PAST THE BLEACHERS
ABC Television Movie
Airdate: June 22, 1995
Role: Bill Parish
Cast:
Richard Dean Anderson as Bill Parish
Barnard Hughes as Mr. Godfrey
Glynnis O'Connor as Harper Parish
Ken Jenkins as Hilton Burberry
Grayson Fricke as Lucky Diamond
Noah Fleiss as Charlie
Jenny Krochmal as Melissa
Jennifer-Maria Thompson as Jill
Harvey Reaves as Jamie
Michael Martin as Dickie
Chad Linley as Josh
Trey Lineberger as Nathaniel
Gerry Valencia as Umpire
Helen Stenborg as Tilda
Teleplay by: Don Rhymer
Directed by: Michael Switzer
Executive Producers: Richard Welsh, Don Rhymer
Produced by: Alan Jacobs
Co-Producer: Brent Shields
Line Producer: James T. Davis
Production Designer: Charles C. Bennett
Director of Photography: William Wages
Edited by: Mark W. Rosenbaum
Music by: Stewart Levin
Signboard Hill Productions
© 1995
Filmed September-October, 1994 in Lithonia & Covington, Georgia
Airdate: June 22, 1995 on ABC Television
Bill and Harper Parish (Richard Dean Anderson and Glynnis O'Connor) are the parents of a son who died at the age of eleven, and emotionally, Bill's life seems to have ended with the boy's. Obsessed by the loss, Bill becomes the coach of a kids' baseball team. He meets "Lucky," a strange boy who doesn't talk -- a boy who seems to have come from nowhere, with no parents and no history. The state's school records indicate "Lucky" does not, in fact, exist. The boy is strange, but he is also an incredibly good baseball player. Bill, almost against his will, is drawn into an ever-closer relationship with him. Finally, after a painfully honest confrontation with his wife -- and with the help of this mysterious mute -- it appears that perhaps Bill's life can begin again. Grayson Fricke stars as "Lucky" Diamond, whose eyes speak of his longing to belong in this new world he has found. Barnard Hughes is also featured as Mr. Godfrey, a crotchety and delightful old man who can see into Bill's hurting heart.
The movie is based on the novel, Past the Bleachers, by Christopher A. Bohjalian.