A Death in the Family

• Director: Gilbert Cates
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Period Film, Family Drama
• Themes: Death in the Family, Mothers and Sons, Sibling Relationships
• Release Year: 2002
• Run Time: 60 minutes

Plot

Adapted from James Agee's posthumously published, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Death in the Family is set in Knoxville, TN, in 1915. The death of husband and father Jay Follett (John Slattery) in a car accident has profound and long-reaching effects upon his wife, Mary (Annabeth Gish), and his sensitive, seven-year-old son, Rufus (Austin Wolff). At the core of the crisis is Mary's prickly relationship with her own family, exacerbated by her late husband's unwillingness to "go with the flow" in terms of religion and race relations. The kindly intervention of Mary's free-spirited artist brother, Andrew (David Alford), enables her and her son to go on with their lives. Told from Rufus' point of view, the novel version of Death in the Family had previously served as the source for the Broadway play and film All the Way Home. This production, filmed on-location in Tennessee, was telecast by PBS on March 25, 2002 as part of Masterpiece Theatre's "American Collection." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Matthew Carlton - Walter Starr; Kathleen Chalfant - Aunt Hannah; James Cromwell - Joel Lynch; Annabeth Gish - Mary Follett; Bill Raymond - Father Jackson; John Slattery - Jay Follett; Mac Pirkle - Harbison's Salesman; David Alford - Andrew Lynch; Austin Wolff - Rufus Follett; Christopher Strand - Ralph Follet; Margaret Asker - Catherine Lynch; Danny Beene - Blacksmith; Dave Ducey - Local Farmer; Reed Alexaner - Schoolboy 1; Andrew Willis - Schoolboy 2; Louden Wright - Schoolboy 3

Credit

Peggy Farrell - Costume Designer, Gilbert Cates - Director, Rebecca Eaton - Executive Producer, Anne Hopkins - Executive Producer, Marian Rees - Executive Producer, Stephen Kulczycki - Executive Producer, Charles Fox - Composer (Music Score), Marcia Calosio - Production Designer, Stephen M. Katz - Cinematographer, Gilbert Cates - Producer, Ronald B. Colby - Producer, Dennis E. Doty - Producer, Robert W. Lenski - Screenwriter, Keith Rogers - Re-Recording Mixer, James Agee - Book Author