Helen Hanft

Acting

Helen Hanft

Born — Died

1934-04-03 — 2013-05-30

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

44 titles

Helen Hanft (April 4, 1934 – May 30, 2013) was an American actress.

Known for

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

The Equalizer poster
7.2

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

The Equalizer

1985

Coming to America poster
6.9

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

Coming to America

1988

Nine 1/2 Weeks poster
6.1

An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.

Nine 1/2 Weeks

1986

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

I Am Divine poster
7.3

Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.

I Am Divine

2014

Boys On Film: Bad Romance poster
6.4

Experience an alternative take on attraction with Boys On Film. Bad Romance explores the darker side with a collection of edgy and sexy short films, including: Alain Hain's "Curious Thing" starring Danny Bernardy and Matthew Wilkas; Christoph Scheermann's "Cake and Sand" starring Bartholomew Sammut and Jan Andreesen; Michael Rozanov's "Watch Over Me" starring Guy Kapulnik and Davidi Hoffman; Joachim Back's "The New Tenants" starring David Rakoff and Jamie Harrold; Kim Jho Gwang-soo's "Just Friends?" starring Lee Je-hoon and Yeon Woo-jin; Étienne Desrosiers's "Mirrors" starring Xavier Dolan, Stéphane Demers, and Julie Beauchemin; Christopher Banks's "Communication" starring Rudi Vodanovich and Alexander Campbell; Tomer Velkoff's "The Traitor" co-starring Shmulik Goldstein; Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein's "The Strange Ones" starring David Call, Tobias Campbell, and Merritt Wever; and Tamer Ruggli's "Cappuccino" starring Benjamin Décosterd and Manuela Biedermann.

Boys On Film: Bad Romance

2011

Beautiful Darling poster
6.3

James Rasin's documentary “Beautiful Darling” honors American Transgender actress and best-known Warhol Superstar, Candy Darling, and her all-too-brief life and career, with a combination of current and vintage interview material, rarely seen archival photos and footage, and extracts from Darling's movies.

Beautiful Darling

2010

2000s · 6 titles

The Concert for New York City poster
5.1

The Concert for New York City (2001) captures the star-studded benefit held at Madison Square Garden on October 20, 2001, honoring the city’s resilience and the heroism of first responders after 9/11. Attended by thousands of firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers, the concert features performances by Paul McCartney, The Who, Elton John, Billy Joel, and other music legends in a powerful tribute to unity, courage, and recovery.

The Concert for New York City

2001

Dummy poster
5.9

An ex-office worker becomes a ventriloquist, leading to a date with his unemployment counselor; but his quirky family and a gauche female friend may thwart his new career and love life.

Dummy

2002

From Other Worlds poster
3.9

FROM OTHER WORLDS is a sci-fi comedy about a depressed Brooklyn housewife who sleepwalks through her life until she encounters an alien force in her backyard. With the help of a fellow contactee, an African immigrant, she is determined to solve the mystery of her otherworldly experiences. Along the way, she finds romance, saves the planet and finds new meaning in her life.

From Other Worlds

2004

No artwork available
NR

Charlie Corrado is pushing forty and still lives with his grandparents, Martin and Marion Corrado. Although he feels safe in the environment they have created for him, he spends his days and nights longing for something more out of life.

When the Evening Comes

2009

Sounds from a Town I Love poster
5.6

A montage of short scenes of New Yorkers talking on their cellphones, evoking snippets of conversation overheard in passing on the streets of Manhattan. Intended as a celebration of the people of New York City after the events of September 11, 2001.

Sounds from a Town I Love

2001

The New Tenants poster
5.9

A prying neighbor, a glassy-eyed drug dealer, and a husband brandishing both a weapon and a vendetta make up the welcome wagon. Set amidst the as-yet-unopened boxes and the hopes for a fresh start of two men on what might just be the worst moving day ever. Their new apartment reveals its terrifying history in a film that is by turns funny, frightening, and unexpectedly romantic.

The New Tenants

2009

1990s · 10 titles

The Butcher's Wife poster
5.7

A clairvoyant woman thinks that she's met her future husband because she's seen him in a dream. They marry and he takes her back to his butcher shop in New York city, where her powers tend to influence everyone she meets while working in the shop. Through her advice, she helps others and eventually finds the true man of her dreams.

The Butcher's Wife

1991

North poster
5.0

Eleven-year-old North has had it with his parents. They are always busy with their careers and don't give North the attention he needs, so he files a lawsuit against them. The judge rules that North should either find new parents or return to his own parents within two months. Thus North starts off on a journey around the world to find parents that really care about him.

North

1994

The Associate poster
6.2

Laurel Ayres is a businesswoman trying to make it but unfortunately she works at a investment firm where she does all the work but all the senior investors like Frank Peterson grab all the credit. She then leaves and starts her own firm. While trying to find clients Laurel pretends that she has a male partner named Robert Cutty. And when she starts to do well all of her clients wants to meet Cutty which is difficult since he doesn't exist.

The Associate

1996

Betsy's Wedding poster
5.7

Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé Jake Lovell just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father Eddie, a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife Lola into a financial panic.

Betsy's Wedding

1990

I.Q. poster
6.0

Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.

I.Q.

1994

Trick poster
6.9

Gabriel is a young, aspiring musical composer whose life seems stuck in the First Act. When his new musical number gets a critical reception, a theatre colleague, Perry, tells Gabriel that he needs to get a life before he can write about one – so he heads straight for his local gay bar.

