The Deliberate Stranger
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| Genre | Crime Drama Thriller |
|---|---|
| Based on |
The Deliberate Stranger by Richard W. Larsen |
| Screenplay by | Hesper Anderson |
| Directed by | Marvin J. Chomsky |
| Starring |
Mark Harmon Frederic Forrest George Grizzard Maggie Roswell |
| Theme music composer | Gil Melle |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Marvin J. Chomsky |
| Cinematography | Michael D. Margulies |
| Editor(s) | Lori Jane Coleman Howard Kunin Ronald LaVine |
| Running time | 185 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Lorimar Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release |
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The Deliberate Stranger is a book and television film about American serial killer Ted Bundy.
Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was written by Seattle Times reporter Richard W. Larsen and published in 1980. Larsen covered politics for the Times and had interviewed Bundy in 1972, years before he became a murder suspect, when Bundy worked as a volunteer for the re-election campaign of Gov. Daniel J. Evans and had been seen trailing the campaign of Evans' Democratic opponent with a video camera.
Larsen would go on to cover the "Ted" murders in 1974 and then cover the Ted Bundy story up until Bundy's execution in 1989. Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger was published in paperback in editions as late as 1990 but has since gone out of print.
The Deliberate Stranger was adapted into a two-part television movie originally broadcast on NBC in May 1986. The film, based on Larsen's book, starred Mark Harmon as Bundy. The film omits Bundy's childhood, early life, and first six known victims (five murders and the first victim who survived), picking up the story with the murder of Georgeann Hawkins and following Bundy's further crimes in Washington, Utah, Colorado and Florida. Frederic Forrest starred as Seattle detective Robert D. Keppel, and George Grizzard played reporter Larsen.
Bundy's lawyer Polly Nelson, in her book Defending the Devil, characterized the film as "stunningly accurate" and said it did not portray anything that was not proven to be factual. She singled out for praise Harmon's portrayal of Bundy, noting how Harmon reproduced Bundy's rigid posture and suspicious expression. According to Nelson, her client, still on death row when the program aired, showed no interest in seeing the film.
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