Eleanor and Franklin

Eleanor and Franklin
VHS cover
Based on	Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash
Written by	James Costigan
Directed by	Daniel Petrie
Starring	Edward Herrmann Jane Alexander
Theme music composer	John Barry
Country of origin	United States
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Susskind
Producer(s)	Audrey Maas Harry R. Sherman
Editor(s)	Michael Kahn
Running time	240 minutes
Production company(s)	Talent Associates
Distributor	HBO (2013, DVD)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	January 11 – 12, 1976
Chronology
Followed by	Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977)

Eleanor and Franklin is a 1976 American television miniseries starring Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt which was broadcast on ABC on January 11 and 12, 1976. It is the first part in a two-part "biopic" miniseries (with a later sequel telecast the following year) based on Joseph P. Lash's biography and history from 1971 with the same title (and longer additional sub-title) based on their correspondence and recently opened archives. Joseph Lash was Eleanor's personal secretary and confidant (occasional alleged rumors also of an intimate relationship). He wrote several books on the Roosevelts including some on both Eleanor and Franklin individually and was also a controversial activist in his own right in leftist, liberal politics, social and labor issues of the era.

Directed by Daniel Petrie, the film follows the lives of President Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor told in flashback from her perspective after her husband's death, from the time they were children as cousins who met briefly, their courtship and marriage, bearing and raising a large family, her social efforts as he rises to Assistant Secretary of the Navy in World War I, the hidden affair with Lucy Mercer, (1891-1948), (portrayed for the first time by actress Linda Kelsey), her help and encouragement with his famous bout with the affliction of polio, and her campaigning with Louis Howe, (1871-1936), their mentor, crony and campaign manager during his runs for political offices in the New York state legislature, the unsuccessful effort for Vice President in 1920, later winning as Governor of New York and his rivalry with fellow politician Al Smith, (1873-1944), until his election to the Presidency in 1932 in the darkest times faced by the nation since the Civil War with the deepening "Great Depression".

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