Absolute Strangers

Docudrama based on a 1989 abortion case that plunges a husband (Henry Winkler) into a legal nightmare. Dr. Cannon: Richard Kiley. Fred Zusselman: Karl Malden. Anne Zusselman: Audra Lindley. Judge Ray: Patty Duke. Stan: Mitchell Laurance. Weisfeld: Tony Jay. Fran: Doris Belack. Quinn: Rene Auberjonois. Dr. X: James Karen. Davis: Ron Frazier. Arielle: Cassy Friel. Written by Robert Anderson, In 1988, Nancy Klein, the pregnant wife of Long Island accountant Marty Klein, was involved in a car accident that left her comatose. Convinced that Nancy would never recover if she went to full term with the baby, Marty asked the doctors to perform an abortion. Almost immediately, Nancy Klein became a cause celebre for pro-life and pro-choice activists alike. Made for television, Absolute Strangers recreates this traumatic event and the drawn-out courtroom litigation that followed. Henry Winkler, who produced the film, returned to acting after a long absence to play Klein; others in the cast include Jennifer Hetrick as Nancy, Richard Kiley as Dr. R. J. Cannon, Karl Malden and Audra Lindley as Nancy's parents, and Patty Duke as a lower-court judge. Though it is clear that the filmmaker's sympathies are clearly on Marty Klein's side, the script remains even-handed throughout, observing that the pro-choicers can be just as narrow-minded and contentious as the "absolute strangers" who wish to usurp Marty Klein's rights concerning his wife's wellbeing. Written by playwright Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy, I Never Sang For My Father), Absolute Strangers premiered April 14, 1991.