Diana Scarwid

Diana Scarwid

Born: August 27, 1955
in Savannah, Georgia, USA
Diana Elizabeth Scarwid is a retired American actress, best known for her portrayal of adult Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1980). She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Inside Moves (1980), and for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Truman (1995).

She has over 70 film and television credits to her name. Her films include Pretty Baby (1978), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Rumble Fish, Silkwood (both 1983), Psycho III, Heat, Extremities (all 3 in 1986), The Neon Bible (1995), Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), What Lies Beneath (2000), A Guy Thing (2003), Party Monster (2003), The Clearing (2004), and Another Happy Day (2011).

She's had roles in numerous TV movies including Truman (1995) as Bess Truman, The Possessed (1977), Desperate Lives (1982), A Bunny's Tale (1985), Night of the Hunter (1991), Ruby Bridges (1998), Before He Wakes (1998), Down Will Come Baby (1999), Path to War (2002), Tribute (2009), and more.

She had a main role as Karen Tyler on the series Wonderfalls, and recurring role as Mother Superior on the TV series Pushing Daisies. She has also guest starred on several TV series including Starsky & Hutch, the original Hawaii Five-O, The X-Files, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Prison Break, Lost, Cold Case, Heroes, and Criminal Minds.

Movies for Diana Scarwid...

Another Happy Day
Title: Another Happy Day
Character: Donna
Released: November 18, 2011
Type: Movie
A wedding at her parents' Annapolis estate hurls high-strung Lynn into the center of touchy family dynamics.
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The Psycho Legacy
Title: The Psycho Legacy
Character: Self
Released: October 19, 2010
Type: Movie
The cast and crew of all four Psycho films recall their time working on the influential horror series, and modern masters of horror reminisce on what the movies stirred in them.
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Backyard Wedding
Title: Backyard Wedding
Character: Susan Slauson
Released: July 13, 2010
Type: Movie
Kim Tyler grew up loving her next-door neighbor, Evan Slauson. Now she's all set to have the wedding of her dreams to stable Jeffrey in her parents' backyard, but her ex-husband, and first love—whose parents still live next door—keeps popping up causing her to seriously question her big plans.
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Nora Roberts' Tribute
Title: Nora Roberts' Tribute
Character: Cathy Morrow
Released: April 11, 2009
Type: Movie
A former child star buys her grandmother's house to rescue it from ruin but her hope for serenity is soon eclipsed by haunting dreams of her famous grandmother, who died of a supposed overdose in the house more than 30 years ago.
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Dream Boy
Title: Dream Boy
Character: Vivian Davies
Released: October 24, 2008
Type: Movie
The story of Nathan, a young teenager who tries to flourish in a romantic relationship with neighbour Roy. The two young men will have to face the brutal reality of the rural south of the United States in the late 1970s.
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Title: Pushing Daisies
Character: Mother Superior
Released: October 3, 2007
Type: TV
A pie-maker, with the power to bring dead people back to life, solves murder mysteries with his alive-again childhood sweetheart, a cynical private investigator, and a lovesick waitress.
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Title: Heroes
Character: Alice Shaw
Released: September 25, 2006
Type: TV
Common people discover that they have super powers. Their lives intertwine as a devastating event must be prevented.
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Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
Title: Mommie Dearest: Joan Lives On
Released: June 6, 2006
Type: Movie
Documentary which focuses more on the impact of the film upon its release and how it has seeped into the culture since that time. It is always fun to hear John Waters speak on a subject he is passionate about.
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Mommie Dearest: Life with Joan
Title: Mommie Dearest: Life with Joan
Released: June 6, 2006
Type: Movie
Documentary which delves a bit deeper into the story of the film in which the cast and crew discuss some of the narrative beats, the performances in some of the scenes, how true-to-life the depictions were and more.
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Mommie Dearest: The Revival of Joan
Title: Mommie Dearest: The Revival of Joan
Released: June 6, 2006
Type: Movie
A documentary in which the creative team discuss the process of adapting the material, the challenge of bringing an icon to life, bringing Frank Perry on to direct, trying to bring authenticity to the casting process and more.
