# Absolute Strangers

Absolute Strangers is a 1991 made-for-television CBS docudrama featuring Happy Days star Henry Winkler returning to his first major TV role in eight years. The screenplay, written by Robert Woodruff Anderson, was based on the true story of a husband's controversial decision to have his wife undergo an abortion to aid her recovery after a head-trauma accident had left her comatose. The title is taken from the real-life court decision that used the phrase "absolute strangers", itself apparently derived from a courtroom outburst by the husband—to describe two anti-abortion activists, one of whom sued the husband to get custody of the fetus, the other to be appointed guardian of the comatose wife.
The impending broadcast of the film spurred anti-abortion activists, including the American Family Association, to try to discourage advertisers from buying time during the show. These efforts provoked counter-demonstrations, and campaigns of letter-writing in support of the broadcast from Planned Parenthood, the National Council of Jewish Women, and other groups.
The real-life husband, Martin Klein, appeared in a cameo. Henry Winkler played Martin Klein, with his wife Nancy played by Jennifer Hetrick. Others in the cast included Karl Malden as Nancy Klein's father, Patty Duke as the appeals court judge (personally opposed to abortion) in the pivotal court case, and Richard Kiley as a doctor who favors abortion in such cases.
The film's director, Gilbert Cates, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy.

## Plot

Following a car accident, a husband is advised that only an abortion can save the life of his comatose and pregnant wife. Other doctors note that the wife is in no immediate danger, but the husband realizes those doctors are acting on anti-abortion views and want to reach the limit of the second trimester when abortion is disallowed. The husband reluctantly agrees to an abortion because his wife will be at high risk of death if she delivers a baby while comatose.
However, the procedure is blocked by activists opposed to abortion. The husband faces the hospital's ethics board to find a doctor willing to perform the procedure. And then the husband faces the legal process to declare his wife incompetent to make her own decisions, and to appoint himself as her guardian. Anti-abortion activists challenge each step of the way.
Eventually a court case allows the abortion to proceed. Anti-abortion activists appeal the case to higher courts, and eventually to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Along the way, the news media get involved, and the story gains national prominence. The anti-abortion activists seek guardianship of the fetus; the husband denounces them in court as "absolute strangers" trying to take control of his life and his wife's life.
With all appeals exhausted, the abortion procedure is begun. The wife later emerges from the coma and recuperates to a normal life.

## Cast

* Henry Winkler as Marty Klein
* Patty Duke as Judge Ray
* Richard Kiley as Dr. R.J. Cannon
* Audra Lindley as Anne Zusselman
* Karl Malden as Fred Zusselman
* Jennifer Hetrick as Nancy Klein
* Jayne Atkinson as Eleanor Barcroft
* Doris Belack as Fran
* Vasili Bogazianos as Dr. Sears
* Ron Frazier as Davis
* Steven Gilborn as Dr. Dalton
* Tony Jay as Weisfeld
* James Karen as Dr. X
* Alan Oppenheimer as Stevenson
* René Auberjonois as Quinn
* Mitchell Laurance as Stan