Taglines: No force could sway her. No fear could stop her.
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story movie storylline. This biographical drama was based on the true story of Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic who devoted much of her life to working with the poor and homeless on New York City’s Lower East Side. Born in an Episcopalian household in 1897, Day (played by Moira Kelly) was a free-thinking agnostic in her young adulthood; she contributed to radical leftist journals and was friends with the likes of Eugene O’Neill (James Lancaste) and Mike Gold (Paul Lieber).
After undergoing a painful abortion and giving birth to another child out of wedlock after her lover, Foster Batterham (Lenny Von Dohlen), abandoned her rather than marry, Day embraced Catholicism, a faith she would cling to strongly for the rest of her life. Day’s leftist politics and her sense of personal activism remained; she established a political journal, “The Catholic Worker,” in association with self-described Christian anarchist Peter Maurin (Martin Sheen), and was a tireless and outspoken champion of the rights of the poor and disenfranchised.
Day came under heavy criticism for her political and social activism; as she put it, “If you feed the poor, you’re called a saint, but if you ask why they’re poor, you’re called a Communist.” However, Day continued her mission undaunted until her death in 1980, when she was called America’s Mother Teresa. Entertaining Angels was produced by Paulist Pictures, a Catholic organization who also produced Romero, another film about a noted Catholic activist.
Entertaining Angels: the Dorothy Day Story is a 1996 independent film about the life of Dorothy Day, the journalist turned social activist and founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper. The film stars Moira Kelly as Day, Heather Graham, Lenny Von Dohlen and Martin Sheen. Writer John Wells and actors Kelly and Sheen also collaborated in the NBC dramatic series The West Wing. Kelly and Von Dohlen previously appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996)
Directed by: Michael Ray Rhodes
Starring: Moira Kelly, Heather Graham, Lenny Von Dohlen, Martin Sheen, Melinda Dillon, Paul Lieber, James Lancaster, Geoffrey Blake, Heather Camille
Screenplay by: John Wells
Production Design by: Charles Rosen
Cinematography by: Mike Fash
Film Editing by: George Folsey Jr., Geoffrey Rowland
Costume Design by: Gail Evan-Ivy
Art Direction by: Mary Olivia McIntosh
Music by: Bill Conti, Ashley Irwin
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a range of thematic elements, some sensuality and brief language.
Distributed by: Paulist Pictures
Release Date: September 27, 1996
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