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Valley of the Heart's Delight
Title: Valley of the Heart's Delight
Character: Natalie Walsh
Released: April 24, 2006
Type: Movie
When a fatal kidnapping ignites a firestorm of suspicion and rage in idyllic 1933 San Jose, California, a hard-nosed young reporter takes on the powers-that-be to prevent the lynching of two men he believes are innocent.
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Title: Criminal Minds
Character: Jane Winmar
Released: September 22, 2005
Type: TV
An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most experienced agent is David Rossi, a founding member of the BAU who returns to help the team solve new cases.
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Title: Prison Break
Character: Jeanette Owens
Released: August 29, 2005
Type: TV
Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.
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Title: Lost
Character: Isabel
Released: September 22, 2004
Type: TV
Stripped of everything, the survivors of a horrific plane crash must work together to stay alive. But the island holds many secrets.
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The Clearing
Title: The Clearing
Character: Eva Finch
Released: July 2, 2004
Type: Movie
When affluent executive Wayne Hayes is kidnapped by a disgruntled employee and held for ransom in a forest, Wayne’s wife is forced to reckon with the FBI agents as they negotiate with the kidnapper.
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Title: Wonderfalls
Character: Karen Tyler
Released: March 12, 2004
Type: TV
Jaye Tyler, a recent Brown University graduate with a philosophy degree, holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Jaye is the reluctant participant in conversations with various animal figurines — a wax lion, brass monkey, stuffed bear, and mounted fish, among others — which direct her via oblique instructions to help people in need.
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Path to War
Title: Path to War
Character: Marny Clifford
Released: October 28, 2003
Type: Movie
A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during the Vietnam War.
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Title: Cold Case
Character: Rayanne Leland
Released: September 28, 2003
Type: TV
The Philadelphia homicide squad's lone female detective finds her calling when she is assigned cases that have never been solved. Detective Lilly Rush combines her natural instincts with the updated technology available today to bring about justice for all the victims she can.
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Party Monster
Title: Party Monster
Character: Elke
Released: September 5, 2003
Type: Movie
The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.
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A Guy Thing
Title: A Guy Thing
Character: Sandra Cooper
Released: January 17, 2003
Type: Movie
Paul Morse is a good guy. When his friends throw him a wild bachelor party, he just wants to keep his conscience clean -- which is why he's shocked when he wakes up in bed with a beautiful girl named Becky and can't remember the night before. Desperate to keep his fiancée, Karen, from finding out what may or may not be the truth, he tells her a teensy lie. Soon his lies are spiraling out of control and his life is a series of comical misunderstandings.
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The Angel Doll
Title: The Angel Doll
Character: Fronia Black
Released: September 14, 2002
Type: Movie
The story of two small town boys from different sides of the tracks: 1950's childhood and self-redemption. Young "Whitey" Black (so called because of a tuft of blanched hair on the left side of his head) lives in poverty with his single mother and ailing, four-year old sister, Sandy. Just across town, young Jerry Barlow lives the advantages of a middle class lifestyle with both parents and his younger brother. When mischief casts Whitey and Jerry into a shared paper route, Jerry quickly learns of Whitey's desire to buy his sister an angel doll for Christmas. Even though no such dolls exist in their hometown, Whitey, Jerry and a host of colorful characters set out in search of Sandy's gift. Along the way, reversals of fortune, theft, prejudice and, ultimately, the boy's friendship opens their eyes to the vastness of the small town around them.
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What Lies Beneath
Title: What Lies Beneath
Character: Jody
Released: July 21, 2000
Type: Movie
When Claire Spencer starts hearing ghostly voices and seeing spooky images, she wonders if an otherworldly spirit is trying to contact her. All the while, her husband tries to reassure her by telling her it's all in her head. But as Claire investigates, she discovers that the man she loves might know more than he's letting on.
