The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)This 1976 KCET production directed by George Schaefer is a re-creation of the 1972 Broadway play for which Julie Harris won one of her 5 Tony Awards.
Ms. Harris' performance will keep you riveted to the screen in this astounding portrayal of the ageing, troubled, and misunderstood Mary Todd Lincoln.
Exquisitely written by James Prideaux, it's a compassionate portrait of this first lady who's love for her husband made it so hard for her to live without him, and does give insight into certain things. It was Mary who installed many improvements in the White House (like plumbing !), and was never sufficiently renumerated for them by the government.
The final seventeen years of her life depicted are not all doom and gloom, thanks to the script, which is balanced with wonderful wit. I love the dialogue with Senator Austin (well played by Denver Pyle) in a sparse hotel room in Frankfurt, as well as the repartee with a malicious gossip (deliciously played by Kate Wilkinson) during her 1875 stay in Springfield.
The rest of the cast is excellent: Michael Christopher plays her son Robert, who was the only one of their children to live to full maturity, Robby Benson her beloved Tad (two other children had died previously), Priscilla Morrill and Ford Rainey play her her sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Ninian, and Patrick Duffy their grandson, Edward Lewis Baker Jr.
The costume design by Noel Taylor is marvelous, and I was especially delighted to see the reproduction of the beautiful gown adorned with flowers with matching flower headress seen in photographs of Mrs. Lincoln, and Ms. Harris wears it with beauty, grace and style.
Mrs. Lincoln died at age sixtythree in her sister's house in Springfield, the same house she was married in, and given the wedding ring with the inscription "Love is Eternal".
This is a remarkable drama for history buffs, and Julie Harris is truly the First Lady of the stage.

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Five-time Tony Award-winner, Julie Harris, recreates her 1972 award-winning Broadway portrayal in this powerful and touching look at the final 17 years in the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, widow to the martyred President. Based on real events, this production casts a sad and sympathetic light onto this frighteningly complicated woman. Mary Lincoln scavenges desperately for money, loses a cherished son to consumption, is branded a lunatic and committed to a mental institution; culminating with her spending her final days fleeing from the preying eyes of the public and a scandal-hungry press. "A fresh, revealing picture of Abraham Lincoln's tragedy-haute wife." --The Washington Post. With Michael Cristofer, Robby Benson, Patrick Duffy, and Jack Furlong.

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