Backstairs at the White House (miniseries)
Encyclopedia
Backstairs at the White House is a 1979 NBC
television miniseries
based on the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
by Lillian Rogers Parks
(with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Productions, is the story of behind-the-scenes workings of the White House and the relationship between the staff and the First Families.
This mini-series was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards including: Outstanding Limited Series, Best Actress (Olivia Cole), Best Actor (Louis Gossett Jr.), Best Supporting Actress (both Eileen Heckart and Celeste Holm), Best Supporting Actor (both Ed Flanders and Robert Vaughn), Outstanding Teleplay (Part 1), Outstanding Teleplay (Part 1), Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration (Part 1), and two other technical awards.
The series was notable for its all-star cast: Leslie Uggams
starred as Lillian Rogers Parks and Olivia Cole
played her mother Maggie Rogers
. Other White House staffers were played by Louis Gossett, Jr.
, Robert Hooks
, Cloris Leachman
, Leslie Nielsen
, and Hari Rhodes
. The first episode featured Paul Winfield
as Emmett Rogers Sr.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
based on the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House is an autobiographical novel by Lillian Rogers Parks . The memoir was based on Parks' recollections of thirty years as a seamstress in the White House and on childhood memories of her mother's 30...
by Lillian Rogers Parks
Lillian Rogers Parks
Lillian Rogers Parks was an American maid and seamstress in the White House.With the journalist Frances Spatz Leighton, co-author of a number of White House memoirs, Parks published My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House. The book covers a 60-year period in the life of domestic staff in the...
(with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Productions, is the story of behind-the-scenes workings of the White House and the relationship between the staff and the First Families.
This mini-series was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards including: Outstanding Limited Series, Best Actress (Olivia Cole), Best Actor (Louis Gossett Jr.), Best Supporting Actress (both Eileen Heckart and Celeste Holm), Best Supporting Actor (both Ed Flanders and Robert Vaughn), Outstanding Teleplay (Part 1), Outstanding Teleplay (Part 1), Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration (Part 1), and two other technical awards.
The series was notable for its all-star cast: Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
starred as Lillian Rogers Parks and Olivia Cole
Olivia Cole
Olivia Cole is an American actress.-Biography:Cole was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Arvelia and William Cole. She was the first African-American actress to be nominated for and subsequently win an Emmy Award...
played her mother Maggie Rogers
Margaret Rogers
Margaret 'Maggie' Rogers was a maid at the White House who served for 30 years , during the administrations of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and part of Franklin D...
. Other White House staffers were played by Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...
, Robert Hooks
Robert Hooks
Robert Hooks is an American actor of films, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television, as well as his political and civil rights activities...
, Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
, Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
, and Hari Rhodes
Hari Rhodes
Hari Rhodes was an American author and actor whose career spanned three decades beginning around 1960....
. The first episode featured Paul Winfield
Paul Winfield
Paul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
as Emmett Rogers Sr.
Cast
- William Howard TaftWilliam Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
- Victor BuonoVictor BuonoCharles Victor Buono was an American actor and comic.-Early life and career:Buono was born in San Diego, California, the son of Myrtle Belle and Victor Francis Buono . His maternal grandmother, Myrtle Glied , was a Vaudeville performer on the Orpheum Circuit... - Helen (Nellie) TaftHelen Herron TaftHelen Louise Herron "Nellie" Taft was the wife of William Howard Taft and First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913.-Early years:...
- Julie HarrisJulie HarrisJulia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame... - Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
- Robert VaughnRobert VaughnRobert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in... - Ellen Axson Wilson - Kim HunterKim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
- Edith Bolling Galt Wilson - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
- Warren G. HardingWarren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
- George KennedyGeorge KennedyGeorge Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and... - Florence HardingFlorence HardingFlorence Mabel Kling "Flossie" Harding , wife of President Warren G...
- Celeste HolmCeleste HolmCeleste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve... - Calvin CoolidgeCalvin CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
- Ed FlandersEd FlandersEdward Paul Flanders was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Donald Westphall in the television series St. Elsewhere.- Biography :... - Grace CoolidgeGrace CoolidgeGrace Anna Goodhue Coolidge was the wife of Calvin Coolidge and First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929.-Biography:...
- Lee GrantLee GrantLee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the... - Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
- Larry GatesLarry GatesLarry Gates was an American actor probably best known for his role as H.B. Lewis on daytime's Guiding Light and as Doc Baugh in the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof... - Lou Hoover - Jan SterlingJan SterlingJan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
- Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
- John AndersonJohn Anderson (actor)-Biography:Born in Clayton, John Anderson grew up in Quincy and Adams County, Illinois.Prior to a prolific acting career, Anderson served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II where he met artist Orazio Fumagalli who became one of his best lifelong friends.He was known for several... - Eleanor RooseveltEleanor RooseveltAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
- Eileen HeckartEileen HeckartEileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Heckart was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Esther and Leo Herbert. She was legally adopted by her grandfather, J.W. Heckart. Her family was of Irish and German descent... - Harry S. TrumanHarry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
- Harry MorganHarry MorganHarry Morgan is an American actor. Morgan is well-known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H , Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys and December Bride , Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet , and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey... - Bess TrumanBess TrumanBess Truman , was the wife of Harry S. Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953.-Early life:...
- Estelle ParsonsEstelle ParsonsEstelle Margaret Parsons is an American theatre, film and television actress and occasional theatrical director.After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program Today and made her stage debut in 1961... - Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
- Andrew DugganAndrew Duggan-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway... - Mamie EisenhowerMamie EisenhowerMamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...
- Barbara BarrieBarbara BarrieBarbara Barrie is an American actress and author of children's books.-Personal life:Barrie was born as Barbara Ann Berman in Chicago, Illinois, of Jewish heritage, the daughter of Frances Rose and Louis Berman. She was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. She graduated from University of Texas,...