I went to see Mary and her husband, Grant Tinker. She was probably just cold, but the sadness hit me and stuck with me when I began casting. On closer examination I saw it was Mary Tyler Moore-America's sweetheart. I saw this lonely figure all wrapped up and walking slowly. REDFORD: At that time I had a place in Malibu, and it was winter and I was sitting there looking out on the beach. He just said, calmly, "No, it really is." I have a couple of brothers who are a bunch of jokesters, so when I got this call saying, "Hi, Judy, this is Robert Redford," I said, "Yeah, sure it is." I'm sure he gets that all the time. Judith Guest: Ordinary People was my first book, and I was just thrilled that Viking was going to publish it. When I read Judith Guest's book, I thought, This is it.
I was looking for a piece of material that was about behavior and feelings. ROBERT REDFORD: I was producing things I was acting in, but I had never directed and I felt it was time. But by his early 40s he was seeking a new challenge. In the 1970s, few actors had more clout than Robert Redford. Judd Hirsch costarred as the therapist who helps him, and a young Elizabeth McGovern played Conrad's love interest. Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland starred as parents who once seemed to have it all, and Hutton, in his first major film role, broke America's collective heart as Conrad, the son left behind.
But, as host Johnny Carson noted, the show did go on, and the big winner was Ordinary People, beating out Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, and Tess for Best Picture and taking home trophies for first-time director Robert Redford, screenwriter Alvin Sargent, and Best Supporting Actor Timothy Hutton.Īdapted from Judith Guest's 1976 novel, Ordinary People is an elegantly restrained drama about the Jarrett family, shattered by tragedy after an accident leaves their elder son dead and their surviving son crippled by grief. Originally scheduled for March 30, 1981, they were postponed a day because of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. The 53rd Academy Awards were unusual before they even began.
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