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Dirty Pictures
Title: Dirty Pictures
Character: Dianne Barrie
Released: May 27, 2000
Type: Movie
A Cincinnati museum director goes on trial in 1990 for exhibiting sadomasochistic photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe.
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Title: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Character: Jackie Madden
Released: September 20, 1999
Type: TV
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
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Down Will Come Baby
Title: Down Will Come Baby
Character: Dorothy McIntyre
Released: May 4, 1999
Type: Movie
Leah Garr wants to move from Phoenix to take a new job in Denver to help her family (Husband Marcus and Daughter Robin). When Robin goes to camp to give her parents time to sort things out, something unexpected occurs. On Robin's return from camp she finds out her mom is taking the new job in Denver, only returning each weekend to visit. During this turmoil in Robin's life, A new lady, Dorothy, befriends Robin, moves into the same apartment complex and spends a lot of time with her and her father Marcus. Leah is concerned about this because she does not know very much about Dorothy or her intentions. It soon becomes clear that Dorothy is after much more than friendship with the Garr family.
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Before He Wakes
Title: Before He Wakes
Character: Joanne Michaels
Released: December 1, 1998
Type: Movie
Initially cleared of "accidentally" killing her husband, an idyllic wife and mother comes under suspicion when police learn that her first husband also perished under similar circumstances. As the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that she'll stop at nothing to protect her secrets.
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Title: A Will of their Own
Character: Crystal Eastman
Released: October 18, 1998
Type: TV
A Will of their Own is a 1998 American television mini-series directed by Karen Arthur. The film follows six generations of females within one family, and their struggle for power and independence in America. The film debuted on October 18, 1998 on the NBC network to strong critical reviews. It was released to DVD late 2003.
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Title: From the Earth to the Moon
Character: Joan Aldrin
Released: April 5, 1998
Type: TV
The story of the United States' space program, from its beginnings in 1961 to the final moon mission in 1972.
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Ruby Bridges
Title: Ruby Bridges
Character: Miss Woodmere
Released: January 18, 1998
Type: Movie
When six-year-old Ruby Bridges is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.
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The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue
Title: The Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue
Character: Mrs. Annie Feagan
Released: December 15, 1996
Type: Movie
When an unemployed Detroit man is arrested for a crime he didn't commit, his three children are determined to get him out of jail in time for Christmas and they decide to enlist the help of "the most powerful man in the world" - President Hoover. En route to the White House, they meet an array of colorful characters.
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Bastard Out of Carolina
Title: Bastard Out of Carolina
Character: Aunt Raylene
Released: December 15, 1996
Type: Movie
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
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Critical Choices
Title: Critical Choices
Character: Diana Johnson
Released: December 8, 1996
Type: Movie
A Milwaukee Women's Health Clinic becomes the battleground between pro-choice activists and right-to-life demonstrators over and Easter Sunday weekend and involves three different women, each representing different sides of the issue.
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If These Walls Could Talk
Title: If These Walls Could Talk
Character: Marcia Schulman
Released: September 11, 1996
Type: Movie
A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a recently widowed nurse struggling to take control of her life in the early 50s, a mother of four balancing raising a family and maintaining a career in the 70s, and a student making a difficult decision with the help of one woman that will change the course of both their lives in the 90s.
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Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
Title: Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
Character: Lynette Salerno
Released: November 3, 1995
Type: Movie
Two teen girls, one from the city, one from the country, try to find the hidden gold of Bear Mountain learning about friendship, loyalty and courage on the way.
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Truman
Title: Truman
Character: Bess Truman
Released: September 9, 1995
Type: Movie
Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision to use the Atomic Bomb against Japan, and subsequent election as the US' post-war President.
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The Neon Bible
Title: The Neon Bible
Character: Sarah
Released: August 23, 1995
Type: Movie
During a train ride, a teenager recalls his upbringing in 1940s small-town Georgia and the events that have led to this point.
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The Cure
Title: The Cure
Character: Gail
Released: April 21, 1995
Type: Movie
Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.
