BACKSTORY

Lee's greatest professional triumph of the 70's, and possibly of her whole
career was her portrayal of Jennie Jerome Churchill, the mother of
Winston Churchill in the seven-part Thames Television series.

When Lee first read about Lady Randolph Churchill in 1969, she "had
this vision of playing her... At first it was just an idea, but it stuck with
me and finally it became such an obsession that I went to my agent
and asked him to see what he could do. Hollywood studios turned me
down, mostly because of the enormous costs of sets and costumes. But
when I got to England, I realized the sets and costumes were there. For
example, we could shoot at the actual Blenheim Palace, where Jennie
lived and Winston was born; and London's costume shops were loaded
with Victorian ball gowns and corsets and such. The British never throw
anything away."

Lee approached British producer, Stella Richman, and not only sold her
on the idea, but landed the role of Jennie and acquired a percentage of
the foreign distribution revenue for herself. Rather than make a movie,
Richman decided to do a seven-part series and air it during the the
Winston Churchill Centenary.

Jennie aired in England in October of 1974 and received enthusiastic
reviews from the London critics who considered it a stunning success.
Lee's work in the series won the hearts of the British viewers and the
fan mail began to turn up in bag-fulls. "I've gotten more fan mail from
the TV series Jennie than from anything I've ever done."

Lee believed part of the reason her portrayal of Jennie resonated so
well was her in-depth knowledge of the character. "I think I understood Jennie," explains Lee. "Today she would have been running for political office in her own right, not merely in a supportive role."

"I'd been intrigued with Jennie long before the recent flurry of
biographies, and I'd read everything I could find about her-letters,
diaries, journals, old newspaper clippings. Jennie interested me
because she was a fantastically dynamic woman who violated all
the rules of Victorian England and managed to get away with it."

Another reason for the series' success was the money that Thames
Television invested in the project, and the loving care taken by
Richman and director, James Cellan Jones, to film the series. The
project took six months to make, which is the time it usually takes to
shoot three full-length feature films.

Another plus for the series was the opportunity to film on the great
estates where Jennie had lived. "The Duke of Marlborough generously
allowed a large camera crew with bulky and heavy equipment to
negotiate its way around his antiques." The Duke even allowed
cameras to shoot inside the "bedroom where Winston was born."

Despite all of these advantages, most critics believed that it was
Lee's performance that made the series the great success it was.
One critic praised Lee's performance saying "Remick's Jennie
has such spirit to her, such sexy dash and style." Variety went so
far as to say, "Jennie is what Lee Remick was born to portray."

When the series aired in America, Lee was nominated for an
Emmy and won the Golden Globe award for Best TV Actress in a
Drama. But Lee's proudest moment came on February 26th, 1975,
when Princess Anne presented Lee with the British Academy of
Film and Television Arts Best Actress Award.