John Shea (2/88 Baby M)
Excerpt from Associated Press 2/18/88: John Shea | Baby M | Picture on Pic Click
Television Movie To Portray Baby M Controversy
JOYCE A. VENEZIA, Feb. 17, 1988 4:41 AM ET
UNDATED Undated (AP) _ JoBeth Williams will portray surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead-Gould in an ABC television movie about the landmark court battle over custody of ''Baby M,'' a network spokeswoman said. The two-part movie, to air at an undetermined date this spring, will also feature John Shea, Dabney Coleman and Bruce Weitz, ABC spokeswoman Laurel Whitcomb said Tuesday.
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Shea, who starred in ''Witness'' and ''Windy City,'' will portray Stern.
© AP News
Excerpt from AP News 5/18/88: John Shea
'Baby M' Case Presented Fairly In TV Movie
KATHRYN BAKER, Associated Press May. 18, 1988 12:22 AM ET
NEW YORK (AP) _ Almost everybody had an opinion - usually a vehement one - about the ''Baby M'' case, in which Mary Beth Whitehead-Gould reneged on her promise to give William and Elizabeth Stern the baby she bore as a surrogate mother. The case was decided only last year, and it's already a made-for-television movie, airing Sunday and Monday on ABC. The four-hour ''docudrama'' is based on court transcripts and published accounts of the landmark case and is remarkably fair-minded, considering the emotionally volatile subject. It was written and directed by James Sadwith (''Bluffing It'').
JoBeth Williams is perfect as Mary Beth, a New Jersey mother of two married to a garbage collector. Rick Whitehead is played as a sturdy, loyal, salt-of- the-earth type by Bruce Weitz. When Mary Beth decides, seemingly selflessly, that she'd like to help an infertile couple, she is introduced to the well-educated, well-off Sterns - he a biochemist, played by John Shea; she a pediatrician, played by Robin Strasser.
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William Stern, who frequently whines that he has ''no one,'' must rely for sympathy on Shea's portrayal, and it works, because no one could despise those cocker spaniel eyes.
© AP News
Excerpt from News OK 5/22/88: John Shea
Two-Part "Baby M' Docudrama Tries To Depict Controversial Case
Chuck Davis • Published: May 22, 1988
"Baby M," an ABC four-hour docudrama, will air from 8-10 p.m. Sunday and Monday on KOCO-TV (5). JoBeth Williams stars as Mary Beth Whitehead, the New Jersey homemaker who signed a contract to bear a child for William and Elizabeth Stern. It also stars John Shea as William Stern, Robin Strasser as Elizabeth Stern, Bruce Weitz as Rick Whitehead, Anne Jackson, Bruce McGill and Dabney Coleman.
© News OK
Excerpt from Orlando Sentinel 5/22/88: John Shea
Have A Vcr Handy For Baby M, Agent O
May 22, 1988|By Greg Dawson, Sentinel television critic
On the other hand, you tend to agree with Whitehead's daughter when she calls the Sterns ''geeks,'' but that's probably not the fault of the Sterns as much as the actors who play them (John Shea and Robin Strasser).
© Orlando Sentinel
Excerpt from Philly.com 5/22/88: John Shea
Networks Face Off With 2 Docudramas
By Ken Tucker, Inquirer TV Critic Posted: May 22, 1988
In every scene, the script calls for Whitehead to act impulsively, rashly; by contrast, John Shea as William Stern and Robin Strasser as Elizabeth Stern are calmly, coolly - dully - rational. What comes across on screen is the TV- movie version of class-consciousness: Whitehead is lower-middle class so she doesn't handle herself properly; the Sterns are upper-middle class so they are treated as civilized folks.
© Philly.com
Excerpt from Santa Cruz Sentienel 5/22/88: John Shea
On The Cover
by Connie Passalacq
"It was an emotional ping- pong match, says John Shea. "What are your choices if you can't physically conceive." The emotionally charged, profoundly complex issue of surrogate motherhood also divided the cast.
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John Shea, who favored William Stern's point of view initially, says the balanced script is the production's best aspect. "It was an emotional ping-pong match - which is much of the way it must have been in real life," he says. "I found my sympathies going from the Sterns to Mary Beth Whitehead, back to the Sterns, back to Mary Beth."
© Santa Cruz Sentinel
Excerpt from Time Magazine 1/2/89: John Shea
Best of '88
Monday, Jan. 02, 1989
BABY M (ABC) With an intelligent script, restrained direction and riveting performances by JoBeth Williams and John Shea, this docudrama about surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead became a stark thirtysomething nightmare.
