Movie-TV Credits |
(1995 mini-series; originally aired 5/14-15/95 on NBC)
This highly hyped mini-series covering the tumultuous lives and mega-careers of country music’s most famous mother and daughter singing duo - The Judds - was executive produced by Naomi Judd herself, who personally supervised the entire production. Starring Kathleen York as Naomi and Viveka Davis as Wynonna, Bruce Greenwood co-stars as Larry Strickland, the second husband and greatest love of Naomi Judd's life. The Judd household was definitely a female domain, so this is a decidedly secondary role, but he was still the most important man in their lives. Larry was a flagrant womanizer and an only semi-successful singer (he sang bass in Elvis Presley’s back-up group, The Stamps), but he was also a good man, who honestly loved Naomi and was adored by her two girls. Because of Larry's lack of fidelity their relationship was stormy, but they did eventually marry shortly after Naomi was diagnosed with a serious strain of hepatitis, which lead to The Judds' farewell tour and Naomi's early retirement.
Greenwood is extremely appealing here as he deepens his voice and adopts a Nashville accent to create the laid back, low-talkin' Strickland. He even gets to play his guitar in a part that was no doubt a labor of love for him with his sincere passion for music.
The mini-series was highly promoted by NBC, who used the show to successfully increase ratings during the May sweeps. Naomi's second daughter - the actress Ashley Judd (with whom Greenwood would later work in Double Jeopardy) - narrated the saga in voice overs that opened and closed the film. Directed by Bobby Roth, the movie was shown in two parts. Part 1 covers Naomi's childhood, early marriage and personal struggles after the divorce from the girls' father. Part 2 opens with Naomi meeting Larry at his agent's office, the early struggle in Nashville followed by The Judds' amazing success story right on up to Naomi's retirement.
Expensively available on video, though no DVD has been released thus far.
The Anvet / Kerner Company
 |  |  Naomi meets Larry Strickland | 2 min 5 secs |
| | Larry coaches & accompanies Wynonna | 57 secs |
| | Larry makes a plea to come back | 48 secs |
| | Larry's proposal | 17 secs |