Beth Brickell began her film career as an actress, training in New York with Sanford Meisner Lee Strasberg, and was accepted into the legendary Actors Studio. She performed in leading roles in over 25 stage productions in and out of the city, including "Thurber Carnival" with Jean Stapleton, "Room Service" with Bill Macy, and "Take Her, She's Mine" with Walter Pidgeon. Moving to Hollywood, she starred for two seasons in the popular CBS series, Gentle Ben (1967), with Dennis Weaver. Subsequently, she appeared in some 100 TV shows and movies, receiving Emmy consideration for guest roles on Bonanza (1959) and Hawaii Five-O (1968). Film roles include Posse (1975) with Kirk Douglas and Bruce Dern, Death Game (1977) with Sondra Locke and Seymour Cassel and The Only Way Home (1972) with Bo Hopkins. While teaching film acting for three years at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York and Los Angeles, she developed an interest in directing. She put her acting career aside to accept a Director Fellowship at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, from which she graduated with an MFA in film directing and screen writing. She has written, produced and/or directed a dozen films. She wrote, produced and directed A Rainy Day (1979) starring Mariette Hartley and Tracey Gold. It The film received seven top festival awards, including First Place at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, and was broadcast on PBS. Summer's End (1985), also written, produced and directed by Beth, won 16 film festival awards, including a Blue Ribbon at the American Film & Video Festival in New York, a Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival, and Second Place at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film was broadcast on Showtime, A&E, Nickelodeon and PBS. She wrote, produced ad directed Mr. Christmas (2004), which was awarded "Best Family Film" at the Hollywood Moondance International Film Festival and received the "Award of Excellence" by the Film Advisory Board of Los Angeles. The movie was broadcast on PBS. Beth has directed episodes of the CBS series Knots Landing (1979) and two dramas, Little Boy Blue (1975) starring Chynna Phillips and Robert Walden, and To Tell the Truth (1987). She developed the story for a CBS movie, "A Family Matter" and a miniseries for PBS, "Susan B.", about Susan B. Anthony and the women's suffrage movement. Beth graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BA in political science and has been active in state and national politics. As a Field Organizer in 1988 for the Michael Dukakis for President campaign, she organized and supervised some 500 volunteers to get out the vote in 50 Beverly Hills precincts. In 1992 she organized and supervised a project that raised $250,000 for the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. In that year she also managed the campaign for Blanche Lincoln, who was running in a congressional primary against a 26-year incumbent in Arkansas. She won the primary and the election as a US Senator from Arkansas. Another interest, newspaper writing, resulted in a 18-article front-page investigative series for the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Arkansas Gazette" in Little Rock. The series, entitled "Mystery at Camden", uncovered a motive for the murder of attorney Maud Crawford--a one-time associate of US Sen. John L. McClennan--who disappeared in 1957 in Camden, Arkansas. That crime remains unsolved to this day. Beth's civic activities have included Chair of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) Women's Steering Committee, member of the DGA Special Projects Committee, Board of Directors for Women in Film, Emmy Awards Panel for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Actors Studio-West Executive Steering Committee, and Screening Committee for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She has been honored with membership in the Southwest theater Association Hall of Fame. She divides her time between a home in Beverly Hills and a 103-acre rural retreat west of Little Rock.
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Biography from IMDb.
- November 13, 1941 (84)
- Camden, Arkansas, USA
- Actor and director, also producer, writer and editor
- 12 on MovieCove · 31 credits in all
What are Beth Brickell's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 1 · Earnest 2
A split, not a type: Light 2 · Serious 0 · Dark 2
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1
A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 1 · Intense 1
A split, not a type: Steady 3 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 2 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 1
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Beth Brickell's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 5 of their 12 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Beth Brickell's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
31 credits, 12 with a MovieCove page.
Mr. Christmas(2004)
Midcredits score: 30th percentile of all filmsDeath on the Oregon Trail (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)
Summer's End (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1985)
Stone (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
Knots Landing(1979)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all shows
A Rainy Day (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1979)
The Oregon Trail (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)
Death Game(1977)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all films
Matt Helm (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1975)
Three for the Road (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1975)
Posse(1975)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Kodiak (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
The Magician (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
Brock's Last Case (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
The Only Way Home (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
The Great Man's Whiskers(1972)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Emergency!(1972)
Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all shows
San Francisco International (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Dan August (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
Love, American Style (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1969)
Marcus Welby, M.D.(1969)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all shows
Hawaii Five-O(1968)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all shows
Adam-12(1968)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
Gentle Ben (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)
Ironside (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)
Captain Nice (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.(1966)
Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all shows
The Green Hornet (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.(1964)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all shows
Bonanza(1959)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all shows
Gunsmoke (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1955)
Career shape
Star power in the 53rd percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 31 titles from 1955 to 2005.
Film career
- 1975Screen debut· Posse
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Beth Brickell's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 51st percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 55th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th5
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 12 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Divisive1
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the acting 58/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 77, detractors 38. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.