The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story
| The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Richard Matheson |
| Story by | David Kirschner Richard Matheson |
| Directed by | Jack Bender |
| Starring | John Ritter Annette O'Toole Rue McClanahan |
| Music by | Lee Holdridge |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | David Kirschner Robert M. Myman |
| Producers | Ervin Zavada Laura Moskowitz |
| Cinematography | Thomas Burstyn |
| Editor | Jerrold L. Ludwig |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Production companies | Bedrock Productions Adam Productions Spelling Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | December 10, 1990 |
The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story is a 1990 made-for-television biographical film starring John Ritter as Lyman Frank Baum, the man who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and thirteen of the other Oz books. Also starring in this TV movie was Annette O'Toole as Baum's supportive wife, Maud and Rue McClanahan as Baum's tough mother-in-law, Matilda Gage. John's son, Jason Ritter, makes his debut[citation needed] in this telefilm as Harry Neal Baum. At the time of the film's debut, O'Toole and Ritter also starred in It, a TV miniseries where they played a couple.
Plot
The film depicts how L. Frank Baum came to create The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while undergoing and eventually overcoming professional and personal failures. The story is interspersed with the famous Oz story, shown at certain points when Baum is writing down his ideas. It is shown that Baum was originally telling this to a group of kids, who asked him the name of this location, to which he looks at a file cabinet with one drawer marked O-Z and decided "Oz". Another idea Baum had thought of was to say Dorothy was born in the Dakota Territory, only to scrap that sentence in favor of Kansas.
Cast
- John Ritter as L. Frank Baum
- Annette O'Toole as Maud Gage Baum
- Rue McClanahan as Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage
- Charles Haid as Al Badham / Cowardly Lion
- David Schramm as W.W. Denslow
- Nancy Lenehan as Harriet Alvena Baum Neal
- Courtney Barilla as Dorothy Leslie Gage / Dorothy Gale
- Nancy Morgan as Helen Leslie Gage
External links
 | This article related to an American TV movie is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article relating to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" or one of its derivative works is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1990 television films
- 1990s biographical films
- American films
- American biographical films
- American television films
- Films directed by Jack Bender
- Screenplays by Richard Matheson
- Film scores by Lee Holdridge
- Oz in stage and film productions
- Biographical films about writers
- Oz studies
- American television film stubs
- Oz stubs