10 (Almost) Forgotten Made-For-TV Biopics

This past Sunday Lindsay Lohan gave everybody (and Twitter!) an early Christmas gift with her completely campy, TV-movie biopic, Liz & Dick.

10. The Jacksons: An American Dream

(ABC – 1992) Made with the blessing of the Jackson family the movie starred Angela Bassett as Katherine Jackson, Holly Robinson as Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams as Berry Gordy and Vanessa Williams as Suzanne de Passe.

9. James Dean

(TNT - 2001) Brooding James Franco stars as brooding James Dean.

8. Growing Up Brady

(NBC – 2000) Starring a pre-OC Adam Brody as Barry Williams (Greg Brady) and pre-The Big Bang Theory Kaley Cuoco as Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady).

7. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

(HBO – 1999) Halle Berry starred as Dandridge, and for her performance received both a Golden Globe and Emmy. But, in 2001 Halle brought it full circle when she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming the first African American woman to win. In 1954 Dandridge had become the first African American woman nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Carmen Jones.

6. A Woman Named Jackie

(NBC – 1991) Starring Roma Downey as the iconic Jackie O. The movie also features (a teenage) Sarah Michelle Geller as young a Jackie.

5. Norma Jean & Marilyn

(HBO - 1996) Starring Ashley Judd as Norma Jean and Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe. This highly fictional biopic features dream-like sequences in which Norma Jean and Marilyn have conversations with each other. To add to the strangeness it also had a disturbing dream scene in which Marilyn runs over her former self with a car.

Source: static

4. Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story

(NBC – 1995) This was the original Elizabeth Taylor biopic. The movie spanned her entire life and ran over two nights. It starred Twin Peaks’ Sherilyn Fenn as La Liz.

3. Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter

(CBS – 1991) Starring Frances Fisher. This biopic was critically panned for its salacious, unflattering, tabloid portrayal of the couple. Worst of all, previously CBS had been Lucille Ball’s network home for 23 years.

2. The Amy Fisher Story

(ABC – 1993) This was one of three TV (yes three!!!) movies made about the “Long Island Lolita”! This campy classic starred Drew Barrymore as Amy.

1. Madonna: Innocence Lost

(Fox – 1994) An actress by the name of Terumi Matthews starred in this awful biopic based on Madonna’s early life. Also, not helping matters was the fact that she really didn’t look like Madonna; this really should have been called Innocence Lost: The Kit De Luca Story!

Fun Fact: According to IMDb, Terumi played Madonna again in the TV biopic Bad As I Wanna Be: The Dennis Rodman Story