Backstairs at the White House (miniseries)
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Backstairs at the White House is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks (with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Productions, is the story of behind-the-scenes workings of the White House and the relationship between the staff and the First Families.
The series was recommended viewing by the National Education Association.
The series was notable for its distinguished cast. Leslie Uggams starred as Lillian Rogers Parks and Olivia Cole played her mother Maggie Rogers. Other White House staffers were played by Louis Gossett, Jr., Robert Hooks, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Nielsen, Hari Rhodes, and Paul Winfield.
The Presidents and their wives were played by the following:
- William Howard Taft (Victor Buono)
- Helen (Nellie) Taft (Julie Harris)
- Woodrow Wilson (Robert Vaughn)
- Ellen Wilson (Kim Hunter)
- Edith Wilson (Claire Bloom)
- Warren G. Harding (George Kennedy)
- Florence Harding (Celeste Holm)
- Calvin Coolidge (Ed Flanders)
- Grace Coolidge (Lee Grant)
- Herbert Hoover (Larry Gates)
- Lou Hoover (Jan Sterling)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (John Anderson)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (Eileen Heckart)
- Harry S. Truman (Harry Morgan)
- Bess Truman (Estelle Parsons)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (Andrew Duggan)
- Mamie Eisenhower (Barbara Barrie)
The series was released on DVD in November 2005.
