Warm Springs | |
---|---|
Genre | Biography Drama |
Written by | Margaret Nagle |
Directed by | Joseph Sargent |
Starring | Kenneth Branagh Cynthia Nixon Kathy Bates Tim Blake Nelson Jane Alexander David Paymer |
Theme music composer | Bruce Broughton |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Chrisann Verges |
Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
Editor | Michael Brown |
Running time | 121 minutes |
Production companies | HBO Films Mark Gordon Productions The Mark Gordon Company |
Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | April 30, 2005 |
Warm Springs is a 2005 made-for-television biography drama film directed by Joseph Sargent, written by Margaret Nagle, and starring Kenneth Branagh, Cynthia Nixon, Kathy Bates, Tim Blake Nelson, Jane Alexander, and David Paymer. The screenplay concerns U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1921 illness, diagnosed at the time as polio, his struggle to overcome paralysis, his discovery of the Warm Springs resort, his work to turn it into a center for the rehabilitation of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression.
The film opens in 1924 with a handicapped Franklin D. Roosevelt living in semi-isolation on a Florida houseboat with two male attendants. He reminisces about running as vice president during the 1920 presidential election. Franklin, a Harvard-educated lawyer, New York assemblyman, and assistant Secretary of the Navy, gave a rousing speech in which he mentioned his cousin President Teddy Roosevelt's own run as vice president. Republican Warren Harding won the election, but Franklin's political rise had begun, though his opponents consider the arrogant Franklin a political lightweight.
When Franklin's wife, Eleanor discovered his extra-marital affair, they remained married but with mostly separate lives. When Franklin was suddenly stricken with what was diagnosed as polio, leaving his lower body paralyzed, devastated and refusing to be a burden, Franklin then left for Florida to live on the houseboat.
When a storm wrecks the houseboat, Franklin and his attendants go to a nearby restaurant. Louis Howe, Franklin's political adviser, arrives and attempts to persuade Franklin to return to New York and resume his political career. However, at the same time Franklin receives a letter from an old friend George Foster Peabody who invites Franklin to the Meriweather Inn, the resort he owns in Warm Springs, Georgia. Peabody claims a handicapped boy was able to walk while in the therapeutic mineral waters. Intrigued, Franklin heads to Warm Springs, along with Eleanor.
Franklin and Eleanor discover the Meriweather Inn is extremely rundown. Franklin rejects staying in a two-story residence, fearing being trapped upstairs in a fire, but settles for a small one-story cottage. Once in the pool, Franklin is unable to stand, though resort manager, Tom Loyless, says he will in time. Meanwhile, Eleanor realizes Franklin intends to stay in Georgia.
Appalled by the differences between Georgia and New York and the dilapidated resort, Eleanor urges Franklin to return to New York City, saying it has the best doctors and hospitals in the country. He refuses, believing Warm Springs gives him a chance to walk again. Eleanor returns to New York where Louis launches her career as a social activist. Meanwhile, Franklin is eventually able to stand and move around in the buoyant waters. His celebrity results in an interview with the local newspaper. Franklin feels residents pity him, but Tom assures him that is not the case.
The resort closes for the season. Franklin returns in the spring to discover that after his newspaper interview was nationally syndicated, other polio victims have come to the resort. Franklin angrily storms out; Tom chastises him, saying it is not Franklin's private resort and accuses him of having the same prejudices and pity that other people have towards polio victims.
At the train station, Franklin is about to return to New York. Tom is there to pick up Fred Botts a newly arriving polio patient. Franklin is appalled that the young man was forced to ride in the baggage car alone and is barely conscious. Franklin berates the indifferent conductor, and he and Tom take the man to the resort to recover since the nearest hospital is all the way in Atlanta and the nearest doctor is also too far away. Tom informs Franklin that, due to the able-bodied guests fearing polio, he cannot use the pool during regular hours or eat in the dining room.
Soon after, physical therapist Helena Mahonny arrives to work at the resort, inspired by Franklin's interview. Helena says the waters are helping Franklin but he needs more pool time than is allowed. Franklin decides to buy the resort and turn it into a polio rehab center.
Franklin learns that Tom has terminal cancer and is returning home to die. Franklin's domineering mother, unable to understand Franklin's purpose at Warm Springs, sends Louis and Eleanor to stop him buying the spa and bring him back to New York. Upon arriving, Eleanor is supportive. She and Franklin begin fund-raising and accept a doctor's offer to evaluate the resort.
