For a good percentage of this two part TV film about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and distant cousin FDR, the role of the uoung Eleanor is played by Mackenzie Phillips. You see Jane Alexander as the older Eleanor in the opening scene discovering the death of her husband, a child actress playing her at the age of three. But for the most part, like Tammy Blanchard in the first half of "Life with Judy Garlamd", you see Eleanor as she looked like as a teenager and young woman. I pulled up a picture of the young Eleanor and was amazed how much indeed they made her look like the pretty, if not beautiful woman, intelligent but rather shy, serious about wanting to do good in the world and certainly a far cry from many other socialites in her social circle. The world mainly remembers Eleanor as the matronly, plainspoken, funny and determined older woman, and to see her in her formative years is a revelation because you see how fascinating she was from the start.
When her domineering grandmother (Irene Tedrow) pulls her out of her European boarding school, it's then when Eleanor reaquaints herself with her cousin Franklin (Edward Hermann) and they hit it off as friends of great intellectual companionship which leads to a surprising romance. It's easy to discuss the affairs outside the marriage, but it's obvious here that they had a great deal in common and if it wasn't going to be a physical love match, the relationship was as important to each of them as it was to the country it was because they definitely complimented each other and had many of the same goals.
This all-star cast mini series in this part featured such great actors as Lilia Skala as her mentor at school, William Phipps as uncle Teddy, Linda Purl as the sophisticated cousin Alice, David Huffman as Eleanor's alcoholic father, Pamela Franklin as her troubled mother and Rosemary Murphy as FDR's imperious mother. There's also Peggy McCay, Anna Lee and Helen Kleeb at the very beginning consoling Eleanor over FDR's death. You get a good historical look at the era between Roosevelt presidents and the events leading up to the marriage. Alexander comes in halfway through as the young Eleanor age twenty, and she is outstanding, showing Eleanor at these various mature ages. Along with Hermann (who like Ralph Bellamy made a career out of playing the president, or at least making a legacy of it), and they are both outstanding in the park. Hermann of course would repeat the role in the first film version 9f "Annie". A brilliant start to a wonderful mini series that deservedly won a ton of Emmy's.
When her domineering grandmother (Irene Tedrow) pulls her out of her European boarding school, it's then when Eleanor reaquaints herself with her cousin Franklin (Edward Hermann) and they hit it off as friends of great intellectual companionship which leads to a surprising romance. It's easy to discuss the affairs outside the marriage, but it's obvious here that they had a great deal in common and if it wasn't going to be a physical love match, the relationship was as important to each of them as it was to the country it was because they definitely complimented each other and had many of the same goals.
This all-star cast mini series in this part featured such great actors as Lilia Skala as her mentor at school, William Phipps as uncle Teddy, Linda Purl as the sophisticated cousin Alice, David Huffman as Eleanor's alcoholic father, Pamela Franklin as her troubled mother and Rosemary Murphy as FDR's imperious mother. There's also Peggy McCay, Anna Lee and Helen Kleeb at the very beginning consoling Eleanor over FDR's death. You get a good historical look at the era between Roosevelt presidents and the events leading up to the marriage. Alexander comes in halfway through as the young Eleanor age twenty, and she is outstanding, showing Eleanor at these various mature ages. Along with Hermann (who like Ralph Bellamy made a career out of playing the president, or at least making a legacy of it), and they are both outstanding in the park. Hermann of course would repeat the role in the first film version 9f "Annie". A brilliant start to a wonderful mini series that deservedly won a ton of Emmy's.