Two Mothers for Zachary - Misplaced Pages

1996 American TV series or program

Two Mothers for Zachary
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Genre	Drama
Written by	Linda Voorhees
Directed by	Peter Werner
Starring	Valerie Bertinelli Vanessa Redgrave
Theme music composer	Peter Rodgers Melnick
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Cary Brokaw Randy Robinson
Producers	Timothy Marx Tom Kageff
Production locations	Austin, Texas Georgetown, Texas Lockhart, Texas
Cinematography	Neil Roach
Editor	Martin Nicholson
Running time	96 minutes
Production companies	Avenue Pictures Hallmark Entertainment RHI Entertainment
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 22, 1996 (1996-09-22)

Two Mothers for Zachary is a 1996 ABC television film directed by Peter Werner and starring Valerie Bertinelli and Vanessa Redgrave. It is a true story adaptation of the Bottoms v. Bottoms family custody battle brought by a mother who disapproves of her daughter's homosexuality and the impact on her grandchild. It premiered on 22 September 1996. It was awarded a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie.

Premise

Nancy (Redgrave) disapproves of her daughter, Jody Ann's (Bertinelli) lesbianism and resolves to seek custody of her grandson, Zachary. A Virginia court grants custody of the boy to Nancy and now Jody is desperate to regain her son.

Cast

Valerie Bertinelli as Jody Ann Shaffell
Vanessa Redgrave as Nancy Shaffell
Colleen Flynn as Maggie Fergus
Brian McGuire as Dwayne
Kim Dickens as Jan
Marietta Marich as Melba
Marco Perella as Reporter 2
James Gammon as Chalmer
Adam and Aaron Rehmann as Zachary

Production

Although the film is based on Sharon Bottoms's real-life custody battle, characters were renamed for the adaptation. Bertinelli explained, "I'm so much older than Sharon Bottoms is. But once we changed her name to Jody Ann Shaffell, it became much easier to see myself playing this role. I didn't have to play Sharon Bottoms but my interpretation of what would happen to a woman in that situation."

Bertinelli had previously learned of the Bottoms case years earlier when she appeared on the same edition of Larry King Live with Sharon Bottoms. Bottoms was appearing with her lawyer and argued her case against a Christian leader. Instead of concentrating on what she was intending to promote, Bertinelli became engaged in the previous debate and criticized the views of the religious representative.

References

Awards for Two Mothers for Zachary IMDB. Retrieved on 14 September 2010
Valerie Bertinelli The Advocate. 17 September 1996

External links

Two Mothers for Zachary at IMDb

v t e Films directed by Peter Werner
In the Region of Ice (1976) Barn Burning (1980) Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1982) Prisoners (1982) I Married a Centerfold (1984) LBJ: The Early Years (1987) No Man's Land (1987) The Image (1990) Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (1990) Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992) Doorways (1992) The Substitute Wife (1994) The Four Diamonds (1995) Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story (1995) Two Mothers for Zachary (1996) Blue Rodeo (1996) On the Edge of Innocence (1997) House of Frankenstein (1997) Tempting Fate (1998) Mama Flora's Family (1998) Hefner: Unauthorized (1999) No Ordinary Baby (2001) Call Me Claus (2001) We Were the Mulvaneys (2002) Gracie's Choice (2004) Mom at Sixteen (2005) Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy (2006) Girl, Positive (2007) The Circuit (2008) Front of the Class (2008) A Dog Named Christmas (2009) Bond of Silence (2010) Prosecuting Casey Anthony (2013)

Films directed by Peter Werner

In the Region of Ice (1976)
Barn Burning (1980)
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1982)
Prisoners (1982)
I Married a Centerfold (1984)
LBJ: The Early Years (1987)
No Man's Land (1987)
The Image (1990)
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (1990)
Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (1992)
Doorways (1992)
The Substitute Wife (1994)
The Four Diamonds (1995)
Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story (1995)
Two Mothers for Zachary (1996)
Blue Rodeo (1996)
On the Edge of Innocence (1997)
House of Frankenstein (1997)
Tempting Fate (1998)
Mama Flora's Family (1998)
Hefner: Unauthorized (1999)
No Ordinary Baby (2001)
Call Me Claus (2001)
We Were the Mulvaneys (2002)
Gracie's Choice (2004)
Mom at Sixteen (2005)
Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy (2006)
Girl, Positive (2007)
The Circuit (2008)
Front of the Class (2008)
A Dog Named Christmas (2009)
Bond of Silence (2010)
Prosecuting Casey Anthony (2013)

v t e GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
TV Movie or Limited Series (1990–2019)	The Women of Brewster Place (1990) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1991) And the Band Played On (1994) Tales of the City (1995) Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (1996) Two Mothers for Zachary (1997) Any Mother's Son (1998) More Tales of the City (1999) Execution of Justice (2000) If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2001) What Makes a Family (2002) The Laramie Project (2003) Angels in America (2004) Jack (2005) The Long Firm (2006) A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (2007) The DL Chronicles (2008) East Side Story (2009) Prayers for Bobby (2010) Cinema Verite (2012) American Horror Story: Asylum (2013) Behind the Candelabra (2014) The Normal Heart (2015) Bessie (2016) Eyewitness (2017) When We Rise (2018) The Assassination of Gianni Versace (2019)
TV Movie (2020–2022)	Transparent: Musical Finale (2020) Uncle Frank (2021) Single All the Way (2022)
Limited Series (2020–2022)	Tales of the City (2020) I May Destroy You (2021) It's a Sin (2022)
Limited or Anthology Series (2023–present)	The White Lotus (2023) Fellow Travelers (2024)

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