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Title: The Outer Limits
Character: Elizabeth Halsey
Released: March 26, 1995
Type: TV
Anthology series of composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end, with occasional recurring story elements that were often tied together during season-finale clip shows.
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Title: The X-Files
Character: Linda Bowman
Released: September 10, 1993
Type: TV
The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.
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Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story
Title: Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story
Character: Darlene
Released: May 9, 1993
Type: Movie
When a woman learns she cannot bear children, her mother decides to be a surrogate for her.
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Night of the Hunter
Title: Night of the Hunter
Character: Willa Harper
Released: May 4, 1991
Type: Movie
A false preacher ingratiates himself with a dead man's family to find where he hid the money from a robbery.
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Title: Law & Order
Character: Lisa Russo
Released: September 13, 1990
Type: TV
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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Brenda Starr
Title: Brenda Starr
Character: Libby 'Lips' Lipscomb
Released: May 15, 1989
Type: Movie
Fearless reporter Brenda Starr needs a big scoop if she wishes to retain her lofty status within the world of journalism, so she ventures deep into the Amazon to investigate a story involving a mad scientist's plot to blow the planet to smithereens. Her investigation pits her against a collection of dastardly villains and the myriad dangers of the jungle.
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After the Promise
Title: After the Promise
Character: Anna Jackson
Released: October 11, 1987
Type: Movie
Elmer Jackson is a carpenter in a small Californian town in the 1930s. Struggling to bring up 4 young boys after the death of his wife, he is horrified when the Government (citing trumped-up charges of parental neglect) places the boys into various foster homes and institutions, unaware of the abuse that boys would then be subjected to. The conditions imposed by the court and the difficulties caused by the Depression make Jackson's determined and vigorous quest to find his boys extremely difficult.
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Heat
Title: Heat
Character: Cassie
Released: October 16, 1986
Type: Movie
Reynolds plays an ex-soldier-of-fortunish character in Vegas, taking "Chaperone" jobs, fighting with the mob, and trying to get enough money together to move to Venice, Italy.
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Extremities
Title: Extremities
Character: Terry
Released: August 22, 1986
Type: Movie
A woman escapes from the man who is about to rape her, but leaves her purse behind. Afraid that her attacker might come after her, she goes to the police, but with no proof of the incident, they can do nothing. In fact, the man does use the information in her bag and comes to her apartment with the intent of rape, but she sprays him in the face with insect repellent, and then holds him captive. She is then faced with deciding whether to go to the police who might not believe her and release him, or to kill him.
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Psycho III
Title: Psycho III
Character: Maureen Coyle
Released: April 2, 1986
Type: Movie
When Maureen Coyle, a suicidal nun who resembles Norman's former victim, Marion Crane, arrives at the motel, all bets are off and "Mother" is less than happy.
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The Ladies Club
Title: The Ladies Club
Character: Lucy Bricker
Released: April 1, 1986
Type: Movie
A policewoman who was raped forms a vigilante group of various rape victims. They abduct and castrate men who have committed repeated violations of women and gotten away with it through legal technicalities.
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A Bunny's Tale
Title: A Bunny's Tale
Character: Toby
Released: February 25, 1985
Type: Movie
A dramatization of Gloria Steinem's undercover investigation of the working conditions Bunnies faced at the Playboy Clubs.
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Silkwood
Title: Silkwood
Character: Angela
Released: December 14, 1983
Type: Movie
The story of Karen Silkwood, a metallurgy worker at a plutonium processing plant who was purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing blatant worker safety violations at the plant.
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Rumble Fish
Title: Rumble Fish
Character: Cassandra
Released: October 9, 1983
Type: Movie
Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug, struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.
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Strange Invaders
Title: Strange Invaders
Character: Margaret Bigelow
Released: September 16, 1983
Type: Movie
Charlie's ex-wife disappears, and he goes to where she grew up--a rural town in the midwest--to look for her. But, surprisingly, nobody knows about her or any of her many relatives, the Newmans. He meets aliens; but when he contacts the FBI, they don't believe him. He tells his story to a tabloid; and suddenly, he is chased by the aliens.
