HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL GORDON
PRODUCED BY ROBERT ENDERS./ EVERETT FREEMAN
ABC PICTURES
Information from IMDb
Plot Summary
In this syrupy comedy, a father attempts to reconnect with his troubled,
estranged son, a philosophy professor.
The chance at reconciliation comes when the son learns that his father,
whom he hasn't seen in years is fighting a strange nameless movie disease
in a French hospital.
The young man's wife is not pleased.
While aboard the jet, the son reflects upon his upbringing
and the fights that would erupt between his mother,
a fundamentalist Christian, and his father, an atheist.
He remembers how his father turned to a free-spirited artist for comfort.
Just before she left him, the artist gave the father a lovely poem.
Later after his son became a teacher, the father decides to enter
to piece in a poetry contest and wins $10,0000,
which he plans to donate to his son's department.
Unfortunately someone discovers that the artist's "original" poem
is anything but and the father is publicly humiliated while his son
is passed for promotion.
Seeing how unhappy his son has become, the father decides to go
to a church and pray for his son to get promoted.
It works, but unfortunately a man had to die for the son
to get it leaving the father to be wracked with guilt.
Fortunately with the son's arrival comes the father's salvation.
~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Full Cast
Jackie Gleason .... Stanley Waltz
Maureen O'Hara .... Elsie Waltz
Shelley Winters .... Lena Mervin
Rosemary Forsyth .... Marion Waltz
Rick Lenz .... Tom Waltz
Don Beddoe .... Dr. Littlefield
Fritzi Burr .... Mrs. Gromulka
Soroya Farah .... Belly Dancer
Templeton Fox .... Mrs. Wellington
Alex Gerry .... Walter Wetzel
Marcia Knight .... Rachel
Frank Logan .... Frank the Bartender
Maurice Marsac .... The Bishop
Lou Marsh .... Hearse Driver #1
James McCallion .... Pete McGurk
J. Edward McKinley .... Hugo Wellington
Jack Nagle .... Dean Bagley
David Anthony Pizzuto .... Radical Student
Clinton Robinson .... Tom Waltz, Age 11
Ed Ross .... French Dentist
Don Sebastian .... Art Salerno
Dick Sterling .... Dr. Giroux
Evelyn Turner .... French Nurse
Olga Vargas .... Mother Superior
Harriet Veloshin .... Dean Bagley's Secretary
Judy Wallace .... Mrs. Bagley
Robertson White .... Old Geezer
Writing Credits
Peter De Vries novel Let Me Count the Ways
Everett Freeman
Karl Tunberg
Trivia
Maureen O'Hara was injured on the set, O'Hara and Jackie Gleason were in the middle of a scene. O'Hara was sitting on a garden bench, the cushions had been removed exposing the cyclone fence wire that supported them. O'Hara's right hand was resting on the wire and as a very drunk Jackie Gleason was delivering his lines, he tripped and accidentally fell on top of her hand. The cyclone wire gave way and the weight of his body crushed her hand. She had to be rushed to the hospital; her hand required orthopedic surgery. As a result, she has no cartilage on the fingers of her right hand and is missing a joint on her index finger.
Filming Location
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA