HIV/AIDS in American films HIV/AIDS in television American Playhouse American drama television films