Karen Arthur

Directing

Karen Arthur

Born 1941-08-24 · Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Karen Arthur (born August 24, 1941) is an American film director, producer, and actress. Arthur has directed three feature films, including Lady Beware (1987) and The Mafu Cage (1978), but the majority of her work has been in television, where she has had a long and prolific career directing television movies and series. In 1985, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Secret poster
9.0

Mostly on account of a pride struggle, Mike Dunmore has lived his whole life keeping a secret which he believed would only cause shame if it came to light. Personal relationships with his son Patrick have been strained as a result. The only ones who ever knew anything about it were his deceased wife and his best friend, Thurgood who he works with, who both agreed to help keep it covered up for him as long as they could. However, when his treasured grandson begins experiencing the same problems, Mike realizes that he can't hide his secret any longer, or if he tried to, it would be most difficult. Even more so when he is endorsed and volunteers to run as a candidate for local election.

The Secret

1992

Lady Beware poster
5.3

A department store window dresser starts being stalked by a married man who’s obsessed with her.

Lady Beware

1987

The Mafu Cage poster
5.9

Two strange sisters live in a crumbling mansion, where they keep a pet ape, which belonged to their late father, locked in a cage. While one of the sisters seems to be keeping her head on straight, as it were, the other appears to be sinking further and further into barbarism and insanity.

The Mafu Cage

1978

No artwork available
7.0

17-year-old track star, John Owens, has never used any drug stronger than pot, until he meets an older woman who introduces him to crack cocaine. He quickly becomes addicted but is able to hide his problem from all except his best friend, Chris.

Cracked Up

1987

Against Their Will poster
5.8

Behind prison walls, corruption, sex and power make criminals out of the guards and heroes out of the guarded. For more than a decade, the lawless guards inside a maximum security women's prison have reigned with impunity - rape, sex for money and illegal favors have become the norm until one woman decides to battle the system. Leading a group of inmates on a risky life-or-death struggle for justice, a ten year silence is finally broken, exposing the twisted truth to the world and enabling the prisoners the freedom to live without fear.

Against Their Will

1994

The Lost Child poster
7.1

Knowing the past changes the future. Seeking a connection to her heritage, Rebecca Hoffman sets out on a journey of discovery following the deaths of her adoptive parents. She finds that connection with her birth family in the Navajo community. But cultures clash when her husband is rejected as an outsider. Rebecca and her family experience rebirth in a rich culture and renewal as a family in this dramatic film based on the autobiography Looking for Lost Bird by Yvette Melanson (with Claire Safran).

The Lost Child

2000

The Locket poster
5.2

A bereaved man takes a job at a health care center, where he befriends an elderly and embittered woman - and as time passes, he becomes obsessed with reuniting her with her long-lost true love.

The Locket

2002

A Bunny's Tale poster
5.3

A dramatization of Gloria Steinem's undercover investigation of the working conditions Bunnies faced at the Playboy Clubs.

A Bunny's Tale

1985

The Christmas Blessing poster
6.1

Nathan Andrews is all grown up. As a young doctor, Nathan finds himself questioning his career choice, so he goes to his hometown to soul search and reconnect with his father. Once home, a blossoming romance with teacher Megan Sullivan and a fast friendship with student Charlie Bennett teach Nathan to live life in the moment and embrace the time he has with friends and family.

The Christmas Blessing

2005

Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story poster
7.5

Before stalking was a well-known crime in North America, there was Theresa Saldana's story. A drifter from the U.K., Arthur Jackson, flies to the U.S. to seek Saldana out. His twisted mission: Jackson planned to murder Saldana, then request the death sentence for himself so he "could join her in paradise." The psychopathic Jackson confronts Saldana on the street in front of her home and stabs her violently several times. No one comes to Theresa's aid except water deliveryman Jeff Fenn, who overpowers Jackson and gets the knife away from him. Jackson is arrested & charged with attempted murder...and Theresa Saldana tells her story of terror and survival as herself in this TV movie.

Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story

1984

Labor of Love poster
8.0

Annie, a 36-year-old, single woman, desperately wants to have a child. Her best friend, Mickey, a gay man who had tried unsuccessfully to adopt a child, also feels the pangs of parental yearning. The couple decides to have a naturally conceived child together. Mickey moves in with Annie, but she then meets Gordon, the man of her dreams with whom she has a passionate fling. Annie finds herself pregnant and not exactly sure which of the two men in her life is the father. But commitment-shy Gordon wants nothing to do with the child. Mickey eventually assures Annie that no matter what, he will help raise the child as his, together as a family with Annie.

Labor of Love

1998

Journey of the Heart poster
5.2

Janice is the subject of the town gossips for four reasons: she wears too much lipstick, her hair is too big, she is a single-mother and her two children are strange. Ray (6) is a hellraiser and Tony (9) is autistic. One day, however, Tony sits down at the piano and plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Janice knows there may be hope for him (and them) yet.

Journey of the Heart

1997

The Rape of Richard Beck poster
6.8

The tables turn for cynical police officer Richard Beck when he's viciously attacked by two homicidal crooks. Having never been empathetic toward the victims he's dealt with on a daily basis, Beck must now confront the tough system he was a part of. As he struggles to regain his status at work, he also must make sure those responsible for his attack are prosecuted.

The Rape of Richard Beck

1985

The Staircase poster
7.7

A mysterious carpenter appears just as a church is in need of repair.

The Staircase

1998

No artwork available
6.0

Charlie is a young woman who is thrilled that her favorite Uncle Charlie is coming home for good. But she soon discovers that her namesake, a "Wall Street financier," has a deep, dark secret. And knowledge of that secret by anyone can prove to be deadly.

Shadow of a Doubt

1991

No artwork available
8.7

When prim and proper New England college professor Gwen Barry (Titanic's Frances Fisher) hires handsome young prison inmate Dalton Roy (Derwin Jordan) to tend her yard through a prison work furlough program, their mentor-student relationship soon turns into a passionate love affair. But when Dalton completes his prison sentence, meets a pretty young college student (Kandyse McClure), and attempts to start over again on his own, Gwen becomes obsessed with remaining a part of Dalton's life or destroying it completely.

Passion and Prejudice

2001

No artwork available
8.7

When prim and proper New England college professor Gwen Barry (Titanic's Frances Fisher) hires handsome young prison inmate Dalton Roy (Derwin Jordan) to tend her yard through a prison work furlough program, their mentor-student relationship soon turns into a passionate love affair. But when Dalton completes his prison sentence, meets a pretty young college student (Kandyse McClure), and attempts to start over again on his own, Gwen becomes obsessed with remaining a part of Dalton's life or destroying it completely.

Passion and Prejudice

2001

Bump in the Night poster
5.9

Martha "Red" Tierney used to be a hot-shot reporter, but that was before alcohol took over her life. One morning Martha's son, Jonathan, leaves for school, stopping first to meet his father for breakfast. But Jonathan never meets his dad. Instead, he is picked up by Lawrence, a pedophile who has been watching him. Now Martha must overcome her alcoholism and her bitterness towards her ex-husband and use her old investigative skills to find her son before it's too late.

Bump in the Night

1991

Project: Tinman poster
4.5

A mechanical man with a moral code and soul looking for adventure and his creator after escaping the military. He attempts to discover the reasons why he was created. An action-adventure pilot for ABC, a series that never happened.

Project: Tinman

1990

Fall From Grace poster
6.5

Jim Bakker establishes a large televangelical empire in the 1980s, including Heritage Village. However, they are removed from P.T.L, the ministry that they had established in 1987.

Fall From Grace

1990

The Disappearance of Christina poster
5.8

Joe and Christina's marriage is in trouble when they take a sailing trip with their married best friends. On the trip, Christina vanishes and is presumed dead. Joe is suspected of her murder, but he believes Christina isn't dead at all when strange things begin to happen. Joe isn't sure whom he can trust as he discovers disturbing information about his missing wife.

The Disappearance of Christina

1993

Blue Bayou poster
10.0

A Los Angeles lawyer has to go to New Orleans for a steamy case involving a troubled teen.

Blue Bayou

1990

No artwork available
9.0

Director Karen Arthur's 1976 tale of a woman's mental breakdown stars Joan Hotchkis.

Legacy

1975

No artwork available
9.0

Director Karen Arthur's 1976 tale of a woman's mental breakdown stars Joan Hotchkis.

Legacy

1975