Sunshine (1973 film)

Sunshine
Official release poster
Genre	Docudrama
Written by	Carol Sobieski (teleplay) Suggested by the journal of Jacquelyn M. Helton
Directed by	Joseph Sargent
Starring	Cristina Raines Cliff DeYoung Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush
Theme music composer	John Denver Hal Mooney
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	George Eckstein
Running time	121 minutes
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	November 9, 1973

Sunshine is a 1973 made-for-television docudrama, directed by Joseph Sargent and produced by George Eckstein, about a young wife and mother who dies of cancer at age 20. The movie starred Cristina Raines in the lead role of Kate Hayden (Raines' first big movie role), Cliff DeYoung as Kate's husband Sam Hayden, and twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush as Jill, Kate and Sam's daughter, as a toddler. The movie originally aired on CBS as an episode of the CBS Friday Night Movie on November 9, 1973. When first aired, Sunshine was the most watched made-for-TV movie in history.

Young pregnant divorcee Kate (Cristina Raines) falls in love with struggling musician Sam Hayden (Cliff DeYoung), and they become a couple, eventually getting married. A few months into Kate and Sam's relationship, Kate gives birth to a daughter they name Jill. Although Jill's biological father is Kate's former husband, Sam loves Jill and regards her as his own child.

Shortly after Jill is born, Kate gets the shocking news that she has osteosarcoma, a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow. Kate has two options to treat her cancer: she can either have her leg amputated and hope the cancer does not spread, or undergo chemotherapy. Unwilling to lose her leg, Kate initially has chemotherapy which makes her very ill and unable to function in her daily life or look after Jill. Kate then decides to forego treatment entirely and concentrate on being a wife to Sam and a mother to Jill in the short time she has left, since not treating the cancer will hasten her death.

Kate agrees to take part in a medical research study by keeping a recorded journal in which she describes her feelings about being a young wife and mother facing death. After Kate has been journalling for some time, her tape recorder is stolen, causing her story to gain national attention. She receives a replacement tape recorder and continues her journal until she dies at the end of the film.