BACKSTORY

The telefilm, Dark Holiday, is based on Gene LePere's book, Never Pass
This Way Again. It recounts LePere's experiences serving time in a
Turkish prison for unwittingly smuggling antiques out of the country. It
would be Lee's last telefilm.

Although the film didn't receive high marks, Lee did, with critics claiming
that she was "marvelous" and that the "casting of [the] radiant, talented
Lee Remick" was a prime asset to a rather dull film.

While filming Dark Holiday on location in the south of France, Lee, who was
usually a lively, energetic person, began to feel weary and run-down. “I didn’t
feel very good," she explained, "but I was OK enough to get up every morning
at six and go to work.” Feeling hot and flushed, she took her temperature and
noticed it was above normal. “I would take my temperature every day and it
would be 101 degrees,” she recalled.

When the film wrapped in March, Lee returned to her home in Cape
Cod and immediately turned her attention to preparing for her daughter's
upcoming wedding. It was only after all the wedding arrangements were
made that Lee checked in with her local doctor, who immediately
referred her to a cancer specialist. After looking at her X-rays, the
specialist informed Lee that she had a massive malignant tumor on one
kidney and affected lung cells. The doctor gave her three months to live,
saying that her chances of surviving both kidney and lung cancer were
about 7%.

"You think you will be healthy all your life," she remarked. "You think you're indestructible. Then, WHAM! - you get the news you have cancer. Like they say, 'First you cry.' Then you get angry. And then you find the best damn doctors in the world."

Dark Holiday, was a dark time for Lee Remick.