I Never Sang for My Father

I Never Sang for My Father is a 1970 American film, based on a play by the same name, which tells the story of a college professor who wants to get out from under the thumb of his aging father yet still has regrets about his plan to leave him behind when he marries a younger woman and moves to California. It stars Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman, Dorothy Stickney, Estelle Parsons, Elizabeth Hubbard, Lovelady Powell and Conrad Bain.

The movie was adapted by Robert Anderson from his play and directed by Gilbert Cates.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Melvyn Douglas), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gene Hackman) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Production Notes

Of the people who did this film, Melvyn Douglas would make a return to the films with this piece. He spent much of the 1960s doing a few films, including Hud, for which he won an Academy Award. Between the 1950s and 1960s, he did more TV roles than films. Now he landed a film where he got tremendous reviews, along with the remaining cast. Douglas did other films, and was one of many actors up in age who appeared in film and TV during the 1970s and after, including Helen Hayes and Lee Strasberg, who were inspired by Douglas' example. Nominated for an Oscar, Douglas was beaten out of the Award by George C. Scott for the film Patton. Gilbert Cates was one of the original producers of the stage play. After the Broadway show's run, he decided to shoot the film in different locations, including Southern California and Great Neck, New York. The film was the first of many movies that let audiences know that old age care would be an issue, and predicted the coming of the Sandwich generation, middle aged working Americans stuck with helping their parents and grandparents while handling their own lives and families. The movie genre returned in later films like On Golden Pond starring Henry Fonda, The Savages, starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Hiding Place (2000) starring Kim Hunter, and Away from Her starring Julie Christie.

Cast and characters

• Gene Hackman: Gene Garrison
• Melvyn Douglas: Tom Garrison
• Estelle Parsons: Alice
• Dorothy Stickney: Margaret Garrison
• Elizabeth Hubbard: Doctor Margaret 'Peggy' Thayer
• Lovelady Powell: Norma

External links

• I Never Sang for My Father at the Internet Movie Database