A Man for All Seasons (1988 film)

A Man for All Seasons is a 1988 American made-for-television drama film about St. Thomas More, directed by and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the play of the same name by Robert Bolt, which was previously adapted in the Academy Award winning 1966 film A Man for All Seasons. It was the first made-for-television film produced on behalf of the TNT (Turner Network Television) television network.

A Man for All Seasons
VHS cover
Genre	Drama
Based on	A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Written by	Robert Bolt
Directed by	Charlton Heston
Starring	Charlton Heston Vanessa Redgrave Sir John Gielgud
Music by	Julia Downes
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Peter Snell
Producer(s)	Fraser C. Heston
Cinematography	Dennis Lewiston
Editor(s)	Eric Boyd-Perkins
Running time	150 minutes
Production company(s)	Agamemnon Films British Lion
Distributor	TNT
Release
Original network	TNT
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	December 21, 1988

The film stars Heston as More, Vanessa Redgrave (who had a small cameo in the version from 1966) as his wife Alice More, Sir John Gielgud as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Martin Chamberlain as King Henry VIII, Richard Johnson as the Duke of Norfolk (historically, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk), and Roy Kinnear as the narrator, "The Common Man", who was cut from the previous film. (The "Common Man' functions in the manner of a Greek chorus throughout the play, appearing at crucial moments and seeming to comment on the action.)

The film from 1988 follows the original stage play more literally, runs a half hour longer than the film from 1966, and could be considered more "stagy" than that earlier film, which not only divided the Common Man into several more realistic characters, but omitted small portions of the play itself.