''The Deliberate Stranger'' is a book about American

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...

written by ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington s ...

'' reporter Richard W. Larsen that was published in 1980. The book spawned a television miniseries of the same title, starring

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in ''NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of th ...

as Bundy, that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

on May 4–5, 1986.

Book

''Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger'' was written by ''

'' reporter Richard W. Larsen and published in 1980. Larsen covered politics for the ''Times'' and had interviewed Bundy in 1972, several years before he became a murder suspect, when Bundy worked as a volunteer for the re-election campaign of Gov. Daniel J. Evans and had been seen trailing the campaign of Evans'

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

opponent with a video camera. Larsen would go on to cover the "Ted" murders in 1974, when Bundy was first identified as a suspect in Seattle area homicides, and then cover the Ted Bundy story up until Bundy's execution in 1989. ''Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger'' was published in paperback in editions as late as 1990 but has since gone out of print.

Television miniseries

''The Deliberate Stranger'' was adapted into a two-part

television movie 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 for ...

originally broadcast on

on May 4 and 5, 1986. The film, based on Larsen's book, starred

as Bundy. Parts of the film were shot in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

and at

Utah State Prison Utah State Prison (USP) was one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It was located in Draper, Utah, United States, about southwest of Salt Lake City.Utah Department of Correc ...

as well as

Farmington, Utah Farmington is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. The population was 24,531 at the 2020 census. The Lagoon Amusement Park and Station Park transit-oriented retail center (which includes a FrontRunner train station) are located in Fa ...

and

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. The film omits Bundy's childhood, early life, and first six known victims (five murders and the first victim who survived), picking up the story with the murder of Georgann Hawkins and following Bundy's further crimes in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Frederic Forrest Frederic Fenimore Forrest Jr. (born December 23, 1936) is an American actor. Forrest came to public attention for his performance in '' When the Legends Die'' (1972), which earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising ...

starred as Seattle detective Robert D. Keppel, and

George Grizzard George Cooper Grizzard Jr. (April 1, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was an American stage, television, and film actor. He was the recipient of a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, among other accolades. Life and career Grizzard ...

played reporter Larsen.

Cast

as Detective

Bob Keppel Robert Griffin "Bobby" Keppel (born June 11, 1982) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He attended De Smet Jesuit High School in Creve Coeur, Missouri and while playing in the minor leagues attended the University of Notre Dame . ...

as Richard Larsen *

Ben Masters Benjamin Masters (May 6, 1947 – January 11, 2023) was an American actor who is best known for his portrayal of Julian Crane in daytime drama ''Passions'' from July 8, 1999, to the show's final episode on August 7, 2008. Early life Masters wa ...

as Detective Mike Fisher *

Glynnis O'Connor Glynnis O'Connor (born November 19, 1956) is an American actress of television, film, radio, and theater. She first gained wide attention in the mid-1970s with leading roles in the television version of ''Our Town'' and in the short-lived series ...

as Cas Richter * M. Emmet Walsh as Detective Sam Davies * John Ashton as Detective Roger Dunn *

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 Land ...

as Louise Bundy *

Billy "Green" Bush William Warren Bush (born November 7, 1935) is an American actor, usually credited as Billy Green Bush and sometimes as Billy Greenbush. Typecast Bush is a character actor, typically projecting in his screen appearances the good-ol'-boy image. ...

as Officer Bradley *

Frederick Coffin Frederick D. Coffin (January 16, 1943 – July 31, 2003) was an American film actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Early life Coffin was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1943 to actress Winifred Deforest Coffin and writer Dean Coffin, and was ...

as Jerry Thompson *

Deborah Goodrich Deborah Goodrich Royce (née Goodrich; May 11, 1958) is an American former actress, story editor, and author. She is best known for her screen roles in ''Just One of the Guys'' (1985) and the horror films ''April Fool's Day'' (1986) and ''Remot ...

as Martha Chambers *

Lawrence Pressman Lawrence Pressman (born David M. Pressman; July 10, 1939) is an American actor, probably best known for roles on ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Ladies' Man'', a recurring role on '' Profiler'', the title character on '' Mulligan's Stew'' and as a ...

as Ken Wolverton *

Macon McCalman Willis Macon McCalman (December 30, 1932 – November 29, 2005) was an American television, stage and big screen movie actor. Acting career Nicknamed "Sonny", McCalman helped form the Front Street Theatre in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. ...

as Larsen's Editor *

Jeannetta Arnette Jeannetta Arnette is an American actress. She became known for her television role as Miss Meara on the situation comedy '' Head of the Class''. She has also appeared in numerous films, including 1992's '' Ladybugs'' and 1999's '' Boys Don't Cry' ...

as Barbara *

William Boyett William Boyett (January 3, 1927 – December 29, 2004) was an American actor best known for his roles in law enforcement dramas on television from the 1950s through the 1990s. Early years Boyett was born in Akron, Ohio, and lived there until th ...

as Aspen Detective *

Harry Northup Harry E. Northup (born September 2, 1940) is an American actor and poet. As an actor, he made frequent appearances in the films of Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme. Personal life and career Northup was born in Amarillo, Texas. He lived in 17 ...

as Tom Hargreaves

Broadcast technical difficulties

During the second part's broadcast, a few NBC affiliates (including

WPXI WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsbu ...

channel 11

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

and KPRC channel 2 Houston, Texas) were interrupted by a frozen scene and a static sound until placing their own technical difficulties tel-op graphics for less than 30 seconds before returning to its fixed program.

Reception

Bundy's lawyer Polly Nelson, in her book '' Defending the Devil'', characterized the film as "stunningly accurate" and said it did not portray anything that was not proven to be factual. She singled out praise for Harmon's portrayal of Bundy, noting how Harmon reproduced Bundy's rigid posture and suspicious expression. According to Nelson, her client, still on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( ...

when the program aired, showed no interest in seeing the film.

Ann Rule Ann Rae Rule (''née'' Stackhouse; October 22, 1931 – July 26, 2015) was an American author of true crime books and articles. She is best known for '' The Stranger Beside Me'' (1980), about the serial killer Ted Bundy, with whom Rule worke ...

, who had known Bundy before the murders when they worked together on a suicide crisis hotline (Jeannetta Arnette played a character based on Rule), felt that Harmon's portrayal missed the insecurities that lurked under Bundy's confident facade. Harmon was nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for his portrayal of Bundy. According to ''

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 ...

'', the two shows ranked seventeenth and sixth in the Nielsen ratings. Howard Rosenberg of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' described it as "taut, suspenseful, scary".

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deliberate Stranger, The 1980 non-fiction books 1986 films 1980s crime drama films American biographical films American crime drama films American television miniseries American television films Films directed by Marvin J. Chomsky Films set in the 1970s Non-fiction books about Ted Bundy Crime films based on actual events Films scored by Gil Mellé Films about Ted Bundy Films shot in Utah Films shot in Washington (state) 1986 drama films 1980s American films