© Time Magazine
Excerpt from Albany Times Union 3/19/89: John Shea
JOHN SHEA BRINGS MAGIC TO NEW CABLE TV MOVIE ABOUT MAGICIAN.
Byline: Janet Trinkaus Televison editor
Last year, he won an Emmy for his portrayal of William Stern in "Baby M." "Taking this role in 'Magic Moments' was delightful since Troy Gardner is just the opposite of the character of Stern, who was a conservative, middle-aged man. By the end of the melodramatic 'Baby M,' I was ready to jump out of my skin since Stern was so controlled. I spent two months being that way.
"I always get into my roles really deeply, obsessively, since it's the only way I can do anything. And every role leaves a legacy. 'Baby M' gave me insight into the nature of parenthood. My son was six months old at the time.
"I went into the role pro-Stern, thinking the Sterns should have custody of the baby. (Called Melissa by her father, Sara by her mother and Baby M by the court, she was born of a surrogate arrangement between William Stern and Mary Beth Whitehead.) But I came out of the project pro-Whitehead. "Natural laws supersede any manmade laws."
© Albany Times Union
Excerpt from Eugene Register-Guard 12/31/90: John Shea
Actor puts reality into role of TV news director
By Seli Groves
Shea has a reputation for researching his roles as fully as possible before he begins working in the production. For his Emmy-winning role as William Stern in ABC's "Baby M." he studied the court transcripts of the landmark case involving the rights of surrogate mothers vs. biological fathers and watched news videos that were made during the trial period. He learned to speak French for one role, and to play the violin for another. He studied the political situation in South America when he made his American film debut opposite Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek in "Missing." (He made his first movie in England opposite Helen Mirren in "Hussy.") A graduate of the Yale Drama School Master's program, he believes in meticulous and exhaustive preparation for every role he plays. "It's the best and only way I work," he says.
© Eugene Register-Guard
Excerpt from New Straits Times 9/29/92: John Shea
Shea Wins Fame for role as Baby M's Dad
For his passionate portrayal of William Stern, whose sperm was implanted in Mary Beth's womb, John Shea won a prestigious Emmy Award and international fame. Born in Massachusetts, Shea's father, a teacher, instilled in him from an early age an endless capacity for learning, which led him to study law at university. At the Catholic school he first attended, Shea was an altar boy, and admits that in that role he first learned to enjoy participating in front of a congregation. "To me it possessed all the constituents of a theatrical play -- we wore costumes, spoke lines and move around a sort of stage."
With his New England background Shea says, "I knew I could never be a layabout." The Pilgrim Fathers' quality of perseverance permeates his character -- "I felt sure from early on that, whatever I did, I would make a name for myself."
© New Straits Times
Excerpt from Bates University 1993: John Shea
John Shea '70: Actor, Freelance
by Beck Shoenfeld: from Career Compass, Vol. 1, No. 17
Shea's track record also includes starring in the sitcom W.I.O.U., as well as in the film The Windy City. He additionally earned the Emmy Award for his performance in the mini-series Baby M.. In retrospect, though, Shea expressed unhappiness with the role he portrayed. "Hollywood will typecast you in a beat," he cautioned. "It's part of the Hollywood reality." Elaborating on this concept, he distinguished theatre from film and television. "Theatre is like mountain climbing. It's not something you can do everyday, but when you do it, there's nothing like it," he commented. However, unlike the stage, "Hollywood is a commercial reality," explained Shea. "It's how you combine business and art without compromising your artistic values. It's a matter of whether or not you can sell tickets to survive," he added.
© Bates College
Excerpt from Sci-Fi Talk 1/24/02: John Shea
John Shea on Sci-Fi Talk
Tony Tellado
Tony: You know, I can't go on an interview without mentioning some of the roles that I thought were memorable. Obviously playing Bill Stern in Baby M, it was a case that really hit the headlines here for the longest time, and I was just really floored by your performance. And obviously, the Emmy award floored a lot of other people too. So, just wanted to give you Kudos for that.
John: Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I felt really sympathetic for Bill Stern and I've been looking at portraying some real characters, you know, in my life.
Tony: Did you meet him at all before you took the role? No?
John: I never got to meet him. He never came around the shooting. I don't know, he was very shy about the whole thing, you know? So I just read everything I could about him and watched lots of videotape and tried to model my character after who he was, after him, you know?
Tony: Yeah.
John: And watching all the videotape, the news reports and stuff like that, but I never got a chance to meet him. Maybe someday down the line I will.
© Sci-Fi Talk