John Shea (11/83 Kennedy)
Excerpt from Indiana Gazette 11/18/83: John Shea | Kennedy
Three-part miniseries, 'Kennedy, 'starts Sunday night
By FRED ROTHENBERG
"Kennedy," a $13 million, three-part homage to the man and the myth, begins with a three-hour segment Sunday night against ABC's much ballyhooed nuclear catastrophe film, "The Day After."
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"Kennedy" is a British production, cleverly written by Englishman Reg Gadney and brilliantly acted by all, particularly Martin Sheen as the president and John Shea as the subpresident, John Kennedy's indispensable brother, Bobby.
© Indiana Gazette
Excerpt from The Puzzle Palace 11/18/83: John Shea
NBC'S 'JFK' MIXING FACT AND FICTION IS A RISKY BUSINESS
Author: JACK THOMAS Date: 11/19/1983
Charles Brown has captured the fire and determination of Martin Luther King, and John Shea has the look, the feel and the sound of Bobby Kennedy.
© Puzzle Palace
Excerpt from Reading Eagle 11/20/83: John Shea
'Kennedy' miniseries adds a new sheen to Camelot legend
John Shea, who plays Bobby Kennedy, exudes confidence that a victory is at hand. As campaign manager, Bobby needed to boost the morale, even when Democratic voters in selected cities and key states did not deliver ballots as promised.
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Unfortunately, Shea as Bobby has his problems remaining in character. At some points he is very good. Other times, he floats aimlessly searching for the role.
© Reading Eagle
Excerpt from Sun Sentinel 1/30/85: John Shea
Shea`s Not Missing-- He`s Just Fishing
January 30, 1985|By Claude Edmunds, Special to the Sun-Sentinel
Shea has also done television work, most notably in the recent miniseries Kennedy, in which he starred as Robert F. Kennedy. The production ran in 20 countries.
© Sun Sentinel
Excerpt from New Straits Times 9/29/92: John Shea
Shea Wins Fame for role as Baby M's Dad
Following his success in Baby M, Shea won the role of Bobby Kennedy, brother of the assassinated President in the TV drama series, Kennedy. Shea admits he turned down the chance to play Bobby until he knew Martin Sheen would portray big brother John. "I wasn't going to get involved without Martin in the lead role. In the end he was able to fit the five months' filming into his schedule. I've never been so relieved."
He found strange similarities between his life and Bobby's. Like Bobby Kennedy, Shea hankered as a young man to be a professional footballer. That was until he injured his knee in an on-field collision which forced him to look at his second choice -- acting.
© New Straits Times
Excerpt from Eye for Film 2001: John Shea
Kennedy
Reviewed By: Andrea Mullaney
It's possibly Sheen's popularity in The West Wing that has resulted in this 1983 mini-series being released on DVD now, though the JFK industry is certainly always thriving.
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Also a stand-out is John Shea, who despite looking nothing like him, is a very dynamic and engaging Bobby Kennedy. Shea's career since has been mostly in amiable TV tosh like The New Adventures Of Superman and Mutant X; a waste, going by his performance here.
© Eye for Film
Excerpt from Sci-Fi Talk 1/24/02: John Shea
Tony Tellado
Tony: And playing Bobby Kennedy as well in the miniseries, I mean, that was a monumental challenge as well, to play someone like that.
John: That was a really, really hard thing to do too. That was even harder to do than Bill Stern, because, of course, of the public persona that Bobby had was so well known.
Tony: Sure. It was an incredible part, and Bobby is, in a lot of ways, an icon, you know, of the twentieth century.
John: Yeah. Yeah. But what I liked about that series, was that it was the most serious portrayal ever of the Kennedy years. It wasn't about their private lives, it was about a historical recreation of the Kennedy White House from the election to the assassination. I don't know if you know it was created by a British director.
Tony: Yes, right.
John: Written by an Englishman, and then directed by an Englishman, and then sold over here to CBS and NBC.
Tony: Yeah, they did a nice job with it.
© Sci-Fi Talk
TV Shows on DVD 11/5/08: John Shea
Kennedy (mini-series) -Post-Election Day Announcement for a New DVD Release of the Classic Martin Sheen Mini-Series: 2-disc set coming from MPI Home Video this February
Posted by David Lambert 11/05/2008
Before playing the fictional "President Josiah Bartlet" on The West Wing, Martin Sheen took on the part of the real-life President John F. Kennedy in the 1983 mini-series Kennedy. The 3-part production that aired on NBC also stars Blair Brown (Fringe) as First Lady Jaqueline, John Shea ("Lex" on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) as brother/Attorney General Robert, Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) as brother Ted, E.G. Marshall (Superman II) as father Joseph, Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights) as mother Rose, and Vincent Gardenia (Moonstruck) as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
© TV Shows on DVD