| Somebody Killed Her Husband | |
| Producer: | Martin Poll |
| Director: | Lamont Johnson |
| Starring: | Farrah Fawcett-Majors Jeff Bridges John Wood Tammy Grimes John Glover Patricia Elliott Mary McCarty Lawrence Guittard Vincent Robert Santa Lucia Beeson Carroll |
| Music: | Alex North |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Editing: | Barry Malkin |
| Cinematography: | Andrew Laszlo Ralf D. Bode |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Studio: | Melvin Simon Productions |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Budget: | $5.1 million[1] |
Somebody Killed Her Husband is a 1978 American comedy–mystery film directed by Lamont Johnson and written by Reginald Rose. It starred Farrah Fawcett and Jeff Bridges. Also in the cast were John Wood, Tammy Grimes and John Glover.
The film is set in Manhattan, New York City. The plot concerns the efforts of a woman (Fawcett) and her lover (Bridges) to find the murderer of her husband before they are accused of it themselves. The story's climax occurs at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Reginald Rose's screenplay was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award.Strewn throughout this story are clues that implicate real elements of the late President Richard Nixon's activities regarding Watergate and are followed by Bridges' and Fawcett's characters throughout the movie to find out who killed her husband.
Martin Poll acquired the script from Reginald Rose in 1976.[2]
Farrah Fawcett had become a star on Charlie's Angels but quit the show. Charlie's Angels producers were suing her. Paramount wanted Fawcett for the lead in Foul Play but were reluctant to hire her with a lawsuit hanging over her head. Poll however signed her to make Somebody Killed Her Husband for a fee of nearly $1 million.[3]
Filming took place in November 1977.[4] The budget was a reported $4.5 million.[2]
The film was not a big hit but Melvin Simon made a $2 million profit by pre-selling the film.[1] He presold it to TV for $3.5 million, sold the foreign rights for $1.8 million, got an advance from Columbia for $1 million and sold TV syndication rights for $850,000.[5]