Bill is a 1981 American made-for-television biographical drama film starring Mickey Rooney and Dennis Quaid based on the life of Bill Sackter, who lived in a mental hospital for 44 years after being erroneously diagnosed as severely mentally handicapped as a child. The film was broadcast on CBS on December 22, 1981.
A sequel, Bill: On His Own, was released in 1983. Writer/filmmaker Barry Morrow, portrayed in Bill by Dennis Quaid, based the story on his own experiences in becoming Sackter’s legal guardian. Sackter would also serve as a partial inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt in Morrow's early draft screenplay for the 1988 film Rain Man.
Contents
Plot
Bill is a man with an intellectual disability in his 60s. He ventures out into the world for the first time after spending most of his life at Grandville, a dreary inner city institution in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since age seven (when his mother sent him there). Bill is taken in by a kind family and learns what it means to love for the first time in his life.
Cast
Mickey Rooney - Bill Sackter
Dennis Quaid - Barry Morrow
Largo Woodruff - Beverly Morrow
Anna Maria Horsford - Marge Keating
Harry Goz - Dr. Tom Walz
Kathleen Maguire - Florence Archer
Awards
Mickey Rooney won an Emmy Award and Golden Globe for his performance, and the film also received a Golden Globe for Best TV Film.