The Presidents in Movies: Warm Springs
On April 12, 1945 (68 years ago today) Franklin Delano Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia. He was 63 years of age, but looked much older.
Roosevelt left the Yalta Conference (where he met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin) on February 12, 1945, flew to Egypt and boarded the USS Quincy operating on the Great Bitter Lake near the Suez Canal. Aboard the Quincy the next day he met with Farouk I, king of Egypt, and Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia. On February 14, he held a historic meeting with King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, a meeting some historians believe holds profound significance in U.S.-Saudi relations even today. After a final meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill, the Quincy headed to Algiers, arriving February 18, at which time Roosevelt conferred with American ambassadors to Britain, France and Italy. At Yalta, Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician, commenting on Roosevelt's ill health, said that he was a dying man.
When Roosevelt returned to the United States, he addressed Congress on March 1 about the Yalta Conference, and many were shocked to see how old, thin and frail he looked. He spoke while seated in the well of the House, an unprecedented concession to his physical incapacity. Roosevelt opened his speech by saying, "I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but...it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs."
During March 1945, he sent strongly worded messages to Stalin accusing him of breaking his Yalta commitments over Poland, Germany, prisoners of war and other issues. When Stalin accused the western Allies of plotting a separate peace with Hitler behind his back, Roosevelt replied: "I cannot avoid a feeling of bitter resentment towards your informers, whoever they are, for such vile misrepresentations of my actions or those of my trusted subordinates."
On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to his "Little White House" at Warm Springs, Georgia, to rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding conference of the United Nations. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive cerebral hemorrhage (or stroke). At 3:35 pm that day, Roosevelt died. After Roosevelt's death, an editorial by The New York Times declared, "Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House". At the time he collapsed, Roosevelt had been sitting for a portrait painting by the artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff, known as the famous Unfinished Portrait of FDR.
Warm Springs is a 2005 HBO movie which stars Kenneth Branagh as FDR, Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor and Melissa Ponzio as Lucy Mercer, the woman that FDR had had an affair with, and who was with him at the time of his death. Actress Jane Alexander, who plays Sara Delano Roosevelt, FDR's mother, also played Eleanor Roosevelt in the TV movies Eleanor and Franklin and its 1977 sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years.
Warm Springs is about Roosevelt's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia spa resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression.The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia and its surrounding locations. The producers tried to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible.
The film was praised by many critics, and won five Emmy Awards out of an astounding sixteen nominations, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Jane Alexander), Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) (Bruce Broughton), Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie. Joseph Sargent, who was also Emmy-nominated for his direction, did not win. He did, however, receive a Directors Guild of America award for Warm Springs. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle won a Writers Guild of America Award for her script. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not receive any.
Following is the trailer for the film:
Roosevelt left the Yalta Conference (where he met with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin) on February 12, 1945, flew to Egypt and boarded the USS Quincy operating on the Great Bitter Lake near the Suez Canal. Aboard the Quincy the next day he met with Farouk I, king of Egypt, and Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia. On February 14, he held a historic meeting with King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, a meeting some historians believe holds profound significance in U.S.-Saudi relations even today. After a final meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill, the Quincy headed to Algiers, arriving February 18, at which time Roosevelt conferred with American ambassadors to Britain, France and Italy. At Yalta, Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician, commenting on Roosevelt's ill health, said that he was a dying man.
When Roosevelt returned to the United States, he addressed Congress on March 1 about the Yalta Conference, and many were shocked to see how old, thin and frail he looked. He spoke while seated in the well of the House, an unprecedented concession to his physical incapacity. Roosevelt opened his speech by saying, "I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but...it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs."
During March 1945, he sent strongly worded messages to Stalin accusing him of breaking his Yalta commitments over Poland, Germany, prisoners of war and other issues. When Stalin accused the western Allies of plotting a separate peace with Hitler behind his back, Roosevelt replied: "I cannot avoid a feeling of bitter resentment towards your informers, whoever they are, for such vile misrepresentations of my actions or those of my trusted subordinates."
On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to his "Little White House" at Warm Springs, Georgia, to rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding conference of the United Nations. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive cerebral hemorrhage (or stroke). At 3:35 pm that day, Roosevelt died. After Roosevelt's death, an editorial by The New York Times declared, "Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House". At the time he collapsed, Roosevelt had been sitting for a portrait painting by the artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff, known as the famous Unfinished Portrait of FDR.
Warm Springs is a 2005 HBO movie which stars Kenneth Branagh as FDR, Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor and Melissa Ponzio as Lucy Mercer, the woman that FDR had had an affair with, and who was with him at the time of his death. Actress Jane Alexander, who plays Sara Delano Roosevelt, FDR's mother, also played Eleanor Roosevelt in the TV movies Eleanor and Franklin and its 1977 sequel Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years.
Warm Springs is about Roosevelt's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia spa resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career. Roosevelt's emotional growth as he interacts with other disabled people at Warm Springs prepares him for the challenges he will face as president during the Great Depression.The majority of the film was made at Warm Springs, Georgia and its surrounding locations. The producers tried to make sure that many of the physical details were as authentic as possible.
The film was praised by many critics, and won five Emmy Awards out of an astounding sixteen nominations, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Jane Alexander), Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) (Bruce Broughton), Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie and Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie. Joseph Sargent, who was also Emmy-nominated for his direction, did not win. He did, however, receive a Directors Guild of America award for Warm Springs. Screenwriter Margaret Nagle won a Writers Guild of America Award for her script. The film was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not receive any.
Following is the trailer for the film: