The Murder of Mary Phagan

"The Murder of Mary Phagan", a 1988 two-part TV miniseries made by Orion Pictures Corporation and distributed by National Broadcasting Company (NBC), tells the true story of Leo Frank, a factory manager unjustly convicted of murdering a little girl in Georgia in 1913. It features Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Charles Dutton, Peter Gallagher, Cynthia Nixon, Dylan Baker, and William H. Macy. Written by Larry McMurtry, produced by George Stevens, Jr., and directed by William "Billy" Hale, the film was shot in Richmond, Virginia, with a running time of 251 minutes (over 4 hours) originally broadcast over two evenings. Jack Lemmon noted during a television appearance on "The Tonight Show" that the cast was the very best with which he had ever worked.

The film won the 1988 Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries.

Other Major Media Treatments

An earlier movie version of the case, with the names changed, was directed by Mervyn Leroy in 1937 and called "They Won't Forget", starring Claude Rains.

In 1997, David Mamet published a book about Leo Frank called "The Old Religion" and a Broadway musical called "Parade" was also mounted. The following year Steve Oney's exhaustive history of the Mary Phagan case entitled "And the Dead Shall Rise" was published.

Cast

*Jack Lemmon as Gov. John Slaton
*Richard Jordan as Hugh Dorsey
*Robert Prosky as Tom Watson
*Peter Gallagher as Leo Frank
*Rebecca Miller as Lucille Frank
*Paul Dooley as William Burns
*Charles Dutton as Jim Conley
*Kevin Spacey as Wes Brent
*Cynthia Nixon as Doreen
*Dylan Baker as the Governor's Assistant
*William H. Macy (billed as "W.H. Macy") as Randy

External links

*imdb title|id=0095678|title=The Murder of Mary Phagan
* [http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Leo_Frank_and_the_murder_of_Mary_Phagan Leo Frank and the murder of Mary Phagan]
* [http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=161019 MSN movies: "The Murder of Mary Phagan"]
* [http://wv.essortment.com/maryphaganleo_rmex.htm The murder of Mary Phagan and the Leo Frank case]
* [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/33836/The-Murder-of-Mary-Phagan/overview New York Times archive of "The Murder of Mary Phagan"]
* [http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/filmnotes/murderofmaryphagan.html "The Murder of Mary Phagan"]
* [http://movies.go.com/the-murder-of-mary-phagan/d810195/drama "The Murder of Mary Phagan"] at MyMovies.com
* [http://www.curledup.com/thedead.htm "And the Dead Shall Rise" book about Leo Frank]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics/frank/ "Little Mary Phagan"] at the Crime Library
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/frank.html "Leo Frank" at the Jewish Virtual Library]
* [http://ngeorgia.com/feature/littlesecrets.html "Little Secrets" in "About North Georgia"]
* [http://www.atlantanation.com/leofrank.html "Leo Frank"]
* [http://www.ajhs.org/publications/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=284 "The Lynching of Leo Frank"] at the American Jewish Historical Society
* [http://theatre_chick.tripod.com/Phagan.htm "Leo Frank killed Mary Phagan, says grand-niece Mary Phagan"]
* [http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/1585671908.asp Review of Leo Frank book "The Old Religion" by David Mamet]
* [http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/1999/01/12feature.html "Mamet Book and Broadway Play on Leo Frank"] in "Salon Magazine"