''Rich and Famous'' is a 1981 American drama film directed by

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor ( ; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer, producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO Pictures, RKO when David O. Selzn ...

, the final film of his career. The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1940 play '' Old Acquaintance'' by

John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations ...

, previously adapted in 1943 by

Vincent Sherman Vincent Sherman (born Abraham Orovitz, July 16, 1906 – June 18, 2006) was an American director and actor who worked in Hollywood. His movies include '' Mr. Skeffington'' (1944), '' Nora Prentiss'' (1947), and '' The Young Philadelphians'' (1959 ...

under its original title, starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

and

Miriam Hopkins Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930. She portrayed a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' Trouble in Paradise'', ...

. The film was released to commercial failure and mixed critical response.

Plot

Two women find their friendship is tested when one rises from obscurity to success while the other stagnates in a stalled career. Liz Hamilton, a young woman with literary ambitions, and Merry Noel Blake, an all-American blonde beauty from Atlanta, are close friends who met while they were freshmen at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in the 1950s. Soon after graduation, Liz writes a critically acclaimed book and drifts into unfulfilling relationships and one-night stands, including an empty encounter in an airplane lavatory, a fling with a teenaged hustler, and an affair with Chris Adams, a young reporter for ''Rolling Stone''. Meanwhile, Merry fulfills her aspiration to a life of domesticity caring for a husband and child by marrying Doug Blake and moving to a beach house in Malibu, California. Although Merry is happy, she can't help but envy Liz for her glamorous career as an author. Merry decides to write a book of her own, relying on Liz's assistance. The trashy

roman à clef A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This m ...

about the Malibu colony finds a publisher and becomes a huge best-seller. Merry soon is a darling of the media, and her fame and fortune surpass those of Liz (who is experiencing a severe case of

writer's block Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...

), leading to jealousy between the old friends and problems in Merry's marriage. The film takes place over the course of 22 years, first depicting the elopement of Merry and Doug in 1959, and then picking up during three segments, taking place in 1969, 1975 and 1981, showing changes in the characters' relationships (and society) over the course of two decades.

Cast

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in ''The Detective (1968 film), The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet ...

as Liz Hamilton *

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...

as Merry Noel Blake *

David Selby David Lynn Selby (born February 5, 1941) is an American film, television, and stage actor and writer. He is best known for playing Quentin Collins on the daytime soap ''Dark Shadows'' (1968–1971) and Richard Channing on the prime-time s ...

as Doug Blake *

Hart Bochner Hart Matthew Bochner (born October 3, 1956) is a Canadian TV, film and voice actor, film director, screenwriter and producer. He has appeared in films such as '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' Terror Train'' (1980), '' Rich and Famous'' (1981), '' The ...

as Chris Adams *

Steven Hill Steven Hill (born Solomon Krakovsky; ; February 24, 1922 – August 23, 2016) was an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as district attorney Adam Schiff (Law & Order), Adam Schiff on the NBC television drama series ''Law & ...

as Jules Levi *

Michael Brandon Michael Brandon (born Michael Feldman; April 20, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as James Dempsey in the British drama series ''Dempsey and Makepeace'' (1985–1986) and narrating the American dub of the children's televisio ...

as Max *

Meg Ryan Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra (born November 19, 1961), known by her stage name Meg Ryan, is an American actress. Known for her leading roles as quirky, charismatic women since the late 1980s, Ryan is particularly recognized for her work in ...

as Debby Blake (age 18) *

Nicole Eggert Nicole Elizabeth Eggert (born January 13, 1972) is an American actress. Her notable roles include Jamie Powell on the situation comedy ''Charles in Charge'' and Summer Quinn on the television series ''Baywatch''. She guest-starred in ''The Super ...

as Debby Blake (age 8) * Matt Lattanzi as Jim * Daniel Faraldo as Ginger Trinidad *

Fay Kanin Fay Kanin (née Mitchell; May 9, 1917March 27, 2013) was an American screenwriter, playwright and producer. Kanin was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983. Biography Born Fay Mitchell in New York City t ...

as Professor Fields ;Cameos * Nina Foch *

Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States from the 1960s through the 2000s. In later years, Cave ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. From 1962 to 1986, G ...

* Marsha Hunt *

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

Gavin Lambert Gavin Lambert (23 July 1924 – 17 July 2005) was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the film indust ...

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, s ...

Paul Morrissey Paul Joseph Morrissey (February 23, 1938 – October 28, 2024) was an American film director, known for his early association with Andy Warhol. His most famous films include ''Flesh (1968 film), Flesh'' (1968), ''Trash (1970 film), Trash'' (197 ...

