North and South (miniseries)


North and South is the title of three American television miniseries broadcast on the ABC network in 1985, 1986, and 1994. Set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War, they are based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes. The 1985 first installment, North and South, remains the seventh-highest rated miniseries in TV history. North and South: Book II was met with similar success, while 1994's Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III was poorly received by both critics and audiences.
The saga tells the story of the enduring friendship between Orry Main of South Carolina and George Hazard of Pennsylvania, who become best friends while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point but later find themselves and their families on opposite sides of the war. The slave-owning Mains are rural planters from outside Charleston, South Carolina, while the Hazards, who resided in a small Pennsylvania mill town, profit from ownership of iron manufacturing and industry capital, their differences reflecting the divisions between North and South that eventually led to the Civil War.

Cast

The initial 1985 miniseries cast Patrick Swayze as Orry Main and James Read as George Hazard with Lesley-Anne Down as Orry's love interest Madeline and Wendy Kilbourne as George's future wife Constance. Kirstie Alley played George's outspoken abolitionist sister Virgilia, with Genie Francis as Orry's "good" sister Brett and Terri Garber as his selfish and wicked sister Ashton, as well as Philip Casnoff as Elkanah Bent, George and Orry's nemesis. All of these actors returned for the 1986 sequel, joined by Parker Stevenson as Billy Hazard, George's brother and Brett's husband.
North and South also featured many well-known actors as guest stars, including Elizabeth Taylor as bordello proprietor Madam Conti, David Carradine as the sadistic Justin LaMotte, Hal Holbrook as Abraham Lincoln, Gene Kelly as Bent's father Senator Charles Edwards, Robert Mitchum as Colonel Patrick Flynn, M.D., Johnny Cash as abolitionist John Brown, Jean Simmons as Orry's mother Clarissa Main, Mitchell Ryan as Orry's father Tillet Main, John Anderson as George's father William Hazard, Jonathan Frakes as George's older brother Stanley Hazard, Inga Swenson as George's mother Maude Hazard, Robert Guillaume as abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Morgan Fairchild as Burdetta Halloran, David Ogden Stiers as Congressman Sam Greene, and Olivia Cole as Madeline's devoted but doomed servant Maum Sally. John Jakes' wife Rachel also made an appearance in Episode 6 as Lincoln's wife Mary. North and South: Book II saw the return of Carradine as LaMotte, Holbrook as Lincoln, and Stiers as Congressman Greene, as well as new guests Lloyd Bridges as Jefferson Davis, Anthony Zerbe as Ulysses S. Grant, Nancy Marchand as Dorothea Dix, James Stewart as Miles Colbert, Wayne Newton as Captain Thomas Turner, and William Schallert as Robert E. Lee, with Linda Evans as Rose Sinclair and Olivia de Havilland as Mrs. Neal. 1994's Heaven and Hell featured Peter O'Toole as "louche actor" Sam Trump and Billy Dee Williams as Francis Cardozo.
Filming of the miniseries resulted in four marriages among the cast and crew. Read and Kilbourne, who played opposite each other, married in 1988 and now have two children. Frakes and Francis, who had previously played opposite each other on the failed NBC soap Bare Essence, also married in 1988. Lesley-Anne Down married assistant cameraman Don E. FauntLeRoy in 1986. They met during filming of Book I when both were married to other people, and eventually obtained divorces. Garber married screenwriter Chris Hager, whom she met in 1985 when he worked as a grip on the set of North and South: Book II. They had a daughter, Molly, in 1986, and later divorced.

Crew

North and South was directed by Richard T. Heffron, from a script adaptation by Patricia Green, Douglas Heyes, Paul F. Edwards, and Kathleen A. Shelley. It was produced by David L. Wolper, Paul Freeman, Rob Harland, and Chuck McLain, with music by Bill Conti and Stevan Larner as cinematographer. Wolper also produced 1986's North and South: Book II with his son Mark Wolper, as well as Stephanie Austin and Robert Papazian. Conti returned as composer, with Kevin Connor directing, Jacques R. Marquette as cinematographer, and a script by Heyes and Richard Fielder. Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III was directed by Larry Peerce from a script by Suzanne Clauser. Hal Galli produced the miniseries, with music by David Bell and Don E. FauntLeRoy as cinematographer.

Plot

Book I: ''North and South''

The North and South miniseries were nominated and/or awarded with many different awards around the world, among which the most significant are :
YearAwardResultCategory/People
1986Golden Globe AwardsDavid Carradine for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
1986Golden Globe AwardsLesley-Anne Down for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsCostuming team for Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsVirginia Darcy for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsMakeup team for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsBill Conti for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsStevan Larner for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsEditing team for Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or a Special – Single Camera Production
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsSound editing team for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsHairstyling team for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsRobert Fletcher for Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special
1986Primetime Emmy AwardsSound editing team for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries or a Special
1995ASC AwardDon E. FauntLeRoy for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Mini-Series

Media

VHS and DVD releases

North and South Books I and II were released on NTSC VHS in the United States. Book III was never released on VHS in the United States. Books I, II and III were released on PAL VHS in Europe.
All three Books were released on Region 1 DVD in October 2004. This release also included a bonus featurette with John Jakes and David Wolper talking about the books and the miniseries; James Read, Lesley-Anne Down, and Patrick Swayze discussing their characters; general thoughts of other cast and crew members; plus information about the historical background and trials of its reconstruction for the miniseries.
The Region 2 DVD release contained only Books I and II at first, but eventually Book III also became available, with the bonus featurette included. All volumes were sold as separate boxes, but later on they were also available in one box.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack CD published by Varèse Sarabande in 1985 contains tracks from the Bill Conti scores to North and South and The Right Stuff. It includes the following tracks from North and South:
  1. Main Title 3:45
  2. Southern Life 1:38
  3. Love In The Chapel 4:04
  4. A Close Call 2:00
  5. Returning Home 2:13
  6. Last Embrace 2:57
  7. Final Meeting 2:28
The Varèse Sarabande Soundtrack Club released the entire score to North and South in a four-CD box set on February 25, 2008. The tracks in this set are the original recordings used in the production of the series, with three discs devoted to Conti's score and a fourth to the source music from the series. The entire score to North and South: Book II was released on October 3, 2008 and includes three CDs. On December 4, 2015, North and South: Highlights, a 76-minute disc featuring selections from the first miniseries score, was released. David Bell scored Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III using Conti's thematic material.