The Astronaut was a made-for-TV movie
that aired on ABC on January 8, 1972. In the movie, the first American astronaut is about to land on Mars and the entire
world is watching via a live telecast. Everyone thinks the mission was a success, and the returning astronaut is
welcomed home as a hero. In reality, something went horribly wrong with the mission and the astronaut died,
either from toxic poison or some kind of bacteria found on Mars. Mission controllers, not wanting to panic the
public and fearing a setback to the space program, substituted false images into the "live" feed without the public's
knowledge. The astronaut who returned from Mars was actually a double who had undergone surgery to look like
the real astronaut. His wife becomes suspicious when her "husband" behaves differently upon his return. Another
problem: the Russians, based on the American's successful trip to Mars, have announced that they have already launched their
own mission to the planet. --Summary based on a review by Kevin Steinhauer, which can be found at IMDb.
The movie has not been released on either VHS or DVD, and, unfortunately,
I do not have it in my personal collection.
CAST:
Jackie Cooper... Kurt Anderson
Monte Markham... Eddie Reese/Col. Brice Randolph
Richard Anderson... Dr. Wylie
Robert Lansing... John Phillips
Susan Clark... Gail Randolph
John Lupton... Don Masters
Walter Brooke... Tom Everett
James Sikking... Astronaut Higgins
Paul Kent... Carl Samuels
Loretta Leversee... Toni Scott
PRODUCTION:
Produced by... Harve Bennett
Directed by... Robert Michael Lewis
Written by... Harve Bennett, Robert Biheller, Gerald Di Pego, Charles Kuenstle
Original Music... Gil Melle
Cinematography... Alric Edens
Film Editing... Les Green, John Kaufman
Art Direction... George C. Webb
NOTES:
--Jackie Cooper was a famous and gifted child actor who garnered a
Best Actor nomination at the age of 10 for his work in the film Skippy. Until 2004, he was the only performer
in the history of the Academy Awards to be so honored.
--Susan Clark was a regular on the TV series Webster, which also starred
her husband, Alex Karras, a former professional football player who spent his entire 13-year-career with the Detroit Lions.
--Richard Anderson, best known for his role on The Six Million Dollar Man, also
appeared with RL in several other productions, including A Gathering of Eagles, Automan, The Bionic
Showdown, and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.
--Wally Schirra, one of the original seven astronauts, made an appearance in
the movie.
--Walter Brooke appeared in The Graduate as Mr. McGuire and was involved
in one of the most famous scenes in film history when he and Dustin Hoffman's character had a conversation about "plastics".
Brooke also later appeared with RL in an episode of Automan, "Unreasonable Facsimile".
--James Sikking was a regular on the critically acclaimed series Hill Street
Blues as Lt. Howard Hunter.
--Robert Michael Lewis, who directed the movie, also directed S*H*E,
another TV movie in which RL appeared.
