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Show f 12S TV Salt Lake Tribune Sunday Magazine Puzzle on Page February 12, 1984 3 Celebrity rates high in miniseries category by Mark Dawidziak Knight-Ridde- IN 1950, r Writer THEY were insepara- ble. RAINBOW tAR OMMWMtMS l(f 7235 South 700 West Midvale, Utah M047 Hours . 8 to 5 M-- SaL 10 to 3 ' WE PRINT MOST EVERYTHING! Printed advertising 100 caps S- -J 99 each nSSHIRTiSI 12 printed 50 printed s5995 s199 Repairs on existing equipment. Offer good until April 30, 1934 SAVE 5 Windbreakers 17.00 Flannel Lined 22.95 32.95 Satin Lined Humidifier Air Cleaner Water Heater Swamp Cooler Air Conditioner Fresent this coupon after you receive your each MCtl SIGNS Magnetic Door Signs 2 4 signs signs 8 signs well-acte- on any new Furnace KJACKEiFSl $39.95 $59.95 $79.95 REEi tor new accounts "open" and closed" sign FREE WITH THIS AD MODELS WANTED Train to be a model or (just look like one) Classes starting Feb. 22, 84 in Salt Lake City Emily 801-487-75- 91 T The Boftixon School I 1363 So Stow Dept. (area code) They were the Three Princes. Kleber Cantrell, an aspiring reporter and president of his Fort Worth high school senior class, was called the Prince of Power. Mack Crawford, the school's football hero, was dubbed the Prince of Charms. And T.J. Luther, the one with a taste for danger, was crowned the Prince of Temptations. Taking vastly different roads, one became a movie idol; another a celebrated journalist and bestselling author, the third, a controversial faith healer. They were celebrities. But during a candle-li- t reunion at a small, isolated cabin near their hometown, one became a murderer, another, his victim; the third, a witness. THE WHOS AND whys of this fascinating mystery are the basis of NBCs three-par-t miniseries based on Thomas Thompson's fine noveL Celebrity. A tautly d drama, this paced, effort easily rates as one of the season's best miniseries. The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Sunday and continues at the same time Monday and Tuesday on KUTV. Thompson, himself an awardwinning journalist who also wrote g fiction (Celebrity) n and (Blood and Money and Serpentine), died in 1982 while overseeing the adaptation of his only novel into a television miniseries. At 49, he died of liver cancer, which doctors believed had developed from a virulent form of hepatitis that he contracted while researching Serpentine in India. Before he died, Thompson made his close friend, Rosilyn Heller, promise to stay on as the miniseries' producer. SENSITIVE TO THE author's hopes for Celebrity, the former book editor at New American Library made sure that NBCs miniseries crackled with the novel s distinctive blend of intrigue, subtle characterization and foreboding atmosphere. The story opens at the cabin. Angry words are heard, followed by a gunshot Arriving on the scene is Calvin Sledge (Hal Holbrook), the district attorney who sets out to solve the murky details behind a front-pag- e story involving three national celebrities. Badly wounded, Sledge's witness lies in a hospital bed, his face covered with bandages. Which of the Three Princes is it? The only clue is a flickering of the patient's eyes, which soon gives way to reminisces of an earlier meeting at the same cabin. 2-- T best-sellin- non-fictio- 6W-ho- ries playwright Cecil Shannon (Karen Austin), following a courtship which began in Texas, continued in New York and Los Angeles, and was put on hold while Kleber married and divorce an actress, in part three of Celebrity, miniseries which begins Sunday on KUTV and continues Monday and Tuesday nights. It was 1950, the night before high school graduation. Since the class picnic had been canceled, Kleber (Ben Masters), Mack (Joseph Bottoms) and TJ. (Michael Beck) had gone to the dilapidated cabin for social drinking. Their partying was interrupted by a frightened girl seeking refuge. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT set in motion the circumstances that, 25 years later, would lead these three friends back to the site of their inexcusable crime. "They're each tainted in a different way by what they did that night, Ms. Heller said. In the book. Tommy lets you know who the murderer is much earlier. Tommy agreed that he tipped his hand too early in the book." But, even though Celebrity keeps you guessing, the miniseries doesn't lose any steam once you find out who lived and who pulled the trigger. Tersely edited, it remains a compelling, tension-packe- d outing. If there is a drawback to this drama, it would be that Beck and Bottoms (who previously in Holocaust) dont match the intensity of Masters performance. Although they're both quite good. Masters is just much better. PLAYING A ROLE that Thompson based loosely on himself, the Broadway actor supplies a carefully crafted characterization that is impressive in depth and texture. Even though he gets some of the miniseries most flamboyant dialogue, Beck isn't nearly as interesting to watch. But Celebrity also is populated by folksy characters brought to vibrant life by such veteran performers as Holbrook, James Whitmore, Ned Beatty and Claude Akins. Rounding out the strong supporting cast are Dinah Manoff, Debbie Allen, Tess Harper and Jennifer Warren. Still, it is Masters who stands above this prestigious company. And since he's playing a writer with striking similarities to Thompson, that seems all the more fitting. |
