Laura Lansing Slept Here

Last updated
Laura Lansing Slept Here
GenreComedy
Written by James Prideaux
Directed by George Schaefer
Starring Katharine Hepburn
Joel Higgins
Karen Austin
Brenda Forbes
Music by Peter Matz
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producer Merrill H. Karpf
Producers George Schaefer
James Prideaux
Production location Vancouver
Cinematography Paul Lohman
Editor Rod Stephens
Running time100 minutes
Production companiesSchaefer/Karpf/Eckstein Productions
Gaylord Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 7, 1988 (1988-03-07)

Laura Lansing Slept Here is a 1988 American made-for-television comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and directed by George Schaefer which premiered on NBC on March 7, 1988. It was written by James Prideaux and co-stars Joel Higgins, Karen Austin, Brenda Forbes and Hepburn's grandniece Schuyler Grant.

Contents

Plot

Hepburn stars as Laura Lansing, a wealthy, world-famous pampered novelist who faces the crisis of her career when her publisher rejects her latest book. Faced with retirement, she makes a bet to prove that she has not lost touch with her readers: she will live with a middle-class family in the suburbs for seven days or give up writing forever. In the home of Walter and Melody Gomphers, Lansing turns the family's life upside down with her outlandish behavior. She struggles to relate to their children, meddles in the couple's marital matters and jeopardizes the conditions of her bet.

Cast

Reception

A reviewer from The New York Times noted that Hepburn essentially "played herself" in the movie, and that "it's to Katharine Hepburn's credit that she was able to make so much out of so little." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Hepburn</span> American actress (1907–2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.

<i>The Philadelphia Story</i> (film) 1940 American film

The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Ruth Hussey. Based on the 1939 Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry, the film is about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. The socialite character of the play—performed by Hepburn in the film—was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904–1995), a Philadelphia socialite known for her hijinks, who married a friend of playwright Barry.

<i>Guess Whos Coming to Dinner</i> 1967 film by Stanley Kramer

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton.

<i>Bringing Up Baby</i> 1938 film by Howard Hawks

Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.

<i>Mary of Scotland</i> (film) 1936 film by John Ford

Mary of Scotland is a 1936 American historical drama film starring Katharine Hepburn as the 16th-century ruler Mary, Queen of Scots. Directed by John Ford, it is an adaptation of the 1933 Maxwell Anderson play, with Fredric March reprising the role of Bothwell, which he also performed on stage during the run of play. The screenplay was written by Dudley Nichols. Ginger Rogers wanted to play this role and made a screen test, but RKO rejected her request to be cast in the part feeling that the role was not suitable to her image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Houghton</span> American actress, playwright

Katharine Houghton is an American actress and playwright. She portrayed Joanna "Joey" Drayton, a white woman who brings home her black fiancé to meet her parents, in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Katharine Hepburn, who played the mother of Houghton's character in the film, was Houghton's aunt. She is also known for her role as Kanna, Katara and Sokka’s grandmother in the film The Last Airbender (2010).

Schuyler Grant is an American former actress best known for playing Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables (1985) and for other supporting roles in television.

<i>Dragon Seed</i> (film) 1944 film by Jack Conway, Harold S. Bucquet

Dragon Seed is a 1944 American war drama film, about Japan's WWII-era actions in China.The movie directed by Jack Conway and Harold S. Bucquet, based on the 1942 novel of the same name by Pearl S. Buck. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Aline MacMahon, Akim Tamiroff, and Turhan Bey. It portrays a peaceful village in China that has been invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The men in the village choose to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their conquerors, but the headstrong Jade (Hepburn) stands up to the Japanese.

<i>Pygmalion</i> (play) 1913 play by George Bernard Shaw

Pygmalion is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, named after the Greek mythological figure. It premièred at the Hofburg Theatre in Vienna on 16 October 1913 and was first presented on stage in German. Its English-language première took place at His Majesty's Theatre in London's West End in April 1914 and starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree as phonetics professor Henry Higgins and Mrs Patrick Campbell as Cockney flower-girl Eliza Doolittle.

<i>The Iron Petticoat</i> 1956 film by Ralph Thomas

The Iron Petticoat is a 1956 British Cold War comedy film starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, and directed by Ralph Thomas. The screenplay by Ben Hecht became the focus of a contentious history behind the production, and led to the film's eventual suppression by Hope. Hecht had been part of the screenwriting team on the similarly themed Comrade X (1940).

<i>Holiday</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by George Cukor

Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.

<i>Quality Street</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by George Stevens

Quality Street is a 1937 American historical comedy film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by George Stevens and produced by Pandro S. Berman. Set in 19th-century England, the film stars Katharine Hepburn and Franchot Tone. Joan Fontaine makes one of her early (uncredited) film appearances. The screenplay was by Allan Scott, Mortimer Offner, and Jack Townley, based on the 1901 play Quality Street by J. M. Barrie.

Anthony Harvey was an English filmmaker who began his career as a teenage actor, was a film editor in the 1950s and moved into directing in the mid-1960s. Harvey had fifteen film credits as an editor, and he directed thirteen films. The second film that Harvey directed, The Lion in Winter (1968), earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director. Harvey's career is also notable for his recurring work with a number of leading actors and directors including Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Katharine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Richard Attenborough, Liv Ullman, Sam Waterston, Nick Nolte, the Boulting Brothers, Anthony Asquith, Bryan Forbes and Stanley Kubrick. He died in November 2017 at the age of 87.

<i>On Golden Pond</i> (1981 film) 1981 film by Mark Rydell

On Golden Pond is a 1981 family drama film directed by Mark Rydell from a screenplay written by Ernest Thompson, adapted from his 1979 play of the same name. It stars Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman and William Lanteau. In the film, Norman, a crusty, retired professor grappling with many effects of aging, is estranged from his daughter, Chelsea. At their summer home on Golden Pond, Norman and his wife Ethel agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and an unexpected relationship blooms.

Brenda Forbes was a British-born American actress of stage and screen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn</span> American suffragist

Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn was an American feminist social reformer and a leader of the suffrage movement in the United States. Hepburn served as president of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association before joining the National Woman's Party. In 1923 Hepburn formed the Connecticut Branch of the American Birth Control League with two of her friends, Mrs. George Day and Mrs. M. Toscan Bennett. She was the mother and namesake of actress Katharine Hepburn and the grandmother and namesake of actress Katharine Houghton.

<i>The Man Upstairs</i> (1992 film) American TV series or program

The Man Upstairs is a 1992 American crime comedy-drama television film directed by George Schaefer and starring Katharine Hepburn and Ryan O'Neal. The film premiered on CBS on December 6, 1992.

James Prideaux was an American playwright known for The Last of Mrs. Lincoln.

<i>Smile</i> (2022 film) Film by Parker Finn

Smile is a 2022 American psychological supernatural horror film written and directed by Parker Finn, based on his 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept. The film stars Sosie Bacon as a therapist named Rose Cotter, who, after witnessing the bizarre suicide of a patient, goes through increasingly disturbing and daunting experiences, leading her to believe what she is experiencing is supernatural. It also stars Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan, as well as Caitlin Stasey playing the same character she played in the short film.

Marion Houghton Grant was an American historian, writer, and activist. She was the daughter of feminist Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn as well as the sister of actress Katharine Hepburn. Her daughter and granddaughter, Katharine Houghton and Schuyler Grant, are actresses.

References

  1. Hal Erickson (2012). "Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988) Review". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.