The Borrowers is a Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...

 TV special first broadcast in 1973 on NBC

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...

. This made for television special is adapted from the 1952 Carnegie Medal

Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...

 Award winning first novel of author Mary Norton

Mary Norton (author)

Mary Norton, née Pearson, was an English children's author. Her books include The Borrowers series.-Background:...

's The Borrowers

The Borrowers

The Borrowers, published in 1952, is the first in a series of children's fantasy novels by English author Mary Norton. The novel and its sequels are about tiny people who live in people's homes and "borrow" things to survive while keeping their existence unknown...

series: The Borrowers

The Borrowers

The Borrowers, published in 1952, is the first in a series of children's fantasy novels by English author Mary Norton. The novel and its sequels are about tiny people who live in people's homes and "borrow" things to survive while keeping their existence unknown...

. The film stars Eddie Albert

Eddie Albert

Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

, Tammy Grimes

Tammy Grimes

-Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...

 and Judith Anderson

Judith Anderson

Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...

 and was directed by Walter C. Miller.

In 1974, the special was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming and was nominated for Outstanding Children's Special (producers Duane Bogie, Walt deFaria and Warren Lockhart), Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (performer Judith Anderson), Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (performer Juul Haalmeyer) and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (director Walter C. Miller).

The special tells the story of the Clock Family, tiny people who live under the floorboards in an old English house.

Plot

The Clock Family are "borrowers," tiny people who live in the houses of regular sized "human beans (a borrower mispronunciation of human beings)". They survive by borrowing all they need from big people and try to keep their existence secret. The main characters are a teenage borrower girl named Arriety Clock and her parents, Pod and Homily. During a borrowing expedition with her father and contrary to borrower nature, Arriety befriends a human boy who lives in the home and develops a friendship with him.

The tiny family, who live under the kitchen floorboards of an old manor, are eventually discovered by the other humans who occupy the home and are forced to flee into the English countryside.

Cast

• Eddie Albert
  Eddie Albert
  Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
  
   as Pod Clock
• Tammy Grimes
  Tammy Grimes
  -Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...
  
   as Homily Clock
• Judith Anderson
  Judith Anderson
  Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...
  
   as Great Aunt Sophy
• Karen Pearson as Arriety Clock
• Dennis Larson as The Boy

Awards

Emmy Awards

• 1974 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (Won)
• 1974 Outstanding Children's Special (producers Duane Bogie, Walt deFaria and Warren Lockhart) (Nominated)
• 1974 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (performer Judith Anderson) (Nominated)
• 1974 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (performer Juul Haalmeyer) (Nominated)
• 1974 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming (director Walter C. Miller) (Nominated)