''Space'' (also known as ''James A. Michener's Space'') is a 1985 American

television miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

starring

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

as Sen. Norman Grant. It is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

that aired 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 ...

. Like the novel, the miniseries is a fictionalised history of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

. ''Space'' won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, for film sound mixing. It originally aired from April 14 through 18, 1985, and consisted of five parts running a total of 13 hours. In subsequent showings, it was cut to nine hours.Most of this page, including summary and plot description, is primarily fro

/ref>

Characters

Norman Grant (

) is a former war hero turned senator who tirelessly promotes the American space program despite almost insurmountable opposition. Other principal players include John Pope (

Harry Hamlin Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'', a role he reprised in 2007's Santa Monica Studio video ...

), who, after failing to win his way to Annapolis, matriculates from a Navy recruit to a naval officer, Naval Aviator, test pilot and pioneering astronaut in the company of fellow space-traveler Randy Claggett (

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award, Emmy, two-time Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nomine ...

); Penny Hardesty Pope (

Blair Brown Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play ''Copenhagen'' on Broadway (for which she won a Tony Award in 2000), the leading ...

), an ambitious and beautiful counsel to Senator Grant since his election and wife of John Pope; Leopold Strabismus (

David Dukes David Coleman Dukes (June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000) was an American character actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in 35. Dukes starred in the miniseries ''The Winds of War (miniseries), The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance ...

), a hedonistic wheeler-dealer who hopes to capitalize on the 1947 UFO scare; German rocket scientist Dieter Kolff (

Michael York Michael York (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television, and stage actor. After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo ...

), whose ideals (or lack thereof) are put to the test when he shifts his allegiance from the Nazis to the Americans; and Stanley Mott (

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

), an aeronautical engineer whose secret assignment is to make certain that men like Kolff aren't snatched up by the Soviets after the fall of Germany.

Cast and crew

Cast

as Norman Grant *

as Randy Claggett *

as Penny Hardesty Pope *

as Stanley Mott *

as John Pope *

as Rocket Scientist Dieter Kolff * James Sutorious as Tim Finnerty *

Melinda Dillon Melinda Ruth Dillon (October 13, 1939 – January 9, 2023) was an American actress. She received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', and she was nominated for th ...

as Rachel Mott *

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

as Senator Glancey * Barbara Sukowa as Liesel Kolff *

Susan Anspach Susan Florence Anspach (; November 23, 1942 – April 2, 2018) was an American stage, film and television actress who had roles in films during the 1970s and 1980s such as ''Five Easy Pieces'' (1970), ''Play It Again, Sam (film), Play It Aga ...

as Elinor Grant *

Stephanie Faracy Stephanie Faracy is an American actress. She is known for playing supporting roles in films including '' Heaven Can Wait'' (1978), ''Scavenger Hunt'' (1979), ''Blind Date'' (1987), '' The Great Outdoors'' (1988), '' Hocus Pocus'' (1993), ''Sidewa ...

as Debbie Dee Claggett *

as Leopold Strabismus / Martin Scorcella * G.D. Spradlin as Tucker Thomas *

Dick Anthony Williams Richard Anthony Williams (August 9, 1934 – February 16, 2012) was an American actor. He was best known for his starring performances on Broadway in ''The Poison Tree'', ''What the Wine-Sellers Buy'' and ''Black Picture Show''. Williams also had ...

as Gawain Butler *

Les Lannom Leslie Thomas "Les" Lannom (born November 4, 1946, Johnston City, Illinois) is an American voice artist and musician, and retired film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Lester Hodges in the American Detective fiction, pr ...

as Larry Penzoss * Richard Delmonte as Ramirez *

Charles Tyner Charles Tyner (June 8, 1923https://sv.findagrave.com/memorial/189067627/charles_vivian-tyner#view-photo=272601851 - November 8, 2017) was an American film, television and stage character actor known principally for his performances in the films '' ...

as "Dracula" * Jennifer Runyon as Marcia Grant *

David Spielberg David Spielberg (March 6, 1939 – June 1, 2016) was an American television and film actor. Early life Spielberg was born in Weslaco, Texas, and was a resident of Mercedes, Texas. His father was a Romanian-Jewish immigrant, and his mother was a ...

as Skip Morgan * Maggie Han as Cindy Rhee *

Ralph Bellamy Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and award ...

as Paul Stidham *

Clu Gulager William Martin Gulager (; November 16, 1928 – August 5, 2022), better known as Clu Gulager, was an American television and film actor and director born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He first became known for his work in television, appearing in ...

as Victor Hardesty *

Shane Rimmer Shane Lance Deacon (May 28, 1929 – March 29, 2019), known professionally as Shane Rimmer, was a Canadian actor and screenwriter who spent the majority of his career in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed "Rent-A- Yank" of the British ente ...

