''The Karen Carpenter Story'' is an American

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 ...

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

about singer

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and early drummer of the highly successful duo the Carpenters, formed with her older brother Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard. Wi ...

and the brother-and-sister pop music duo of which she was a part,

The Carpenters The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinctive soft musical style, combining ...

. The film 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 ...

on January 1, 1989. Directed by

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 ...

, it starred

Cynthia Gibb Cynthia Gibb (born December 14, 1963) is an American actress and former model who has starred in film and on television. She began her career as a cast member on the musical television drama '' Fame'', based on the movie of the same name. She ...

as Karen Carpenter, and

Mitchell Anderson Mitchell Ogren Anderson (born August 21, 1961) is an American character actor and chef. Anderson was born in Jamestown, New York, to a retail store owner mother and a businessman father. He attended Jamestown High School and Williams College ...

as her brother,

Richard Carpenter Richard Carpenter may refer to: * Richard Carpenter (theologian) (1575–1627), English clergyman and theological writer * Richard Carpenter (ca. 1700–1750), original owner of the Belvale property in Virginia * Richard Cromwell Carpenter (1812� ...

, who served as a producer for the film as well as of the musical score. After the movie aired, CBS featured ''Read More About It'' segment with Richard Carpenter to recommend books associated with anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Story

The movie begins with the collapse of Karen Carpenter in the closet of her parents' home in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program and Taco Bell. It is ...

, on February 4, 1983. She is rushed to the hospital by paramedics, and as the EMT is placing an oxygen mask over her face, "

Rainy Days and Mondays "Rainy Days and Mondays" is a song by the The Carpenters, Carpenters from their Carpenters (album), self-titled third album, with instrumental backing by the The Wrecking Crew (music), Wrecking Crew. It was written by Paul Williams (songwriter), P ...

", recorded by the Carpenters on their self-titled album, is playing. The scene shifts to teenaged Karen singing " The End of the World" as she roller skates on the day the family moved into their home in Downey (they had previously resided in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

). Then the film cuts to the teenaged Karen skating in slow motion looking down on herself as the 32 year old Karen is dying at the hospital. The film then shows the highs and lows of Carpenter's life from the 1960s to 1983. One of the scenes, which showed Carpenter fainting onstage while she was singing the song " Top of the World", was fictionalized. Also fictionalized is when Richard Carpenter falls down a flight of stairs, due to his abuse of

Quaaludes Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude ( ) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg ...

. The film ends with Karen smiling after her mother says "I love you." The details about her subsequent death are superimposed on the screen before the closing credits.

Cast

Peter Michael Goetz Peter Michael Goetz (born December 10, 1941) is an American actor. Early life and education Goetz was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Esther L. and Irving A. Goetz, a construction engineer.Louise Fletcher Estelle Louise Fletcher (July 22, 1934 – September 23, 2022) was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of the antagonist Nurse Ratched in the film '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975), which earned her numero ...

as Agnes Carpenter (mother) * Michael McGuire as Sherwin Bash *

Lise Hilboldt Lise Hilboldt (born January 7, 1954) is an American actress. She had a leading role in the film ''Sweet Liberty'' (1986), co-starring with writer-director Alan Alda and Michael Caine, and she was featured in ''Noon Wine'' (1985). Career She ap ...

as Lucy * Kip Gilman as David Lattimer (as Kenneth David Gilman) * Scott Burkholder as Ted * John Patrick Reger as Bob Knight * Doug MacHugh as Dr. Lazwell * William Tucker as Peter Howard * Henry Crowell Jr. as Denny * Josh Cruze as

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

* Carrie Mitchum as Randy Bash * Richard Minchenberg *

James Hong James Hong (born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. Known as one of the most prolific character actors of all time, he has worked in over 400 productions in U.S. media since the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1950s. ...

as Dr. Dentworth * Stephanie Griffin as Dr. Brooks * Hartley Silver as Band Teacher *

Robert Broyles Robert Houston Broyles (January 20, 1933 - February 12, 2011) was an American character actor, drama teacher, theatre director, and writer. He was sometimes billed as Bob Broyles or Bobby Broyles. Early life Broyles was born in Sparta, Tenness ...

