The Patricia Neal Story *** (1981, Dirk Bogarde, Glenda Jackson, Mildred Dunnock, Ken Kercheval, Jane Merrow) – Classic Movie Review 4872

Dirk Bogarde is tempted out of retirement for his first TV movie (one of only three that he did) as children’s author Roald Dahl, paired effectively with Jackson (also her TV movie debut) as his then wife, the actress Patricia Neal. Both Bogarde and Jackson were Golden Globe nominated.

Directors Anthony Harvey and Anthony Page’s 1981 heartrending drama concentrates on the Sixties when Neal was afflicted by a terrible, life-threatening stroke, and Dahl helped her slowly back to recovery after a groundbreaking operation in Oxford.

Written by Robert Anderson, and based on the book Pat and Roald by Barry Farrell, this is an intense, intriguing and inspiring story hammered home with bravura performances.

Also in the cast are Mildred Dunnock, Ken Kercheval as as Dr Charles Canton, Jane Merrow, Sydney Penny, Robby Kiger, Priscilla Morrill, James Hayden, Angela Cheyne, Edward Bell, Constance Chapman, Christopher Murray, Jessica Rains and Edward Jewesbury.

Bogarde’s other TV movies are May We Borrow Your Husband? (1986) and The Vision (1987). He died on 8 May 1999, aged 78.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4872

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