''Quiet Killer'' is a 1992 American-Canadian

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, offensive (military), military/terrorism, terrorist att ...

directed by Sheldon Larry. The thriller, based on the 1977 novel ''The Black Death'' by Gwyneth Cravens and John S. MarrReview Summary
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and adapted by I. C. Rapoport, stars

Kate Jackson Lucy Kate Jackson (born October 29, 1948), known professionally as Kate Jackson, is an American actress and television producer, known for her television roles as Sabrina Duncan in the series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1979) and Amanda King i ...

and was originally broadcast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. The film was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

under the title ''Black Death''.

Plot

When Sara Dobbs (Robertson), the teenage daughter of a wealthy New York City family returns home while feeling sick, nobody suspects a thing. At home, her health deteriorates quickly, resulting in a painful death on the streets before her

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

home. In the hospital, it does not take long before Dr. Nora Hart (Jackson) concludes that Sara has died of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

, which has not occurred in centuries. Realizing that the disease is extremely contagious, she tries to push the authorities to warn the New York citizens, but the Mayor is reluctant to cause a widespread panic. Meanwhile, more citizens who have been in direct contact with Sara start to perish. Nora and her new colleague Dr. Jake Prescott (Nordling)—whom she becomes romantically involved with—start a race against the clock to locate and treat all the people who might be infected, while trying to prevent the city from panicking. In the end, Nora is successful in finding everyone who is infected, and treats most of them successfully. Within a week, a pandemic is ended after 22 deaths.

Cast

as Dr. Nora Hart *

Al Waxman Albert Samuel Waxman, (March 2, 1935 – January 18, 2001) was a Canadian actor and director of over 1,000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage. He is best known for his starring roles in the television series '' King of Kensington ...

as Mayor Andy Carmichael *

Jeffrey Nordling Jeffrey Richard Nordling (born March 11, 1962) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jake Manning in ''Once and Again'', Larry Moss in '' 24'', Nick Bolen in ''Desperate Housewives'', and Gordon Klein in '' Big Little Lies'', as wel ...

as Dr. Jake Prescott *

Chip Zien Jerome Herbert "Chip" Zien (born March 20, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for originating the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of the musical ''Into the Woods'' by Stephen Sondheim. He appeared in all of ...

as Dr. Lionel Katz * Barbara Williams as Charlene *

David Hewlett David Ian Hewlett (born 18 April 1968) is an English-Canadian actor, writer and director, known for his role as Dr. Rodney McKay in the ''Stargate'' science-fiction franchise. He first gained fame for his roles as Grant Jansky in the Canadian ...

as Nyles Chapman *

Jerry Orbach Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor and singer, described at the time of his death as "one of the last'' bona fide'' leading men of the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical and global celebrity on te ...

as Dr. Vincent Califano *

Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on '' WKRP in Cincinnati'' and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on '' Head ...

as Congressman Calvin Phillips *Alma Martinez as Dolores Rosales *

Tom Mardirosian Tom Mardirosian (born December 14, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for playing Agamemnon Busmalis in the HBO show '' Oz'' and Agt. Kristos Koutris in the HBO show ''The Wire''. Mardirosian was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, the s ...

as Deputy Mayor Kaprow *

Kathleen Robertson Kathleen Robertson (born July 8, 1973) is a Canadian actress. She has starred in a number of films, and from 2011 to 2012 played the role of Kitty O'Neill in the Starz (TV channel), Starz political drama series ''Boss (TV series), Boss''. From ...

as Sara Dobbs *

Luis Guzmán Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia (film), Magn ...

as Adelaido Ortiz *

Don Francks Don Harvey Francks (February 28, 1932 – April 3, 2016), also known by his stage name Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, musician and singer. Early life Don Harvey Francks was born on February 28, 1932, and was adopted shortly after his bir ...

as Dr. Martin *

Patricia Idlette Patricia Idlette is an American actress known for her role as Kiffany in Showtime's '' Dead Like Me''. She also appeared in four episodes of ''Battlestar Galactica'' as politician Sarah Porter, and as Melanie Blackstone in the miniseries '' Am ...

as Gayle

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0105206, title=Quiet Killer 1992 television films 1992 films 1990s disaster films American disaster films American thriller television films CBS films Films set in New York City Films directed by Sheldon Larry 1990s American films Canadian disaster films Canadian thriller television films CTV Television Network original films 1990s English-language films