as Bowl Emcee * Howard Dayton as Park Emcee * Grayce Spence as Nurse

Production

The idea for a movie based on Karen Carpenter's life had been floating around after her sudden death from

emetine Emetine is a drug used as both an anti-protozoal and to induce vomiting. It is produced from the ipecac root. It takes its name from its emetic properties. Early preparations Mechanism of action of emetine was studied by François Magendie duri ...

cardiotoxicity Cardiotoxicity is the occurrence of heart dysfunction as electric or muscle damage, resulting in heart toxicity. This can cause heart failure, arrhythmia, myocarditis, and cardiomyopathy in patients. Some effects are reversible, while in others, p ...

due to

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

in February 1983. However, it was difficult to find someone to write the script for it. Once it had been approved by the studio and Richard Carpenter, there were daily script "rewrites or entire scenes were removed" according to co-stars Cynthia Gibb and Mitchell Anderson, in an attempt to soften the image of Agnes Carpenter by her son in real life. The final movie, in Gibb's opinion, gives a "white-washed" account of Carpenter's life. Gibb also said that a lot of the information in it was "watered down or removed altogether" at the request of Richard. Richard Carpenter also requested that Gibb wear Karen Carpenter's original clothing, which he supplied, and that she lose the required weight in order to fit into these clothes."Go" The People, 13 November 1988 - UK publication - written by Peter Kent Gibb stated: Gibb also stated that "there was no time to research and I had my drum lessons during my lunch hour". Even though she had starred for two years in '' Fame'', she said it was still insisted upon her to take

voice lessons Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how singing technique is accomplished. Vocal pedagogy covers a broad r ...

to do the

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

hing. Crew members later talked about their experience dealing with Richard Carpenter during shooting: The film featured two previously unreleased Carpenters tracks, "You're the One" and " Where Do I Go from Here?", which were later released on ''

Lovelines ''Lovelines'' is the thirtienth studio album by the American music duo Carpenters, released on October 31, 1989. It was the third Carpenters posthumous album released after the death of Karen Carpenter to feature entirely unreleased material. B ...

'' later that year.

Reception

The movie was very popular in the ratings; it was the highest-rated two-hour TV movie of the year and the third highest rated such program on any network during the 1980s. It has never had an official United States

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 ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release, but was issued on

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

in Japan.

Richard Carpenter's reaction

At the time, Richard Carpenter described his feelings towards the film:

Oh, certain things were overblown. Not that I'm trying to take anything away from the importance of the event: Karen's battle with
anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...
, mine with
sleeping pills A hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), also known as a somnifacient or soporific, and commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep and to treat insomnia (sleeplessness). Th ...
but it was still a little
melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
tic. Like, neither of us - for anyone that watched this movie - literally collapsed. In fact, when I saw that, I told them while it was being made: "Look, neither of us fell down here. Karen didn't onstage and I didn't go down a flight of stairs..." But we're dealing with a TV movie so you have to take it with a grain of salt. And each little thing was not exactly the way it happened, that's all. But it's still a fairly accurate log of twenty years of our lives.

In 1988, Carpenter stated, that

I was in two minds about the film from the start but I knew that if it had to be made, I had to be involved. I accept that parts of the lives of all celebrities are matters of public record but for somebody else to have done this without the family's blessing, well, it just wouldn't have been as well told.

In 2004, he was much harsher about the project, calling it "90 minutes of creative license that give biopics in general a dubious tone." He also stated at the time that he considered being involved in the film one of his biggest mistakes.

Carpenters Gold ''Gold: Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album by American duo The Carpenters, Carpenters released in 2000. Overview The 20 track compilation covers the period from 1969 to 1981. Some editions contained "Hurting Each Other" as a bonus track. ...

, liner notes written by Richard Carpenter, 2004 -

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karen Carpenter Story, The 1989 television films 1989 films 1980s biographical drama films American biographical drama films American docudrama films American drama television films The Carpenters Films directed by Joseph Sargent Films set in 1963 Films set in 1970 Films set in 1983 Drama films based on actual events CBS films Weintraub Entertainment Group films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language biographical drama films