as General Quigley *

Bert Remsen Herbert Birchell "Bert" Remsen (February 25, 1925 – April 22, 1999) was an American actor and casting director. He appeared in numerous films and television series. Biography Remsen was born in Glen Cove, New York, on Long Island, the son of ...

as Ed Specktor *

Wolf Kahler Wolf Kahler (born 3 April 1940) is a German character actor in stage, film, television, and voice actor. Early life Kahler was born in Kiel in Germany. Career With blue eyes, sculpted jawbone, and height of , Kahler was often chosen to play ...

as Funkhauser * Mary Jackson as Frankie *

Murphy Dunne George "Murphy" Dunne (born June 22, 1942) is an American actor and musician. He played "Murph", the keyboardist for the Blues Brothers, in the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers'', a role he reprised in the sequel, '' Blues Brothers 2000''. Biograp ...

as Lt. Wiles *

Richard F. Gordon Jr. Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) was an American United States Navy, naval officer and United States Naval Aviator, aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and a American football, football executive. H ...

as CapCom * Bill Morey as NYU Dean Robert Hawkins *

Michael Talbott Michael Talbott (born February 2, 1955) is an American actor. He portrayed Detective Stanley Switek in the crime drama television series ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989). Early life Michael was born on February 2, 1955, in Waverly, Iowa, to parents ...

as Tom Savage *

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Judge Michael Conover on ''L.A. Law'', Steve Yeager in '' The Brady Bunch M ...

as Jean-Marie *

Roscoe Lee Browne Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and theatre director, director. He resisted playing Stereotypes of African Americans, stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York Ci ...

as Farquar *

Laurence Luckinbill Laurence George Luckinbill (born November 21, 1934) is an American actor, playwright and director. He has worked in film, television and theatre, doing triple duty in the theatre by writing, directing and starring in stage productions. He is know ...

as Narrator

Production credits

Lee Philips Lee Philips (born Leon Friedman; January 10, 1927 – March 3, 1999) was an American actor, film director, and television director. Life and career Philips was born in New York. His acting career started on Broadway, and peaked with a starring ...

(Director) *

Joseph Sargent Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 – December 22, 2014) was an American film director. He is best known for his feature-length works, like the action movie '' White Lightning'' starring Burt Reynolds, the biopi ...

(Director) * Allan Marcil (Producer) *

Martin Manulis Martin Ellyot Manulis (May 30, 1915 – September 28, 2007) was an American television, film, and theatre producer. Manulis was best known for his work in the 1950s producing the CBS Television programs ''Suspense'', '' Studio One Summer Theatre ...

(Producer) *

Dick Berg Richard Berg (February 16, 1922 – September 1, 2009) was an American screenwriter as well as a film and television producer. Among his credits is the 1985 miniseries ''Space'' and ''Wallenberg: A Hero's Story''. Biography Berg was born in ...

(Executive Producer, Screenwriter) *

Stirling Silliphant Stirling Dale Silliphant (January 16, 1918 – April 26, 1996) was an American screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his screenplay for '' In the Heat of the Night'', for which he won an Academy Award in 1967, and for creating ...

(Screenwriter) * Hector R. Figueroa (Cinematographer) * Gayne Rescher (Cinematographer * Donald R. Rode (Editor) * Patrick Kennedy (Editor) * George Jay Nicholson (Editor) *

Lionel Couch Lionel Couch (1913–1989) was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. Selected filmography Couch was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction: * '' Sons and Lovers'' ( ...

(Art Director) * Tony Berg (Composer - Music Score) *

Miles Goodman Elliott Miles Goodman (August 27, 1948 – August 16, 1996) was an American composer for television and film. He frequently collaborated with film director Frank Oz, for whom Goodman scored such films as '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' (1988), ' ...

(Composer - Music Score) *

Joseph Jennings Joseph Raleigh Jennings (August 16, 1921 – April 1, 2015) was an American Art director#In film, art director. Professional career He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Production Design, Academy Award for Best Art Direction for th ...

(Production Designer) * Paul Corbould (Special Effects)

Awards

*1985:

, Outstanding Film Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or a Special *1985: Emmy Award nominee, Outstanding Limited Series *1986:

Artios Award The Casting Society, formerly known as the Casting Society of America (CSA), is a professional association of about 1,200 casting directors and associate casting directors for film, television, theatre, and commercials in Canada, Europe, Austral ...

nominee, Best Casting for TV Miniseries

References

External links

* {{JamesAMichener 1980s American television miniseries Television shows based on American novels Emmy Award–winning programs CBS original programming Television series about astronauts Adaptations of works by James A. Michener Films directed by Lee Philips Films directed by Joseph Sargent Films with screenplays by Stirling Silliphant