The Great Houdinis is an American made-for-television film which originally aired on ABC on October 8, 1976. The film was written and directed by Melville Shavelson and features Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch) and Sally Struthers (All in the Family). It is a fictionalized account of the life of the Hungarian-American escape artist and entertainer Harry Houdini. [1]
The movie focuses not on Houdini’s conflicted personality or his spectacular magic and escapes, but on his family life, depicting him as the harried referee between his wife and mother, who are shown frequently squabbling with one another. In reality, Houdini’s wife and mother got along well, considering that Houdini’s mother spoke little English.
Some notable performances were turned in by Vivian Vance as Beatrice’s nurse (and the narrator), Ruth Gordon as Houdini’s mother, Peter Cushing as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Bill Bixby as Rev. Arthur Ford.
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