Frank De Felitta Frank Paul De Felitta (August 3, 1921 – March 29, 2016) was an author, producer, pilot and film director. He was most well known for his novels ''Audrey Rose (novel), Audrey Rose'' and ''The Entity.'' Life and career Frank De Felitta was bo ...

Frances Bergen Frances Bergen (née Westerman; September 14, 1922 – October 2, 2006) was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice Bergen and film and television editor Kris B ...

* Alan Berliner *

Randal Kleiser John Randal Kleiser (born July 20, 1946) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the films ''Grease (film), Grease'' (1978), ''The Blue Lagoon (1980 film), The Blue Lagoon'' (1 ...

Production

Robert Mulligan Robert Patrick Mulligan (August 23, 1925 – December 20, 2008) was an American director and producer. He is best known for his sensitive dramas, including ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), '' Summer of '42'' (1971), '' The Other'' (1972), '' Sam ...

originally was slated to direct, but when members of the

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording ...

and the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

went on strike four days after filming began, the production shut down. Mulligan was forced to withdraw when previous commitments conflicted with the new schedule. The film proved to be the last directed by Cukor. It also marked the screen debuts of an 8-year-old

and

, who played Merry's daughter in the 1969 and 1981 segments, respectively.

Filming

New York City locations seen in the film include the

Algonquin Hotel The Algonquin Hotel (officially The Algonquin Hotel Times Square, Autograph Collection) is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwi ...

, the Saint Regis and the

Waldorf Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

. Additional locations include Madison, New Jersey (standing in for Northampton, Massachusetts), Los Angeles, and Malibu. Interiors were filmed at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City. Sets were later rented for use in the Biltmore Hotel scenes in the 1984 blockbuster ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

''.

Music

The soundtrack includes "Take Me for a Buggy Ride", performed by

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...

, and "On the Sunny Side of the Street", sung by

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''The New York Times'' wrote "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's about a tumultuously difficult but rewarding friendship or whether it's a sendup of the contemporary literary scene. It fails as both...The culprit is Gerald Ayres... hohas spread his talents very thin...Though he has written two big roles, he doesn't seem capable of writing either a romantic drama, like '' The Turning Point'', or an informed satire...Mr. Ayres can occasionally write good wisecracks...But he has no particular insight into the publishing scene. Nor does he ever convince us of the enduring strength of the friendship that lasts through thick and, more often, thin. Though Misses Bisset and Bergen are appealing actresses, ''Rich and Famous'' doesn't hold together." Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' observed "This film is a real curiosity. It's a good-bad movie, like '' The Other Side of Midnight'' or ''

The Greek Tycoon ''The Greek Tycoon'' is a 1978 American biographical romantic drama film, of the ''roman à clef'' type, directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells, who loosely ...

''. It contains scenes that make you want to squirm because of their awkwardness and awfulness, and yet you don't want to look away and you're not bored. The movie has the courage to go to extremes, and some of those extremes may not be art but are certainly unforgettable...It's a slick, trashy, entertaining melodrama, with too many dumb scenes to qualify as successful." ''Variety'' wrote "While not without its problems, ''Rich and Famous'' is an absorbing drama of some notable qualities, the greatest of which is a gutsy, fascinating and largely magnificent performance by Jacqueline Bisset...For a bright, sophisticated piece such as this, particularly one under the guidance of the irrepressibly elegant George Cukor, the somewhat harsh, murky visual style is surprising." ''TV Guide'' rated the film one out of four stars and wrote "This could have been – and is – a very funny film; unfortunately, most of the laughs are unintentional...Although his version of Van Druten's play ''Old Acquaintance'' is sexier than the original 1943 screen treatment...it also fails to satisfy on many levels...This glossy soap opera suffers from Cukor's failure to control his actors. Moreover, the costumes are atrocious. The film simply lacks the sophisticated style that made Cukor famous."

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

of ''The New Yorker'' wrote "''Rich and Famous'' isn't camp, exactly: It's more like a homosexual fantasy. Jacqueline Bisset's affairs, with their masochistic overtones, are creepy, because they don't seem like what a woman would get into. And Candice Bergen is used almost as if she were a big, goosey, female impersonator." ''Time Out London'' wrote "Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins roles in this loose reworking of ''Old Acquaintance'' are very capable...Of course much of the credit must go to Cukor, the veteran 'woman's director'; but the film disappoints in its unconfident handling of the secondary characters."

Awards and nominations

Gerald Ayres won the Writers Guild Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rich And Famous (1981 Film) 1981 films American buddy drama films 1981 drama films Films scored by Georges Delerue American films based on plays Films about writers Films set in New York City Films set in California Films directed by George Cukor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey 1980s female buddy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language buddy drama films