The Plays and Films

"When m' pa first bought m' ma up here, he says to her, 'Sarah, y're standin' tip-top a' Georgia. The Blue Ridge. Some folks say it's the most beautiful place in America. What d' y' make of it?' So she looks - an' she were bad f'r speaking out - an' she says. 'It's stony.' Then she listens t' the quiet, an' she says, 'It's lonesome.' An' he says, 'Well it's all yours, so y' c'n call it that!' An she did too. Stony Lonesome."
(from Foxfire)

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Directed by: David Trainer
Starring: Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Keith Carradine
Music by: Jonathan Holtzman

The play was performed at Stratford, Ontario and Minneapolis before transferring to New York where it was produced at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. It opened on November 11 1982. This original play is based upon material from the 'Foxfire' books edited by Eliot Wiggington (published by Doubleday). The play is set in Rabun County, Georgia and tells the story of Annie and Hector Nations.

Hector is dead but through Annie's continuing dialogue with him, we learn of the end of a way-of-life for an Appalachian family. Exploring the events of the past and the realities of the present we see the difficult decisions facing Annie; decisions which will shape her future with her musician son and his family - and her relationship with Hector . Jessica Tandy won a Tony award for her part in the production. Susan Cooper subsequently adapted the play for the TV Film version.

Writers Guild of America Award
Emmy Award Nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Foxfire Video Cover (Hallmark Hall of Fame)

Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, John Denver - Foxfire

Directed by: Jud Taylor
Starring: Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, John Denver,
Gary Grubbs, Harriet Hall

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Directed by: Daniel Petrie
Starring: Jane Fonda, Levon Helm, Amanda Plummer, Susan Kingsley, Geraldine Page

"Fonda's glowing Emmy award-winning TV Movie debut, as a woman from the Kentucky hills who uproots her kids to follow her husband to a big-city job during WW2 and finds a new way of life using her natural whittling talents. Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn beautifully adapted Harriet Arnow's novel." (Halliwell's Movie Guide, 1996)

Christopher Award
Writers Guild of America Award
Emmy Award Nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

To Dance With the White Dog is the story of Sam Peek. After his wife's death no one knows how Sam will survive, they were married for 57 years. But Sam befriends a stray white dog who no one else can see. Surrounded by his concerned family, Sam continues with his idiosyncratic ways, tending his Pecan trees, driving his dilapidated truck. His life is transformed by the presence of the White Dog inhabited by the spirit of his dead wife. The film is the story of Sam's final journey through life.

"Poetic tale of two oldsters. When he suddenly becomes a widower, her spirit inhabits a stray white dog who comes to look after him. Movingly adapted by Susan Cooper from Terry Kay's award winning novel." (Halliwell's Movie Guide, 1996)

Directed by: Glenn Jordan
Starring: Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Christine Baranski, Terry Beaver,
Harley Cross, Esther Rolle, Frank Whaley, Amy Wright

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Susan's other film credits include: Dark Encounter (TV Film), A Promise To Keep (TV Film) and George Balanchine's The Nutcracker - Narration (Cinema).