The Lady in Question (1999 film)
The Lady in Question is a 1999 American made-for-television mystery crime-thriller film directed by Joyce Chopra. It represents the last leading role and film for Gene Wilder and his last credit as screenwriter. As in the previous film Murder in a Small Town, Wilder plays the amateur detective Larry "Cash" Carter.[1][2] It was broadcast by A&E on December 12, 1999.[3]
| The Lady in Question | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Period mystery |
| Created by | A&E Network and Granada Entertainment in association with the Stan Margulies Company and Crystal Sky Communications |
| Written by | Gilbert Pearlman Gene Wilder |
| Directed by | Joyce Chopra |
| Starring | Gene Wilder Mike Starr Cherry Jones Barbara Sukowa John Benjamin Hickey Michael Cumpsty Claire Bloom |
| Theme music composer | John Morris |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Delia Fine Antony Root |
| Producer(s) | Stan Margulies Craig McNeil Steven Paul David Craig (supervising producer) |
| Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
| Editor(s) | Angelo Corrao |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Crystal Sky Worldwide Granada Entertainment The Stan Margolies Company |
| Distributor | A&E |
| Release | |
| Original network | A&E |
| Original release |
|
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Murder in a Small Town |
Cast
- Gene Wilder as Larry "Cash" Carter
- Mike Starr as Det. Tony Rossini
- Cherry Jones as Mimi Barnes
- Barbara Sukowa as Rachel Singer
- John Benjamin Hickey as Paul Kessler
- Claire Bloom as Emma Sachs
- Michael Cumpsty as Klaus Gruber
- Dixie Seatle as Gertie Moser
Production
After the high ratings A&E received for Murder in a Small Town, the first Cash Carter mystery, The Lady in Question began filming in Toronto in May 1999.[4]
Although A&E and Granada Entertainment USA planned to develop the Gene Wilder character as a franchise,[4][5] only two Cash Carter films were produced. On January 30, 2000, Wilder was admitted to Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center for a stem-cell transplant, a followup to treatment he received in 1999 for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Wilder checked in under the name Larry Carter, his character's name in the two A&E films.[6]:237
Home video releases
- 1999, A&E Home Video, VHS (AAE-17606), ISBN 0-7670-2316-1
- 2002, A&E Home Video, DVD (AAE-72223), ISBN 0-7670-6956-0
References
- Martin Renzhofer (December 11, 1999). "Wilder's Back Sleuthing A&E Murder". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- Ray Richmond (December 6, 1999). "Variety Reviews - The Lady in Question". Variety. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- Martie Zad (December 12, 1999). "Gene Wilder Returns as Sly Sleuth". The Washington Post.
- Dempsey, John, "A&E commits more 'Murder'". Daily Variety, April 6, 1999
- DePalma, Anthony, "Wilder Goes Back in Time to Move Ahead". The New York Times, January 10, 1999
- Wilder, Gene, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005, SBN 0-312-33706-X.
External links
- The Lady in Question on IMDb
- The Lady in Question at the Wayback Machine (archived September 3, 2000)
- The Gene Wilder Papers at the University of Iowa — Scripts and correspondence for The Lady in Question