Trick

1999

Mr. Jealousy poster
5.9

After his first date at age 15 ended with the girl making out with another man at a party, aspiring writer Lester Grimm has treated all his girlfriends with jealousy and suspicion. While dating Ramona Ray, paranoia gets the best of him when he discovers that her most recent ex is successful novelist Dashiell Frank. Lester begins attending the same group therapy sessions as Dashiell to learn about Ramona's past with him.

Mr. Jealousy

1998

Used People poster
5.8

At her husband's funeral, Pearl, Jewish mother of two divorced and antagonistic daughters, meets an old Italian friend of her husband, whose advice years previously had stopped the husband leaving home. For 23 years he, now a widower, has secretly loved Pearl.

Used People

1992

Fever poster
4.7

A struggling artist is implicated in a string of macabre murders.

Fever

1999

The Neon Woman poster
NR

Produced in 1978, The Neon Woman is an “outrageous murder mystery” set in a run-down Baltimore burlesque house managed by a retired stripper, Flash Storm, the hottest stripper that ever lived who has gone legit, opened her own strip joint, and is trying to cope with whatever comes along. There's Kitty Larue, the stripper with an identity problem. There's the horny bible thumping senator who wants to pray with Divine but really wants something less spiritual. Finally, Divine's young virgin daughter returns from boarding school and within minutes is turned into an alcoholic, heroin addicted stripper who has been betrothed to the black janitor. There's more but as the cliché goes, it has to be seen to be believed! By the time of it's VHS release, the 12 year old live footage was already a bit raw and gritty, but still gives more than a fair idea as to why Divine was so loved as a performer. The production ran for eighty-four performances at the Hurrah Discotheque, New York.

The Neon Woman

1990

1980s · 16 titles

Coming to America poster
6.9

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

Coming to America

1988

Nine 1/2 Weeks poster
6.1

An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.

Nine 1/2 Weeks

1986

Moonstruck poster
6.8

37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.

Moonstruck

1987

The Purple Rose of Cairo poster
7.4

Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mundane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia goes to see 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' in hopes of raising her spirits, where she watches dashing archaeologist Tom Baxter time and again.

The Purple Rose of Cairo

1985

License to Drive poster
6.7

Teenager Les Anderson thinks his life can't get any worse after he flunks his driver's exam, but he's wrong. Even though he didn't receive his license, Les refuses to break his date with the cool Mercedes Lane, and he decides to lift his family's prize luxury car for the occasion. Unfortunately, Mercedes sneaks some booze along and passes out drunk, and a confused Les makes the bad decision of enlisting his rebellious friend, Dean, to help.

License to Drive

1988

New York Stories poster
6.2

Three tales of love, ambition, and neurosis unfold in the city that never sleeps. In "Life Lessons" (Martin Scorsese), a tormented painter channels heartbreak into his art. In "Life Without Zoë" (Francis Ford Coppola), a precocious 12-year-old navigates privilege and loneliness in a Manhattan hotel. And in "Oedipus Wrecks" (Woody Allen), a man’s domineering mother literally becomes a looming presence over New York.

New York Stories

1989

Stardust Memories poster
6.9

While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.

Stardust Memories

1980

Arthur poster
6.5

Arthur is a 30-year-old child who will inherit $750 million if he complies with his family's demands and marries the woman of their choosing.

Arthur

1981

Off Beat poster
4.7

Joe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of his is chosen to participate in a charity dance performance. Gower agrees to take his place in the show by posing as a police officer. He falls for a female officer in the show and gets into various scrapes with fellow cops and also crooks. And he dances.

Off Beat

1986

Willie & Phil poster
4.6

Life imitates art when two Manhattanites — pompous teacher Willie and quiet photographer Phil — become friends after a thought-provoking screening of "Jules et Jim," Truffaut's classic film about a decades-long ménage à trois. Soon, the men meet Jeanette, a sexually liberated southern transplant who promptly falls for both of them. Frustrated passions curdle into jealousy as Jeanette entertains love affairs with each in the ensuing years.

Willie & Phil

1980

Honky Tonk Freeway poster
5.3

Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by its Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.

Honky Tonk Freeway

1981

Clinton and Nadine poster
3.7

Eager to find his brother's murderer, Clinton enlists the aid of Nadine, an expensive call girl. Together they get sucked into a plot to smuggle guns to the Contra forces in Nicaragua.

Clinton and Nadine

1988

Fear, Anxiety and Depression poster
6.0

An unsuccessful playwright faces trials and tribulations as he seeks to find himself in New York City.

Fear, Anxiety and Depression

1989

The Lawnmower Man poster
4.6

Short film / "Dollar Baby" version of the Stephen King short story from 1987.

The Lawnmower Man

1987

Apology poster
5.1

For her upcoming exhibition, "Apology," Lily, a New York conceptual artist, is designing a sound and sculpture installation inspired by the testimony of anonymous phone callers who, after responding to a public advert inviting them to spill their guts, leave messages on her answering machine. When one caller confesses to a murder, Lily begins to suspect that the mystery man may be intending a little "performance" of his own: her death.

Apology

1986

Summer Switch poster
NR

Father and son magically switch personalities with comical results.

Summer Switch

1984

Series credits

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

Law & Order: Criminal Intent poster
7.6

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

2001

The Equalizer poster
7.2

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

The Equalizer

1985

The Job poster
6.8

Mike McNeil is a decorated New York City detective whose toughest assignment is himself. He's struggling to balance a challenging personal life with a job that leaves him wondering on a daily basis if he is the last sane person in New York. His unconventional approach to his job makes him a great cop, even on the most trying days. The only thing he can't figure out is why, if he's the only sane guy around, everyone's always looking at him like he's crazy.

The Job

2001