Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story

Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story
UK release of "Thicker Than Blood"
Genre	Drama
Written by	Judson Klinger
Directed by	Michael Dinner
Starring	Peter Strauss Rachel Ticotin Lynn Whitfield
Theme music composer	Johnny Harris
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Julian Marks
Editor(s)	James Austin Stewart
Running time	90 minutes
Release
Original network	Columbia Broadcasting System Network (CBS)
Original release	March 6, 1994 (1994-03-06)

Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story is a drama television film starring Peter Strauss, Rachel Ticotin and Lynn Whitfield. It was directed by Michael Dinner and written by Judson Klinger. The film first aired on March 6, 1994 on the Columbia Broadcasting System.

The film is based on a true story of a Californian custody battle.

The film stars Peter Strauss as Larry McLinden, Rachel Ticotin as Diane and Lynn Whitfield as Bobbie Mallory. Others in the film include Brenda Bazinet as Mary, Jacob Zelik Penn as Larry Jr., Bob Dishy as Glen Schwartz, Susan Hogan as Dr. Sandra Baldwin, Carolyn Dunn as Nikki Amato and Patricia Gage as Judge Lara Parkes.

Today, the film remains unavailable in America (where it is also known as The Larry McLinden Story), having never received a VHS or DVD release. In the UK, it was released on both VHS and DVD in 2004 via Odyssey under the title Thicker Than Blood. During the 1990s, the film was also released on VHS in Brazil via Mundial Filmes.

The film's tagline on the UK VHS/DVD release reads "Some bonds go deeper than blood."

The film was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story was created by production companies Alexander/Enright & Associates, Front Street Pictures and World International Network (WIN).

Four years after the film's release, main stars Peter Strauss and Rachel Ticotin married, on 31 December 1998.

Securities broker Larry McLinden (Peter Strauss) and Diane Middleton (Rachel Ticotin) are experiencing a rocky affair when Diane announces that she's pregnant. When it's discovered that infant Larry Jr. has traces of cocaine in his blood, the couple's romance is over. Except Larry - now far more enthusiastic about parenthood - wants custody of the child, whom Diane has taken to Florida. Larry's attorney (Lynn Whitfield) sues, and a custody arrangement is set up, which Diane soon breaks, explaining that her son needs more time with her. Then she marries David Meadows (Booth Savage), and tells Larry that the two will try to adopt Larry Jr. As the fight drags on, Diane surprises everyone by suddenly truthfully claiming, contrary to everything she'd said before, that Larry is not the child's biological father, causing things to become even more complicated.