Louis believes Franklin is ready to resume his political career, aiming for Governor of New York. Meanwhile, Franklin receives the visiting doctor's unfavorable medical report in which he disputes hydrotherapy's benefits. With plans to turn the resort into a polio rehab center and regain his ability to walk possibly being derailed, Franklin becomes depressed. Helena, Louis, and Eleanor persuade him to revive his political career. They devise a method enabling Franklin to appear in public with a cane in his hand and supported by leg braces and minimal human assistance so he can be seen moving around in public without crutches and his wheelchair. The plan works and Franklin is elected Governor of New York.
The epilogue reveals that Franklin won the U.S. presidency four years later and became the only person elected to more than two terms, serving until his death while in office, at his Warm Springs cottage in 1945. The rehab center was Franklin's life insurance beneficiary and continues to operate to this day.
Actor | Role |
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Kenneth Branagh | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
Cynthia Nixon | Eleanor Roosevelt |
Kathy Bates | Helena Mahoney |
Tim Blake Nelson | Tom Loyless |
Jane Alexander | Sara Delano Roosevelt |
David Paymer | Louis McHenry Howe |
Melissa Ponzio | Lucy Mercer |
Marianne Fraulo | Missy LeHand |
Brian F. Durkin | Elliott Roosevelt |
Turner Dixon | James Roosevelt |
Tripp Hennington | Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. |
Sam Frihart | John Roosevelt |
Carrie Adams | Anna Roosevelt |
Wilbur Fitzgerald | Al Smith |
Felicia Day | Eloise Hutchinson |
Actress Jane Alexander, who plays FDR's mother Sara Delano Roosevelt, also played Eleanor Roosevelt in the acclaimed 1976 telefilm Eleanor and Franklin and its 1977 sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years . Many of the bit part actors in the film are actually physically disabled, though Branagh and several other of the principal actors are not. The withered appearance of Branagh's legs was achieved through the use of CGI.
The film was produced by HBO Films and directed by Joseph Sargent. The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia and its surrounding locations. Other Georgia locations include Madison, Atlanta,Summerville,and Gainesville. [1]
The producers strove to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible. For example, Kenneth Branagh, as Roosevelt, is seen driving the very same specially-equipped automobile that FDR was taught to drive at Warm Springs. The cottage that Roosevelt stays in during the film is one of the cottages that the real FDR stayed in. And the swimming pool in which the patients swim in is the actual therapeutic swimming pool at Warm Springs, refurbished specifically for the film.
Tom Jicha of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found the film "more educational than entertaining", but said "Kenneth Branagh offers an exemplary turn". [2] Rob Owens of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, ""Warm Springs" isn't a revolutionary or ground-breaking film, but it is a solid depiction of a time in the life of a figure who loomed large in 20th century American history." [3] Sid Smith of the Chicago Tribune said that Branagh and Nixon "play these familiar icons as real, flesh-and-blood people", and also noted memorable work by Paymer, Bates, and Nelson. [4] Kevin McDonough of United Feature Syndicate called the film "intimate and powerful". [5]
Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel takes some issue with some of the writing, but says the film is "impressive" and that " Tim Blake Nelson is heart-rending as the spa's proprietor." He also noted that before Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, he listed the rehabilitation center as beneficiary of his $562,000 life insurance policy. [6]
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 465 at the 2020 census.
Jane Alexander is an American-Canadian actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, Alexander served as the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Little White House was the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, located in the Historic District of Warm Springs, Georgia. He first came to Warm Springs in 1924 for polio treatment, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on nearby Pine Mountain. The house was finished in 1932. Roosevelt kept the house after he became president, using it as a presidential retreat. He died there on April 12, 1945, three months into his fourth term.
F.D. Roosevelt State Park is a 9,049 acres (36.62 km2) Georgia state park located near Pine Mountain and Warm Springs. The park is named for former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who sought a treatment for his paralytic illness in nearby Warm Springs at the Little White House. The park is located along the Pine Mountain Range. The western portion of the park, formerly named Pine Mountain State Park, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1997. F.D. Roosevelt State Park is Georgia's largest state park.
Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd was an American woman who sustained a long affair with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Tom W. Loyless, now best known as the manager owner of the Warm Springs spa resort, owned by George Foster Peabody. Prior to managing the resort, Loyless, a native of west Georgia, served as a newspaper reporter, editor and publisher at papers in Augusta, Columbus and Macon. He was " one of the South's leading editorial voices, known for his fierce commentaries and a temper that matched."
Fala, a Scottish Terrier, was the dog of United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of the most famous presidential pets, Fala was taken to many places by Roosevelt. Given to the Roosevelts by a cousin, Fala knew how to perform tricks; the dog and his White House antics were mentioned frequently by the media and often referenced by Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor. Fala outlived Roosevelt by seven years and was buried near him.
Roosevelt Campobello International Park preserves the house and surrounding landscape of the summer retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and their family. It is located on the southern tip of Campobello Island in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and is connected to the mainland by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, at Lubec, Maine in the United States.
Marguerite Alice "Missy" LeHand was a private secretary to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) for 21 years. According to LeHand's biographer Kathryn Smith in The Gatekeeper, she eventually functioned as White House Chief of Staff, the only woman in American history to do so.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, later the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, began experiencing symptoms of a paralytic illness in 1921 when he was 39 years old. His main symptoms were fevers; symmetric, ascending paralysis; facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia; and a descending pattern of recovery. He was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and underwent years of therapy, including hydrotherapy at Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt remained paralyzed from the waist down and relied on a wheelchair and leg braces for mobility, which he took efforts to conceal in public. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, leading to the development of polio vaccines. Although historical accounts continue to refer to Roosevelt's case as polio, the diagnosis has been questioned in the context of modern medical science, with a competing diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome proposed by some authors.
Sunrise at Campobello is a 1958 play by American producer and writer Dore Schary based on U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's struggle with polio. The film version was released in 1960.
Eleanor and Franklin is a 1976 American television miniseries starring Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt which was broadcast on ABC on January 11 and 12, 1976. It is the first part in a two-part "biopic" miniseries based on Joseph P. Lash's biography and history from 1971, Eleanor and Franklin, based on their correspondence and recently opened archives. Joseph Lash was Eleanor's personal secretary and confidant. He wrote several books on the Roosevelts including some on both Eleanor and Franklin individually and was also a controversial activist in his own right in leftist, liberalism, social and labor issues of the era.
Louis McHenry Howe was an American reporter for the New York Herald best known for acting as an early political advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Polio Hall of Fame consists of a linear grouping of sculptured busts of fifteen scientists and two laymen who made important contributions to the knowledge and treatment of poliomyelitis. It is found on the outside wall of what is called Founder's Hall of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm Springs, Georgia, US.
Daniel Basil O'Connor was an American lawyer and nonprofit executive. In cooperation with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt he started two foundations for the rehabilitation of polio patients and the research on polio prevention and treatment. From 1944 to 1949 he was chairman and president of the American Red Cross and from 1945 to 1950 he was chairman of the League of Red Cross Societies.
Top Cottage, also known as Hill-Top Cottage, in Hyde Park, New York, was a private retreat designed by and for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Built in 1938-39, during Roosevelt's second term as President of the United States, it was designed to accommodate his need for wheelchair accessibility. It was one of the earliest such buildings in the country, and the first significant building designed by a person with a disability.
Margaret Lynch Suckley was a sixth cousin, intimate friend, and confidante of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as an archivist for the first American presidential library. She was one of four women at the Little White House with Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia, when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
Warm Springs Historic District is a historic district in Warm Springs, Georgia, United States. It includes Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Little White House and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, where Roosevelt indulged in its warm springs. Other buildings in the district tend to range from the 1920s and 1930s. Much of the district looks the same as it did when Roosevelt frequented the area.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms as president, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States. Through her travels, public engagement, and advocacy, she largely redefined the role of first lady. Roosevelt then served as a United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952, and took a leading role in designing the text and gaining international support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1948, she was given a standing ovation by the assembly upon their adoption of the declaration. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.
Hyde Park on Hudson is a 2012 historical drama film directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel West as King George VI, Olivia Colman as his wife Queen Elizabeth and Laura Linney as Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, a cousin and childhood friend of the President. It was based on Suckley's private journals and diaries, discovered after her death and fictionally dramatizes her close relationship with Roosevelt and the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Roosevelt's country estate.