1 9 7 6 (USA)
13 x 60 minute episodes
This multi Emmy award-winning PBS series aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial, telling how succeeding generations of the political Adams family influenced American history.
The story covered a period of 150 years (1750 – 1900) with the most prominent member of the family, John Adams (George Grizzard) – signer of the Declaration of Independence, accomplished diplomat and the 2nd President – being seen as the most influential of all.
His son John Quincy Adams (acclaimed Secretary of State, the 6th President, and prominent abolitionist) was played by Mark Winkworth.
The series traced their lives from John Adams’ early years as a colonial Boston attorney to the rise in prominence of Brookes Adams in the fields of political and social philosophy.
There was a great emphasis on historical accuracy in the preparation of the series, with the provision of 300,000 pages of diaries, letters and miscellaneous documents from the Massachusetts Historical Society Adams Collection and a small army of scholars to interpret them.
John Adams
George Grizzard
John Adams II – younger
Tim Wilson
John Adams II
Allan Carlsen
Richard Cranch
Michael O’Hare
Andrew Jackson
Wesley Addy
John Quincy Adams
David Birney
Samuel Adams
W.B. Brydon
John Quincy Adams
William Daniels
John Hancock
Curt Dawson
Madame Brillon
M’el Dowd M’el
Henry Clay
George Hearn
Lord Howe
Patrick Horgan
Nabby
Katharine Houghton
Fanny
K.C. Ligon
Abigail ‘Nabby’ Adams II
Lisa Lucas
Mrs Smith
Nancy Marchand
Louisa Catherine Adams
Pamela Payton-Wright
Patrick Henry
William Shust
Alexis de Toqueville
Jean-Pierre Stewart
King George III
John Tillinger
Abigail Smith Adams
Kathryn Walker
George Washington Adams
David Elliott
Thomas Jefferson
Albert Stratton
Charles Francis Adams
John Beal
Henry Adams
Peter Brandon
James Monroe
Henry Butler
Abigail Brooks Adams
Nancy Coleman
Abigail Smith Adams (age 44-74)
Leora Dana
Charles Francis Adams
Thomas A. Stewart
James McHenry
Tom Aldredge
Mary Catherine Hellen (Older)
Maureen Anderman
Fanny Adams
Susan Bjurman
George Washington Adams
Peter Coffield
Minnie Adams
Patricia Elliott
Jay Gould
Paul Hecht
James Madison
Ken Kercheval
John C. Calhoun
Robert Phalen
Charles Adams
J.C. Powell
John Quincy Adams II
Nicholas Pryor
Timothy Pickering
Reid Shelton
Charles Francis Adams II
Charles Siebert
Alexander Hamilton
Jeremiah Sullivan
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Symonds
Thomas Adams
Tom Tammi
Brooks Adams
Charles Tenney
John Quincy Adams
Mark Winkworth
Narrator
Michael Tolan