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Thou Shalt Not Kill
Title: Thou Shalt Not Kill
Character: Susan Masters
Released: April 12, 1982
Type: Movie
A man is wrongly convicted for murder and sent to prison, where he is accused of murdering a brutal guard he killed in self-defense.
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Desperate Lives
Title: Desperate Lives
Character: Eileen Phillips
Released: March 3, 1982
Type: Movie
A brother and sister get caught up in the drug scene in their local high school, with tragic results.
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Mommie Dearest
Title: Mommie Dearest
Character: Christina Crawford
Released: September 16, 1981
Type: Movie
Renowned actress Joan Crawford, at the height of her career, adopts two orphans — Christina and Christopher — to fill the lonely gap in her personal life. However, as her professional and romantic relationships sour, Joan's already callous and abusive behavior towards Christina intensifies.
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Inside Moves
Title: Inside Moves
Character: Louise
Released: December 19, 1980
Type: Movie
After a failed suicide attempt leaves him partially crippled, Rory begins spending a lot of time at a neighborhood bar full of interesting misfits. When Jerry the bartender suddenly finds himself playing basketball for the Golden State Warriors, Rory and the rest of the bar regulars hope his success will provide a lift to their sagging spirits. Will Jerry forget his friends? What about his junkie hooker girlfriend and her pimp?
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Honeysuckle Rose
Title: Honeysuckle Rose
Character: Jeanne
Released: July 18, 1980
Type: Movie
Buck Bonham is a country singer on the road caught in a romantic triangle with Dyan Cannon and Amy Irving, the daughter of one of his longtime musical sidekick.
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Title: Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones
Character: Sheila Langtree
Released: April 15, 1980
Type: TV
The story of the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones and the 1978 mass suicide at Jonestown.
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Title: Studs Lonigan
Character: Catherine Banahan
Released: March 7, 1979
Type: TV
The story of the Irish-American Lonigan family between 1918 and 1930.
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Battered
Title: Battered
Character: Doris Thompson
Released: September 26, 1978
Type: Movie
Gritty drama of three interweaving stories of three women of various backgrounds and ages whose marriages are complicated by spouse-abuse by their husbands.
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Pretty Baby
Title: Pretty Baby
Character: Frieda
Released: April 5, 1978
Type: Movie
Hattie, a New Orleans prostitute, meets a photographer named Bellocq at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet. When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.
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Forever
Title: Forever
Character: Sybil Davidson
Released: January 6, 1978
Type: Movie
Romantic drama about a teenage girl's first love and the perennial adolescent dilemma of whether to give herself to him in order to hang on to him. Based on the novel by Judy Blume.
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The Possessed
Title: The Possessed
Character: Lane
Released: May 1, 1977
Type: Movie
A former priest, now an exorcist, battles the satanic forces that are threatening the students at a girls school.
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Title: Kingston: Confidential
Released: March 23, 1977
Type: TV
Kingston: Confidential is an American mystery crime drama that aired on NBC for 13 episodes during the spring of 1977, following the success of a 1976 made-for-TV movie entitled Kingston.
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In the Glitter Palace
Title: In the Glitter Palace
Character: Casey Walker
Released: February 23, 1977
Type: Movie
The ex-girlfriend of a lawyer, who left him for a lesbian lover, asks him to defend her lover in a murder case.
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Title: Gibbsville
Released: November 11, 1976
Type: TV
Gibbsville is an American drama television series starring John Savage and Gig Young that aired on NBC from November 11 to December 30, 1976. The series centered on the activities of two reporters for a newspaper in a small Pennsylvania town in the 1940s.
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Title: Starsky & Hutch
Released: September 10, 1975
Type: TV
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.
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Title: Hawaii Five-O
Character: Carole Walker
Released: September 20, 1968
Type: TV
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno!", sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one".